LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Hollie Chadwick, the one-time Henderson police chief whose legislation enforcement profession ended abruptly when town supervisor ousted her from that place in March, will run for mayor within the metropolis’s 2026 election, the 8 Information Now Investigators have realized.
She is ready to announce her candidacy in a information convention on the steps of Henderson Metropolis Corridor on Thursday morning, in response to a launch from her marketing campaign supervisor.
Henderson’s metropolis supervisor dismissed Chadwick, the fifteenth chief within the Henderson Police Division’s 72-year historical past, on March 6. Her time period as chief started in Could 2023 and lasted lower than two years. She rebuffed town’s efforts to steer her to signal a nondisclosure settlement, opting as an alternative to gather her pension and run for mayor.
Hollie Chadwick grew to become the fifteenth chief for the Henderson Police Division in Could 2023. Her time period lasted two years till she was dismissed. (KLAS)
“I am not a politician. I believe in public service, and this was never on my mind or a radar of something that I wanted to do in the future,” Chadwick stated, in an unique interview with the 8 Information Now Investigators.
“When all of this went down with me no longer being the chief, I got so many phone calls and texts and emails, and requests from, not just employees of the City of Henderson, but community members reaching out and saying, ‘We need change. We need you to run for mayor, and we want you to continue as our leader.'”
Chadwick discusses her dismissal
Chadwick, in her first public interview since refusing town’s quit-or-be-fired ultimatum, stated she believes her opponent for mayor, incumbent Michelle Romero, was behind her removing regardless of having given Chadwick a vote of confidence within the days resulting in her pressured go away of absence.
“Stephanie Garcia-Vause, the city manager, is the person that made that decision,” Chadwick stated. “From my understanding, there’s no doubt in my mind, though, that she makes no decisions without the mayor’s approval.”
Navigating an array of matters together with metropolis politics and transparency, her refusal to signal town’s nondisclosure settlement, and her mayoral platform, Chadwick informed the 8 Information Now Investigators she realized by means of the identical press launch town despatched to the information media that her 22 years of service to the police division was over.
“That’s how I was notified,” Chadwick stated. “So that should be very telling to our community of how we treat our employees of the City of Henderson. I had to find out through the news.”
Chadwick stated she was blindsided when town supervisor, Garcia-Vause, put her on go away.
“It broke my heart,” Chadwick stated. “But it didn’t break my spirit. I knew during that time the outpouring of love and support I was getting, not just from the men and women who work for the police department, but also city employees and the community. I knew I had done a good job. I will never doubt that. I know I held true to my integrity and the code that I took.”
Chadwick stated as quickly as she was named chief, in Could 2023, others throughout the police division have been vying for her job.
“I worked very, very hard to unite our department,” Chadwick stated. “I was probably only in that seat for about two minutes before I had 10 people lining up to try to take my spot. It can be very toxic, and understanding that, I still was able to build a very strong command team that had one common goal and purpose and that was to protect and serve this community and to work together as a team.”
Fallout from Henderson police chief’s abrupt departure escalates as councilwoman, metropolis present differing responses
She admits that she misplaced a battle in opposition to union executives who didn’t approve of her management model. The unions, who welcomed her appointment as chief of police, finally celebrated her departure.
“The city’s decision was not unexpected and was a long time coming,” Andrew Regenbaum, government director of the Nevada Affiliation of Public Security Officers (HPSA), informed the 8 Information Now Investigators on Feb. 14. “The unions look forward to healing the divides that were created within the department and moving ahead collaboratively.”
“Well, I find that statement interesting since the statement from the city manager said the unions had no involvement,” Chadwick informed the 8 Information Now Investigators. “So once more, you’ve got conflicting statements there. I can inform you, once you discuss union management, that is a small group that is a part of an government board. They do not essentially carry the sentiment of your complete rank and file.
“I understand they had concerns, but I also need to be very transparent that I can’t always say yes to what the unions want, just like I can’t always say yes to what the city wants, I had to balance the decisions I made with the understanding of what the facts were in front of me, and I knew every decision I made.”
Henderson police unions pull assist from councilwoman following remarks
In an illustration of the significance of union assist within the Henderson political atmosphere, the subsequent day, the unions withdrew their endorsements from Carrie Cox, the Ward III metropolis councilwoman, due to her feedback after Chadwick was positioned on go away. Cox is operating for re-election in Henderson’s solely different high-profile 2026 race.
Chadwick’s run for Henderson mayor
Arguably, primarily based on the circumstances of Chadwick’s departure as police chief, it may be construed as a failure within the inherently political endeavor of operating one of many metropolis’s most vital departments. Nevertheless, Chadwick stated she is ready to run a profitable mayoral marketing campaign and lead town.
“As the mayor, you answer to the public,” Chadwick stated. “I don’t have to answer to self-serving individual agendas. I get to answer to the public, to my constituents, and I get to continue to serve this community with transparency and integrity.”
Chadwick, in her race in opposition to Romero, plans to run on a platform that features enhancing academic alternatives for Henderson’s younger college students and adults, growing inexpensive housing, and supporting companies throughout the neighborhood.
Henderson Mayoral candidate Hollie Chadwick desires to create alternatives for extra inexpensive housing in Henderson. (KLAS)
“I grew up in Las Vegas, and I live in Henderson, and really up until a few years ago, it wasn’t that hard to kind of find a place to live and make sure you could afford within what you were making as a living,” Chadwick stated. “Now it’s very difficult for everyone and we have to look at opportunities to make sure that affordable housing is out there for everyone and the opportunity is there for people to have families and afford to live and work and have a home — or at least a backyard — and things they can do in the in the residential communities.”
When information of Chadwick’s termination grew to become public, her supporters inundated Henderson’s metropolis council conferences demanding transparency. These biweekly conferences typically embody chaotic, disruptive sequences between council members and the mayor, regardless of Romero’s assertions on the contrary.
“If we need to take a recess and let people cool down, that’s what we’ll do,” Romero stated in an interview that aired on Politics Now on Could 17. “Doesn’t mean that there’s chaos, you know, people like to portray that there is, you know, all kinds of chaos going on. That’s not what’s happening.”
Ought to Chadwick, an observer on the Henderson political scene since her jettison from the police division, turn out to be mayor, she says she will lead town council regardless of its occasional discord.
“They need leadership, you need team mentality, and you need people to start working together. And I think unfortunately, the community has seen that’s not happening,” Chadwick stated. “It starts with the mayor. And it hasn’t been happening. You see them arguing on the dais. You see them arguing outside. You see them not communicating or being a team. And that doesn’t mean you can’t agree to disagree. Open, transparent dialogue, even with conflict, is good.”
The three chiefs earlier than Chadwick, relationship again to 2017, left town’s high legislation enforcement job below equally unhealthy circumstances. One was pressured to resign, one was fired, and one retired after receiving two votes of no confidence from Henderson’s police unions. That former chief got here out of retirement and presently heads a police division in South Central Texas.
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Chadwick has a Doctorate in Public Service Management and graduated from a prestigious nationwide FBI academy, and the Naval Postgraduate Government Leaders program, in response to her Hollie for Mayor marketing campaign literature.
