Nevada Dem rep considering Senate run against Heller
Democratic Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.) is eyeing a bid against Sen. Dean Heller in 2018, arguing the Nevada Republican is vulnerable.
“It’s going to be interesting. I’m thinking about it. Some people have talked to me about the possibility. It’s a hard decision,” Titus told KNPR, a Nevada NPR affiliate station, when asked who could challenge Heller next year.
She added that if she doesn’t run against Heller, she’ll run for reelection to her House seat because she’s starting to gain “clout” in the House.
“That’s part of the consideration. … It is hard to walk away from where you think you can make a difference,” she said. “Whoever runs I’ll certainly be helping them, if it’s not me, and I think we can take him out.”
Heller is viewed as the most vulnerable GOP senator up for reelection in 2018 during a Senate cycle that is very favorable for Republicans. Democrats are defending 25 seats, while Republicans only need to defend nine, including Nevada.
{mosads}Titus is currently trailing Heller in campaign money. She had $274,715 cash on hand as of the end of March, according to the Federal Election Commission. Heller, whose first quarter report hasn’t been published on the FEC’s website, had more than $1.36 million in the bank at the end of 2016.
But Titus argued that Heller is vulnerable because of the state’s Democratic tilt during the 2016 elections, voter registrations, and the state’s demographics.
Heller has faced criticism from both Democrats and conservatives this week after the GOP senator said at a contentious town hall meeting on Monday that he had “no problems” and “would protect” federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
Megan Taylor, a spokeswoman for Heller, clarified his position after the town hall, telling the Las Vegas Review Journal that the GOP senator has a “long record” of opposing federal funding for organizations that provide abortions.
“While he doesn’t have a problem with many of the health care services Planned Parenthood offers to women, he is opposed to providing federal funding to any organization that performs abortions and is supported by taxpayer dollars,” she said.
Titus pointed to Heller’s stance on Planned Parenthood as an example of where he has “flip-flopped on so many positions it’s hard to pin him down.”
“Sometime that might be an asset for a politician, but right now people are fed up with that,” she said “When you tell one thing to one group, and something else to another that’s going to come back to bite you. That’s exactly what happened to him with Planned Parenthood.”
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