SENATE DISTRICT 7

Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004 | 1:24 a.m.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus faces two challengers in her bid to win a fifth term representing District 7.

Republican Paul Fairfield and Independent American Party candidate John Darius Russo will try to knock off Titus in a district where Democrats greatly outnumber voters in other parties.

District 7 includes McCarran International Airport and the Strip, and the neighborhoods east past Boulder Highway. There are about 47,700 Democrats, 28,900 Republicans, 2,900 Independent American Party members and 16,300 unaffiliated voters.

Titus, 54, a UNLV political science professor, has been a senator since 1988, and minority leader since 1992. Titus said the most important issues for her are smart growth, property-tax reform and integrity in government.

Titus has been endorsed by many groups including the Professional Fire Fighters of Nevada, the Nevada State Education Association, the Nevada State AFL-CIO, the Nevada State Law Enforcement Officers Association, the Nevada Nurses Association and the Nevada Association of Manufactured Home Owners.

Fairfield, 37, a locksmith, is making his first run for public office. He scored an impressive primary victory, receiving 70 percent of the vote.

Fairfield said he decided to run because of the "tax fiasco" of the last legislative session.

He also said that state leaders should realize Yucca Mountain will become the nation's nuclear waste dump and work to get reimbursed for taking the waste.

He has no endorsements.

Russo did not return calls seeking comment for this report.