Republican gets in 1st Congressional District race, could hurt Ruben Kihuen’s chances

By Karoun Demirjian

Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 | 12:54 p.m.

Ruben Kihuen, the state senator hoping to become Nevada’s first Hispanic representative, had a tough race already, facing fellow Democrat and former Rep. Dina Titus.

Now, there’s another Hispanic in the race: a Republican who could split the support of the Hispanic community that Kihuen’s team hoped to rally.

Mike Rodrigues, an elementary school principal from Las Vegas, has an educational background that ranges from opera to business to Christian ministry, and a resume that includes service in the U.S. Air Force and teaching at the Las Vegas campus of the for-profit University of Phoenix. His platform is improving the economy and the educational system by keeping things local.

“My entire career has been focused on raising standards in the classroom and enhancing the quality of life for the citizens of Nevada,” he said in his campaign announcement. “It’s time to take that same fight to the United States Congress.”

Should Rodrigues face Kihuen it wouldn't be until the general election. But if he builds enough support among the 1st District’s almost 43 percent-strong Hispanic population, he could emerge as the better-positioned Latino to make state history.

His biggest obstacle is that he’s a Republican.

The 1st District has only ever been represented by a Republican for four years: under John Ensign, the now-departed senator, from 1995 through 1998. Voter registrations in the district also heavily favor Democrats, who as of this fall had 148,606 in their ranks, while Republicans only had 81,548.

Democrats expected that Kihuen would draw a healthy portion of the Latinos who are registered Republican: the Republican-registered leaders of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, for example, have all already express their support of Kihuen.

Titus, however, polled strongly among Hispanics in an internal poll that set far ahead in the 1st District primary race: it put her ahead of Kihuen among likely Latino voters, 64 percent to 22 percent.

But Rodrigues could do something else for the Republicans even if he can’t win.

Nevada is arguably the biggest toss-up state. Both presidential matchups between President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney and the contentious Senate contest between sitting Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Shelley Berkley (who currently represents the 1st) have ground to an entrenched 50-50 split, and don’t show any signs of budging anytime soon.

But Republicans are predicting nonetheless that this is their year to score gains in the Latino community -- so long as they have the candidates to take home the message.

“Republicans will compete in every Latino community this year,” Republican National Committee political director Rick Wiley said this morning in a memo announcing the expansion of the RNC’s Hispanic outreach effort in key swing states like Nevada, as well as the results of a survey that announced “some glaring vulnerabilities” for Obama. “Republicans may not win a majority of the Latino vote, but again that wouldn’t be the entire story. The harder the president has to fight for the Latino vote means less attention and resources available to campaign elsewhere.”

“Adding a farm team, and making sure we expand our efforts at all levels is a huge priority,” added Bettina Inclan, the RNC’s new director of Hispanic outreach, when the Sun asked if recruiting candidates like Rodrigues in districts like Nevada’s 1st was part of their outreach strategy.

Rodrigues just so happened to announce his candidacy on the day the GOP rolled out its survey and plan.

The flurry of attention to Latinos is striking Democrats as just a bit too panicky: A spokesman for the Nevada Democratic party referred to the GOP’s latest Hispanic outreach announcement as “damage control.”

“The reason that Republicans feel the need to pay lip-service to Latino voters is clear: the Republican brand among Latinos is irreparably damaged in Nevada,” Zach Hudson wrote in a statement.

But the president's numbers with Latinos are suffering, too. While Obama once pulled three-quarters of the Latino vote -- which is about what Berkley’s still pulling among Hispanics in Nevada -- his national numbers are now down to 46 percent in that same community.