Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Heller scores repeat defeat of Derby

Heller

Kevin Clifford / SPECIAL TO THE LAS VEGAS SUN

Jill Derby, Democratic candidate in the 2nd Congressional District, talks on Tuesday to Gloria Lawrence, a volunteer for voter protection, near a voting area at Pine Middle School in Reno. Heller failed for a second time to defeat Rep. Dean Heller.

There was a glimmer of hope Tuesday for the Nevada GOP.

Republican Rep. Dean Heller defied the Democratic wave that reached Northern Nevada, the state’s most conservative territory, and soundly beat Democrat Jill Derby by a wider margin than he did two years ago.

Yet earlier in the night, as formerly red states shifted into the blue column, the race looked far from certain. Republicans wondered aloud whether this district, which includes Northern Nevada counties, could really have a Democrat represent it.

“That’s the race I’m watching,” said Heidi Smith, chairwoman of the Washoe County Republican Party, early in the night.

Democrats saw this year, and 2006, as their best shots of capturing the seat, which has always been held by Republicans. After Tuesday, national and state Democrats will surely wonder whether they will ever be able to turn the seat.

Heller was supposed to speak to the GOP faithful at the Washoe County Republican Victory Center, at a Reno hotel, where a few partisans hung around the ballroom to see whether Heller could slip past Derby. But Heller watched returns from a hotel room above the Eldorado ballroom, where a dejected crowd dwindled to a handful.

By 10 p.m., Heller still had not emerged. In fact, no Republican addressed the crowd of about 500. (If the faithful were to be rallied, it apparently wasn’t going to be done Tuesday night.)

Two years ago, Derby came surprisingly close to beating Heller, taking Washoe County by 4,000 votes but losing mightily in the rural counties, to end with 45 percent of the vote to Heller’s 50 percent.

This year, Derby ended up beating Heller in Washoe County by 5,500 votes. But her victory paled in comparison with the 25,000 votes by which Barack Obama defeated John McCain in Washoe.

Heller had burnished his conservative credentials, and didn’t have to endure a brutal primary as he did two years ago, leaving him bloodied and broke.

Still, some Democrats blamed Derby’s campaign. Speaking on condition of anonymity, one Reno Democrat complained Derby was too conservative for the base, which provided money and volunteers, to embrace.

The candidates’ tactics were predictable. Heller, who had spent 12 years as secretary of state, tried to portray Derby as a career politician and tax-and-spend liberal. Derby had served on the nonpartisan Board of Regents, which sets university policy.

Heller’s most memorable ad riffed on the Broadway show tune “Hey Big Spender.” Heller pulled the song after a lawsuit was filed by the owners of the song’s copyright. But in a sign of its staying power, after Heller introduced Gov. Sarah Palin on election eve, the emcee led the crowd in a modified version of the song.

Derby fought back, arguing Heller represented special interests and had forgotten Nevada. She attacked him for voting with the Republican Party 92 percent of the time.

Her message, she said on Election Day, before the results were announced, was: “This has really been a campaign about change. We can’t afford more of the same. We need a new approach, new leadership. I’ve always said, Nevada deserves better.”

Replace the word “Nevada” with “America” and she sounded like Obama.

However, she didn’t perform as well as the president-elect in Washoe County, where a Derby victory would be won or lost.

In Congress, Heller has become a surprising darling of conservatives, cementing that reputation by voting twice against the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

Heller argued he had the conservative bona fides all along, he just hadn’t flexed them when he was the state’s top election official because it was important for the secretary of state to be nonpartisan.

Now, after their losses on Tuesday, Nevada Republicans will look to him to continue carrying their torch in Washington.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy