The Future of Nevada Democrats is Female

Women are clearly on the rise in Nevada politics. Especially so on the Democratic side. Consider the following: in the 2006 elections Democrats nominated women in all three congressional districts, four out of six candidates for statewide office were women, including Governor.

While Jill Derby (NV-02) and Tessa Hafen (NV-03) didn't win their respective races, they did come pretty close and it's quite possible that Dean Heller and Jon Porter will have to run against female candidates again in 2008.

Women have captured high offices in Nevada in the past, though they were mostly Republican: former Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich (NV-02, 1983-97), former Treasurer Patty Cafferata (1983-87), former Lt. Governors Sue Wagner (1991-95) and Lorraine Hunt (1999-2007), Secretary of State Cheryl Lau (1991-95). The only Democratic women previously elected to statewide office were Superintendent of Public Instruction Mildred Bray (1937-51) and Frankie Sue Del Papa who was Secretary of State (1987-91) and Attorney General (1991-2003). There has not been a female US Senator yet, the only Democratic nominee was Mary Gojack in 1990.

Recently female Democrats were much more successful in being nominated and elected than their Republican counterparts. Currently, three out of four Democratic (six total) constitutional officers in Nevada are women: Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, State Treasurer Kate Marshall, and State Controller Kim Wallin. Las Vegas is represented in Congress by Shelley Berkley. The Nevada State Democratic Party has recently elected a woman, Jill Derby, as its chair. Among the five-person leadership are three more women: 2nd Vice Chair Teresa Benitez-Thompson, Secretary A'shanti Gholar, and Treasurer Jan Churchill.

In the State Assembly, Barbara Buckley was recently elected Speaker, the first woman in that position in Nevada's history. Majority Whip Sheila Leslie and Assistant Majority Whip Debbie Smith are among the five person Majority Leadership in the Assembly, while the Democratic leadership team in the State Senate is entirely comprised of women: Minority Floor Leader Dina Titus, Minority Whip Valerie Wiener, and Assistant Minority Floor Leader Bernice Mathews. As far as I could find out, no other legislatative body in the country has an entirely female leadership, at least on the Democratic side.

10 out 27 Democratic Assembly members are women (37%) and 5 out of 10 Democratic State Senators are women, making up 50%.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that in a recent poll at Helluva Heller, asking who should run against Heller on the Democratic side, out of the seven mentioned possibilities five were women: Kate Marshall, Debbie Smith, Jill Derby, Sheila Leslie, and Teresa Benitez Thompson and the female candidates were in the lead at last count.

When you consider all this, it is only a matter of time when Nevada will send another woman to the House, the first woman to the US Senate and elect its first Governor.

You can read more about the history of women in Nevada politics here.

Here are the women mentioned:

State Constitutional Officers:


Catherine Cortez Masto, Kate Marshall, and Kim Wallin

Elected Officers of the Nevada State Democratic Party:


Jill Derby, A'shanti Gholar, and Teresa Benitez Thompson

Member of Congress:


Shelley Berkley

Members of the State Assembly Leadership:


Barbara Buckley, Sheila Leslie, and Debbie Smith

Members of the State Senate Leadership:


Dina Titus, Valerie Wiener, and Bernice Mathews

New State Officials

While most Democratic candidates relative to Lake Tahoe lost their congressional or assembly races, I was somewhat consoled by the fact that Democrats managed to win the majority of state offices both in California and in Nevada.

This became quite apparent to me while walking the halls of the State Capitol of Nevada in Carson City a couple of weeks ago. There on the ground floor were two office doors engraved with the names of State Treasurer Kate Marshall and State Controller Kim Wallin.

Also taking office in January were Secretary of State Ross Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.

In California, all political state offices except for the Governor and the Insurance Commissioner are now in the hands of Democrats. The newly sworn in officials are: Attorney General Jerry Brown, Secretary of State Debra Bowen, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, State Controller John Chiang and Lt. Governor John Garamendi.

I've included links to their website in the sidebar.

More on my three weeks in California and Nevada in the coming days!

Guinn: North Getting More Liberal, More Democratic

Many of us were disappointed that Jill Derby, Jack Carter and Dina Titus lost their respective races a week ago. However, there is still something to celebrate. Northern Nevada is getting more Democratic and more liberal. That's not me making stuff up. The (Republican) Governor says so:

And as for a north versus south, Republican versus Democrat political divide in Nevada, Guinn says that is changing too.

Governor Guinn: "There is a growing base in the north. And what I think people have not analyzed yet is that base growing in the north is more liberal, more Democratic."

Yup, you heard that right. And he isn't that far off. The best example of that is Jill Derby. Yeah, she lost to Dean Heller but Heller barely got over 50% of the vote in this oh so conservative district. Plus, Derby managed to win Washoe County by about 4,500 votes and even Mineral by six votes.

Even more interesting are the numbers for the constitutional offices. Four out of six constitutional offices will be held by Democrats - Secretary of State Ross Miller, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, Treasuser Kate Marshall and Controller Kim Wallin.

Every one of them won Washoe County. Miller by 15,000 votes, Marshall by 4,000, even Wallin by 1,000 and Cortez Masto just slammed her opponent winning more than double the votes he won beating him by more than 40,000 votes.

Besides Clark and Washoe County these candidates also managed to win in the rurals:

• Miller won Carson City, Mineral and Storey counties.
• Marshall and Wallin also won Mineral County.
• Cortez Masto won Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Humboldt, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Pershing, Storey, and White Pine Counties.

(all numbers from the SoS website)

So, yeah, I guess you could say that there might be a growing liberal base in the north, especially in Washoe and Mineral counties. Thanks for pointing that out, Governor!