Big legislative race, bigger money

Mark Hutchison first ran for local elected office way back in 1996, when he was a 33-year-old political newbie trying to start his own law firm.

It was quite a splash. His bid for a seat on the Clark County School Board became, at the time, the most expensive trustee race ever. Hutchison and incumbent Lois Tarkanian raised and spent more than $100,000 when a typical School Board race barely attracted one-fourth that amount.

"It gave me a good feel for what it took to run a campaign," Hutchison said last week. The race heightened a feud between casino developer Steve Wynn and the Tarkanian family when Wynn provided financial backing for Hutchison's run. "It was certainly an education in the political process," he added.

Tarkanian, now a member of the Las Vegas City Council, won going away.

Over the New Year's weekend, Hutchison decided the time was right to make a second run for office. The Republican will seek election to state Senate District 6, a northwest valley seat that, along with the District 5 race in Henderson, will decide which party controls the Legislature's upper chamber in 2013.

And just like Hutchison's School Board race, his legislative run could hit an eye-popping fiscal benchmark: a $1 million state Senate campaign.

That kind of money typically is reserved for tough County Commission races. Some statewide offices don't attract that kind of dough.

But the cash that's already starting to pour into the District 6 race signals how important the suddenly open seat is to both major parties, their agendas and their supporters.

Hutchison declared his candidacy Tuesday. Democrats couldn't afford to give him even a week's head start uncontested, so on Thursday incumbent Sen. Allison Copening made months of rumors about her exit from politics official by announcing she wouldn't seek re-election. Hutchison instead will face Benny Yerushalmi, the Democrat who lost to Republican Elizabeth Halseth in the 2010 campaign for Senate District 9.

(Yerushalmi didn't return a phone call seeking comment.)

Hutchison's name hasn't appeared on a ballot in 16 years, but he's been plenty active in politics and the community since his initial lesson in elections.

He served on the state Ethics Commission for six years, including two years as chairman. In 2010, he was tapped by then-Gov. Jim Gibbons to help Nevada join the 26-state legal challenge to ObamaCare when Democratic Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto refused to join the case. And last year he represented the Republican Party in the state's court-driven redistricting process. He's been involved in GOP fundraising for years.

Hutchison said his experience with the ObamaCare appeal, which will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this spring, played a large role in his decision to run for the Legislature.

"The concept of federalism needs to be fully supported by the states against an overarching, all-powerful, all-knowing central government," Hutchison said. "Other states were holding hearings on the effect health care reform would have on their budgets" through the expansion of Medicaid. "For whatever reason, whether it's because Democrats control the Legislature or something else, we have never had that conversation in Nevada."

Hutchison attended local public schools and graduated from UNLV. His law practice and family have grown -- he now has a large office in Summerlin and six children. And he is keenly aware of the economic suffering Southern Nevada can't seem to escape.

"The Legislature has to maintain and foster a pro-business, pro-growth environment," he said. "I've had lots of close friends laid off. ... The downturn has hurt many of those close to me, and I'm going to do everything I can to enable job growth."

He said schools "are to state government what national defense is to the federal government -- it's the top priority, the most important function. And we have to come up with ideas other than just throwing more tax money at them to make schools better." He supports Gov. Brian Sandoval's education reform agenda and wants to see more businesses form partnerships with their neighborhood schools, as his firm has.

The stakes in the Hutchison-Yerushalmi race are as simple as they are huge. Democrats currently control the Senate, 11-10. For Democrats to preserve their slim majority, Yerushalmi must win, as must Joyce Woodhouse in District 5 over Republican Steve Kirk, a former Henderson city councilman. Democratic control of the Assembly is a foregone conclusion. Retaining the majority in the Senate would ensure Democrats own the legislative agenda for the third straight session -- an agenda that's hostile to business and protective of public employees and their unions.

But if the GOP can win just one of those two competitive districts and claim the majority, Republican priorities would actually get committee hearings and votes. Assembly Democrats would have to compromise to get their agenda passed. There would be balance in Carson City.

Although Democrats currently have slight voter-registration advantages in both District 6 and District 5, GOP victories in both races are plenty possible. Already, there are striking parallels between the 2010 and 2012 elections.

In 2010, both Yerushalmi and Woodhouse lost critical Senate races that allowed the GOP to shrink the Democratic majority. Yerushalmi lost to Halseth by 5 percentage points even though Democrats held a 3-point registration advantage and Yerushalmi had outspent Halseth by a whopping $300,000. Woodhouse, as an incumbent, lost to Republican Michael Roberson by 4 percentage points even though Democrats held a 2-point registration advantage and Woodhouse had outspent Roberson by more than $150,000. (This year Woodhouse is running in place of incumbent Democrat Shirley Breeden, who is vacating the seat to care for her mother.)

Given the importance of this year's races to the business community, I'd be shocked to see such large fundraising disparities this time around. These will be high-profile, big-money campaigns. And if the past two legislative elections are any indication, Democrats will make them nasty and personal.

Already, the first shot has been fired at Hutchison -- albeit from a popgun -- by Copening on her way out the door. "He comes off as pretty conservative, as an extremist," she said last week.

Believing the Constitution actually places limits on the powers of the federal government makes you an extremist? I can't wait to see how that strategy plays out.

Glenn Cook (gcook@reviewjournal.com) is a Review-Journal editorial writer.