Nevada Democratic Majority Leader Steven Horsford to run for U.S. House

State Democratic Majority Leader Steven Horsford will run for the U.S. House in a bid that could see Nevada elect its first African-American congressman.

Horsford said he will formally declare his candidacy Thursday.

He was elected to the state Senate in the heavily Democratic Clark County district in 2004 and became the state's first black majority leader in 2008.

His ascension to one of Nevada's most powerful posts is notable in this Western state, where black voters complain of disenfranchisement. When he became majority leader, he was the fourth black to serve as a senator since the Nevada Legislature first convened in 1864.

Horsford says he hopes to succeed Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, who is running for the U.S. Senate.