Gibbons vows to keep up homeland security efforts

Erin Neff

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2002 | 9:46 a.m.

Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons thanked voters for overwhelmingly electing him to a fourth term Tuesday and vowed to continue his homeland security efforts in Congress.

Gibbons, 57, of Reno, crushed his four District 2 opponents, who combined for just 26 percent of the vote to Gibbons' 74 percent.

"We worked very hard, and there's no doubt in my mind that voters are happy with the representation I'm providing," Gibbons said at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas Tuesday evening before hopping a plane to continue his celebration with supporters at the Peppermill hotel-casino in Reno.

Democrat Travis Souza finished second with 19.9 percent, Independent American Party candidate Janine Hansen finished third with 3.6 percent, Libertarian Brendan Trainor got 1.7 percent and Natural Law candidate Robert "Stickerman" Winquist got 0.39 percent.

Gibbons is a Gulf War and Vietnam War veteran who serves on the House Intelligence Committee. In his third term he became a close ally of the White House, becoming one of Congress' leaders for President Bush on proposed development of a homeland security department.

"This election is extremely important, not only for his agenda, but for America," Gibbons said. "We have just started down the path of homeland security, and there is a lot of work we can now do."

The second district has just 12,500 voters in the northern portion of Clark County, but includes all of the state's 16 other counties.

Gibbons, a former state assemblyman and the Republican nominee for governor in 1994, is considered one the state's leading Republicans and a potential future candidate for U.S. Senate or Nevada governor.

"We're going to look and see what we're doing in 2004 and again, maybe in 2006," Gibbons said. "We never say never."