Titus could shake up race for Senate

Dina Titus doesn’t scare easy. And that has to scare Nevada Democrats.

The party is putting on quite a show of force for former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, Harry Reid’s choice to succeed him in the U.S. Senate. Democrats are practically pushing each other over in the rush to endorse Masto. Reid, the Senate minority leader, will pull every string to line up national support.

But this mobilization isn’t taking place exclusively to give Masto an organizational advantage over the Republican nominee in next year’s election. It’s also intended to discourage Titus, who represents the bulletproof 1st Congressional District in the House, from pursuing a Senate bid and triggering a Democratic primary against Masto.

It isn’t working.

In an interview this week with the Reno Gazette-Journal’s Ray Hagar, Titus made it clear she has her own timeline for making that call.

“It’s a big decision, and that’s why I haven’t been in a big hurry to make it,” she said. “I’m trying to think it through. Think about my own life and family, and I really haven’t decided.”

Titus has a history of ignoring the party machinery in charting her political future. The former longtime state senator muscled her way into the House in 2012 by scaring off Reid’s chosen candidate, state lawmaker Ruben Kihuen. And in 2006, she dismissed party concerns that she couldn’t win the governor’s race by bouncing Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, who was considered more electable, in the Democratic primary. Titus proved her critics right by losing to Republican Jim Gibbons, who overcame allegations that he had sexually assaulted a woman because Nevada voters thought Titus was too liberal.

Titus told Hagar she loves her House seat: “No matter where you go in the world, when you say, ‘I represent Las Vegas,’ everybody knows where that is. And to me, that’s pretty damn exciting.” She can keep it as long as she wants it. But she likely will never serve in the majority. Republicans control the House 244-188.

Democrats have a path to retaking control of the Senate. But it will require huge sums of money, and Democrats hate squandering resources on primaries.

If Titus decides to pursue Reid’s Senate seat, it would have a ripple effect down ballot. Kihuen or former Asssemblywoman Lucy Flores, who have announced their candidacies for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, would jump out of that race and into the 1st District campaign to replace Titus in the House. Or maybe both of them. That would send other Democrats scrambling to enter the 4th District campaign.

I’m actually surprised Titus would even consider a Senate campaign. She has won just one competitive general election: the 3rd Congressional District, which she narrowly captured in the 2008 blue wave, then promptly lost to Republican Joe Heck in 2010. She has no great love of the state beyond Las Vegas, and no appeal whatsoever in the rurals or Reno area. Masto, meanwhile, has two statewide general election victories under her belt.

If Titus runs, she would set up a repeat of 2006. She could win the primary. And she’d lose the general election.

No wonder Democrats are scared.

Next NewsFeed

NewsFeed, the breakfast discussion series co-sponsored by the Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce, returns Wednesday, May 13, with a conversation about the emerging unmanned aerial vehicles business.

I’ll moderate a discussion about drones, whether Nevada can become a research, testing and manufacturing hub for the business, UNLV’s role in developing the industry, and whether federal regulations will hold back commercial applications for the remotely operated, flying machines.

The panel of experts includes:

— Jon Daniels, president of Praxis Aerospace Concepts International and a UNLV adjunct engineering professor.

— Mario Mairena, senior government relations manager for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

— Richard Jost, an attorney with Fennemore Craig Jones Vargas and an expert in UAV regulatory issues.

— Greg Friesmuth, founder and CEO of Skyworks Aerial Systems, a Las Vegas-based aerial robotics start-up.

The event runs from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Four Season Las Vegas, inside Mandalay Bay on the Strip. Tickets cost $40 and can be purchased through www.lvchamber.com or by calling Monica McColor at 702-586-3844. I hope to see you there.

Glenn Cook (gcook@reviewjournal.com) is the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s senior editorial writer. Follow him on Twitter: @Glenn_CookNV.