Henderson mayor dispels rumors

Jeffrey Libby

Monday, Jan. 15, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson said Friday he will not run for the new 3rd Congressional District seat in 2002.

Rumors at City Hall and elsewhere over the past month pegged Gibson as a likely candidate to run for the seat created by the federal government following the release of 2000 Census numbers in December.

But Gibson, who is a Democrat, said he intends to run for a second term as Henderson mayor this spring. He has unfinished business to attend to closer to home, he said.

Gibson's announcement narrows the field of Southern Nevada politicians expected to run for the seat that will inevitably tip Nevada's votes at the national level to one political party.

County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, a Democrat, has formed an exploratory committee to investigate potential campaign donors for the much-discussed seat. Many people speculate that state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, also will run for the seat. Porter ran an unsuccessful campaign for the 2nd Congressional District seat against Shelley Berkeley last fall.

Other names also are circulating as potential candidates.

But Gibson, who will file his candidacy for mayor Jan. 23 in the town where he grew up as a four-sport high school standout, said the expected field didn't influence his decision to keep his political ambitions closer to home.

"There was a time when I was very interested in that seat," Gibson said. "But a lot has to happen for a campaign like that to be viable."

Gibson said he will consider running for "other offices down the road."

For a congressional campaign to be viable, he said, "there would have to be a lot of hard work behind the scenes" going on now to assess a candidate's ability to raise money.

"You're really only talking about a year now," Gibson said.

Gibson said he made his decision not to run for the 3rd Congressional District seat before Herrera announced publicly last fall that he had launched an exploratory committee.

Herrera has had strong support from Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the most powerful Democrat in the state, for several years.

Reid was instrumental in getting Herrera a speaking slot at the nationally televised Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles last fall. They prepared their convention speeches together in Herrera's hotel room, Herrera said.

Reid also supported Herrera in his campaigns for state Assembly and the County Commission.

"Sen. Harry Reid and I previously talked about me running for the 3rd Congressional District seat. And the conversations were initiated by him," Herrera said Friday. "I can say I have always had the honor of Sen. Reid's support in previous elections."

But Herrera declined to say that he has Reid's endorsement for the expected district seat race.

Porter declined Monday to say whether he will run for the district seat. The district boundaries have yet to be drawn by the Legislature, he said.