Dina Titus

U.S. House, NV

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Beat a Bush-backing Republican. As one of the Bush administration's most dutiful foot soldiers, anti-choice GOP Rep. Jon Porter has provided unflagging support for Bush's Iraq war policy. He's voted for tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies for Big Oil since entering congress in 2003, while receiving $420,000 back in campaign contributions from the energy industry.

Proven Democratic leader, Titus, who was Nevada's Senate Democratic minority leader for 15 years, is known for her independent leadership and her strong moral compass--strengthening schools, preserving the environment, and protecting the rights and welfare of Nevada's citizens.

GOP intimidation attacks. Titus won't be outworked, but Porter has over $1 million in the bank, and the capacity to raise a lot more. The National Republican Congressional Committee started attacking Titus even before she got into the race. To overcome GOP attacks, Titus must raise $1.5 million.

The Political Situation

Democrats have an outstanding opportunity to seize a Republican- held House seat in Nevada’s third congressional district, where state Sen.Dina Titus, one of the state’s most respected political leaders, is taking on anti-choice GOP Rep. Jon Porter. Titus, who was Senate Democratic minority leader for 15 years, is a familiar face to Nevadans and widely admired for her political acumen, independence, and wit.Her candidacy puts this swing district into play in a year when Democrats have the potential to dramatically increase their congressional majority.

Porter, who tries to pass himself off as a moderate, is one of the GOP’s most dutiful footsoldiers.His loyalty to the Bush agenda led Geoff Schumacher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal to call him a “sycophant” and “devoted benchwarmer” for theWhite House. Porter voted for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and against a minimum wage increase.He favors amending the Constitution to ban gay marriage and opposes the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007 to enable workers to sue for pay discrimination. Porter is resolutely anti-choice, earning zeros from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America throughout his career.He’s provided unflagging support for the Bush administration’s Iraq war policy.And Porter has been particularly dedicated to helping the energy industry, including oil and gas companies— voting for tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies since entering Congress in 2003,while getting some $420,000 back in campaign contributions.Not surprisingly, he is a personal favorite of former oilman Dick Cheney,who noted at a Porter fundraiser that “the president and I enjoy very much working with Jon.”

Titus, in contrast, is known for her independent leadership and strong moral compass.A professor of political science at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas for 30 years, she was elected to the state Senate in 1988 and became Democratic leader in 1992. She has used her formidable political skills to improve the lives of Nevada’s working families—strengthening schools, preserving the environment, and protecting the rights and welfare of citizens. Titus fought to ensure equal treatment for gay and lesbian Americans and to keep the nation’s nuclear waste out of Yucca Mountain. She’s an outspoken defender of reproductive rights and women’s health, sponsoring legislation requiring the state to cover contraception in its employees’ health care plans and requiring insurance companies to cover the HPV vaccine.And when anti-choice forces tried to pass a law requiring hospitals to record the marital status of new mothers,Titus fought to protect the privacy of women’s medical records.

Titus is practically an institution in Nevada politics, having taught many of the policymakers she’s served with over the years. Like many Nevadans, she was not born in the state; a Georgia native, she’s never lost her southern accent. It’s just one more way Titus stands out; as Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Erin Neff once wrote,Titus “doesn’t just have the most distinctive accent in Nevada politics; hers is arguably its most unique voice.”

A fast growing, critical swing state,Nevada is becoming increasingly Democratic. In July 2008,Democrats held a statewide voter registration edge of 43 percent over 38 percent for Republicans.The terrain in the third congressional district has become even more favorable for a Democrat since Porter’s last re-election campaign in 2006.At that time,Democrats held a 2,882 vote advantage in this district; since then,Democratic registration has surged nearly tenfold (a result of the 2008 presidential primary campaign), and there are now 25,411 more Democrats than Republicans in this district.

The Issues

Titus is well-positioned to take advantage of these changing dynamics. She won a majority of votes in the third congressional district in her 2006 bid for governor,which she narrowly lost.Her state Senate district overlaps a good part of this congressional district—and she won her last two campaigns with 64 and 68 percent of the vote.Meanwhile, Porter’s grip is clearly slipping: in 2006, he won by fewer than 4,000 votes, after outspending his opponent two to one.

Porter has the backing of extremely powerful and wealthy special interests, including Freedom’sWatch, a right-wing group originally formed to promote Bush’s Iraq war policy.The money behind Freedom’sWatch primarily comes from billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino mogul and one of Porter’s strongest supporters. In September 2007,Adelson held a private fundraiser at his Las Vegas home, headlined by Vice President Cheney. Porter was among the beneficiaries of Freedom’sWatch’s $15 million ad campaign last fall to give an early boost to endangered Republican House members.

While she is a strong fundraiser,Titus is at a disadvantage against incumbent Porter. She raised more than $500,000 in the first two months of her campaign—but Porter has over $1 million in the bank, and the capacity to raise a lot more.The National Republican Congressional Committee started attacking Titus even before she got into the race.To overcome GOP attacks and defeat this Bush loyalist,Titus must raise $1.5 million.

Having spent her entire adult life teaching,Titus is deeply committed to improving public education. “We need to give every child who wants to go to college the opportunity to do so,” says Titus, who will fight to restore equity to student loan programs and ensure greater access to federal Pell grants and other options “that don’t burden college graduates with a lifetime of student debt.”

Titus supports free trade as long as it is fair trade,with agreements that include strong labor and environmental protections. “We need to fix our economic problems at home to expand our trading presence under favorable economic terms abroad,” she says, which includes resolving the credit crisis and reining in government spending. She supports budget policies that foster development of new technology. “We also must begin reinvesting in our infrastructure in ways that promote efficiency—for example, consolidated air, rail, and ground transport hubs,” she says.

“Tax policies should require all of us to pay our fair share, based on what we earn,”Titus says. “I do not believe companies that choose to locate off-shore should escape their tax responsibility. I do not believe oil and gas companies with record-breaking profits should receive special tax protections on the promise that they will develop more fossil fuel products.And I don’t believe very wealthy individuals should receive special tax status just because they are very wealthy, on the promise that those savings will be reinvested in the economy.Those trickle-down economics have not worked over the last eight years.”

“We have seen the devastating results, both economically and in terms of human lives, of misguided military actions,”Titus says. “We should act militarily only when there is a clear, direct, and substantiated threat to our nation or an ally, or in peacekeeping missions involving multi-lateral forces.”Titus will work to bring an end to the war in Iraq.Our most significant global challenge,Titus believes, is climate change. “Unless the U.S. participates in global efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions by reducing our own fossil fuel consumption and helping other countries do the same,we will continue to see weather and other environmental events disrupting food supplies, dislocating populations, and spawning clashes among nations over dwindling resources,” she says. “In Congress, I will encourage international efforts to address the causes and effects of climate change to foster a sustainable world economy—and avoid the foreign policy problems we will face if we don’t address this issue.”

Titus cosponsored legislation in Nevada to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation, enhance penalties for hate crimes, strengthen anti-racial profiling policies, and increase funding for the state’s equal rights commission. “Congress must strengthen laws relating to pay discrimination,” she says, adding women’s health equity and open access to federal contracts for minority- and women-owned businesses as priorities for Congress.

Titus’s leadership on criminal justice issues has made lasting changes in Nevada. She fought to strengthen domestic violence statutes, create an “Amber Alert” system for missing children, and toughen Nevada’s sex offender registration law. She strongly backed laws to battle the methamphetamine epidemic, and says the federal government should do more to help local law enforcement crack down on meth producers and dealers.

To help address the nation’s health care crisis,Titus advocates creating regional purchasing pools that would give states more leverage to negotiate lower costs with insurance carriers. “I would support a system of national health insurance funded by reasonable premiums for workers and employers,” she says. She also sponsored legislation to provide heath care for 20,000 uninsured Nevada children.

Education is the key to reducing poverty,Titus argues, giving children from lower socio-economic backgrounds the opportunity to rise above their circumstances. She supported measures to increase Nevada’s minimum wage and will continue to do so in Congress. “Economic development should be targeted to regions that have experienced extreme economic hardship as a result of industrial changes to help reinvigorate local economies,” she says.

Titus has worked hard to help Nevada strike a balance to accommodate incredible growth and environmental stewardship. Curbing greenhouse gas emissions tops Titus’s list of priorities in Congress. She supports investing in mass transit and promoting greater use of vehicles powered with renewable electricity.

Titus has been a consistent and unequivocal advocate for choice in the Nevada legislature, and will be a strong voice for choice in the U.S. Congress. 

September 2008