Nine state senators keep seats

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2000 | 10:45 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- For the first time in the 135-year history of Nevada, the membership of the state Senate will be identical in two consecutive sessions of the Legislature.

And Sens. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Joe Neal, D-Las Vegas, both re-elected this year, become the longest serving members of the Senate, each starting their 29th year.

Every incumbent senator up for re-election Tuesday triumphed. And Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, lost in his bid for Congress and will be returning to the 2001 Legislature. Republicans continue their 12-9 majority over Democrats in the Senate. The makeup will continue with five women and three blacks in the Senate next year.

There were nine seats contested in the general election -- five held by Republicans and four by Democrats. Neal had already won his re-election in the primary race when he beat two Democrats.

Never in Nevada's history has the membership of the Senate been the same in two consecutive regular sessions. There has always been at least one new member, except for this year.

Raggio and Neal break the record of William Dressler of Douglas County, who served 28 years in the Senate.

And this new record will stand because there is now a constitutional limit of 12 years for state senators.

Raggio, the majority leader, said he will call a GOP caucus in a few weeks to choose the leadership for the next session. But things are not expected to change that much. He said there may be some accommodations if some Republicans want to switch committees.

But Raggio is expected to remain as majority leader and as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, has called a Democratic caucus for tonight to choose the party leaders. Titus said she would like to continue as minority leader because of the reapportionment issue, shifting more seats to Southern Nevada.

While Democrats hoped some of their "sleeper" candidates could surprise Republican incumbents, voters didn't have any appetite for change. The Senate in 1999 passed a balanced budget, didn't raise taxes and didn't increase their own paychecks. And those up for election opposed to the initiative petitions to impose a 4 percent business profits tax sought by the school teachers union and the raise in taxes for major gambling casinos as proposed by Neal.

The incumbents were also able to raise a lot more money for their campaigns than the challengers.

Titus, a political science professor at UNLV, won her fourth term, polling more than 60 percent of the vote for an easy victory over Republican Ken Sondej, who characterized himself as "an employee of the people."

Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, was one of the seats targeted by Democrats as a possible victory. But Rawson captured a fifth term, defeating Terrie Stanfill, president of a Las Vegas consulting firm. Others in the race were Duncan Dodge of the Citizens First Party and Jess Howe, an Independent American candidate.

Another Democratic hopeful, Ed Beaman, was unable to defeat Sen. Mike McGinness, who won a third term. McGinness, an executive at a radio station in Fallon, represents one of the largest districts in the United States. It includes Churchill, White Pine, Esmeralda, Lincoln, Mineral and Nye counties and parts of Eureka and Lander counties.

Beaman who has lived in Pahrump for nine years and works for the Clark County Fire Department, said Pahrump has 40,000 people but they have no voice in the Legislature. But he could not overcome the registration majority of 20,428 Republicans to 17,956 Democrats. McGinness, who headed the Senate Taxation Committee last session, has been extremely popular in rural Nevada.

In another race, Sen. Ray Shaffer, a Democrat from North Las Vegas who has been in the Senate for 16 years, handily defeated Republican Richard Gardner in District 2 in Clark County.

Incumbent Democrat Valerie Wiener in District 3 in Las Vegas raced to a second term over Lou Toomin, a Republican. Toomin served one term in the Assembly as a Democrat and has run three times since unsuccessfully for the Legislature. Alice Lillie, a Libertarian, was third.

Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, named as the best lawmaker in the 1999 Legislature in one poll, scored an easy victory in District 5 in Clark County, defeating Democrat Charles "Chuck" Hawk, Independent American John Lusk and Libertarian Mark Warden. O'Connell, who heads the Government Affairs Committee, may handle the volatile issue of reapportionment in the coming session.

And Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, easily defeated his Republican opponent, Channing Grant.

In Northern Nevada, Raggio rolled to a big victory with more than 70 percent of the vote over Lois Avery of the Natural Law Party, who has run several times for office in the past.

Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, easily defeated Libertarian William "Billy" Oswald in the Northern Senatorial District that encompasses Humboldt and Pershing counties and portions of Elko, Eureka and Lander counties.