Democratic women eye bigger stage

A sort of sisterhood of candidates took the stage at a forum Wednesday night in Henderson.

Some of the Democrats' best hopes for November addressed members of the Henderson Democratic Club. They're candidates for suburban districts in Congress and the state Legislature, and all happen to be women in their 40s and 50s.

"I think it's our time to stand up and be counted," said Allison Herr, 45, an attorney running for state Assembly. "The state of Nevada is standing at a crossroads. There's a lot of people who have been involved in the community but not involved in politics. It's time for us to take that additional step."

In a year when Democrats have high hopes, the women are bringing similar messages to the bottom of the ticket -- hope, change, a fresh start for the future -- that are reflected at the top of it.

They've been involved in their homeowners associations, their churches and synagogues, their schools and local charities. But they say now they believe it's time to take that spirit of activism to the political stage.

"We tend to only deal with our little corner of the world," said April Mastroluca, 40, an Assembly candidate whose day job is with the national Parent Teacher Association. "This is a way to continue to improve the community but do it from a broader perspective. It's a way to broaden the number of people you can touch, the number of people you can help."

Herr, Mastroluca, fellow Assembly candidate Ellen Spiegel and state Senate candidate Shirley Breeden are holding a joint campaign kickoff on Saturday and plan to continue the race for their adjoining and overlapping districts as a team.

They are all first-time candidates. Their role model is state Sen. Dina Titus, who is making a run for the 3rd Congressional District after two decades in the Legislature.

That district also overlaps the legislative districts and a couple of others across town where Democrats' hopes also rest on the shoulders of middle-aged women who are new to politics but not to their communities.

All of the districts have trended more Democratic in recent months, a phenomenon attributed largely to the presidential race and the state's Jan. 19 caucuses.

Nationally, many political observers think the presidential candidacy of Sen. Hillary Clinton has blazed a lasting trail for women in politics. A new CBS News national poll found that 60 percent of men and 76 percent of women thought her candidacy, even in falling short, would make it easier for women to run for president in the future.

"Her historic campaign has ... broken new ground for women candidates and smoothed the path for the next generation of women candidates from local offices all the way up to the top," Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, said in a statement Wednesday. The group supports women candidates for office nationwide.

Titus, 58, said Nevada has a tradition of women in politics. This year, women make up 30.2 percent of legislators in the state, 13th in the nation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Although Titus failed in her 2006 bid to become the state's first woman governor, last year saw Democrat Barbara Buckley become the first woman speaker of the state Assembly.

With Wednesday's news that Clinton is leaving the race, Titus said she hopes the New York senator will be the vice presidential nominee.

"She's earned it," she said. "She got so many votes, her support is so strong. If you look at any of the other people they talk about to balance the ticket, not one of them has her gravitas."

The district where Titus is running is divided between Republicans and Democrats and is the sort of growing suburban area that, nationally, both parties have set their sights on.

Compared with other areas of Nevada, "this is the swing seat, so this is where the action's going to be," she told the group. "So you help one of us, you help all of us, up and down the ticket."

It won't be easy for any of the women. Titus hopes to unseat an incumbent, Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., and entered the race late. The other four are all first-time candidates. Spiegel is in a Republican district; Herr's opponent, the daughter of County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, has a well-known name; Breeden and Mastroluca entered the race late.

Breeden, 52, might be the longest shot. The longtime school district administrator, who put her name on the ballot on the last possible day, is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Joe Heck, a physician and Army colonel who just returned from Iraq.

Breeden said she was undaunted by the tough road ahead. "I'm a people person," she said. "I've helped people throughout my career with the school district. I believe that once they meet me, they'll see that my passion and my heart are with the citizens."

In her remarks to the group, Breeden introduced herself by saying, "You've probably read I'm a political unknown. This is my first try in politics." But, she added, "I've decided that I can't sit still. I've got to go on to something new, something bigger and totally out of my bailiwick."

Although Spiegel, 46, is also running for the first time, she wasn't unknown to the club, of which she has served as president for the past 15 months.

"The whole time my husband and I have been living here, we haven't had a representative in Carson City who represents our values," she said.

So she restructured her business to make time to run for and hold office in addition to the work she already does with her homeowners association and her synagogue.

The enterprise reminded Spiegel of a celebrity chef. "In the words of Emeril Lagasse," she said, "it's kicking it up a notch."

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2919.