Rep. Dina Titus, six-term Democratic congresswoman, faces off against Republican Mark Robertson in Nevada's 1st Congressional District election
- Rep. Dina Titus is running against Republican Mark Robertson in Nevada's 1st Congressional District.
- The 1st District is located in Clark County, covering many Las Vegas suburbs.
Longtime Democratic Rep. Dina Titus faces off against Republican Mark Robertson in Nevada's 1st Congressional District.
Nevada's 1st Congressional District candidates
Titus is serving her 6th term in the US House of Representatives. A staunch Democrat, the 72-year-old congresswoman votes in line with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time. In the aftermath of the 2017 shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival that killed 58 people and wounded over 500, Titus advocated for stricter anti-gun legislation.
She introduced legislation that would tightly regulate bump stocks, an attachment that enables semi-automatic weapons to fire with the speed of a machine gun. Last September, on the anniversary of the shooting, Titus introduced the Closing The Bump Stock Loophole Act, which passed the House on a vote of 233-194.
The Las Vegas Democrat was first elected in 2008 to represent Nevada's 3rd Congressional District, but two years later was defeated by Republican and former state Sen. Joe Heck by less than 2,000 votes. In 2013, Titus returned to Congress after winning in the 1st Congressional District.
Before her election to Congress, Titus served in the Nevada Senate and was its minority leader from 1993 to 2009. She also taught American and Nevada government classes from 1979 through 2011 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she has professor emeritus status.
Ahead of the November 2022 general election, she defeated her opponent, Bernie Sanders-endorsed Amy Vilela, in a Democratic primary by a 65-point margin.
Robertson, born in Orange, California, served in the US Army for more than 30 years and received accolades for his service in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and seven other foreign countries. In his last assignment, he served as a senior advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. Robertson also formerly taught at UNLV — the retired colonel taught classes on military science.
Robertson won the Republican nomination among a crowded slate of GOP candidates, ultimately beating out seven other contenders.
Voting history for Nevada's 1st Congressional District
Once in the heart of Las Vegas, Nevada's 1st Congressional District now encompasses more of Clark County.
President Joe Biden had a 25 percentage point margin of victory under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before it was redrawn to encompass more suburban areas in redistricting following the 2020 Census, making it less Democratic.
The money race
According to OpenSecrets, Titus has raised $3 million, spent $2.5 million, and has $871,042 of cash on hand, as of October 19. Her opponent, Robertson, has raised $1.1 million, spent $928,728, and has $188,547 of cash still left to spend, as of October 19.
Through early November, super PACs, national party committees, and other non-candidate groups have together spent almost $16.9 million to advocate for or against the candidates.
What experts say
The race between Titus and Robertson is rated as "tilt Democratic" by Inside Elections, a "toss-up" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.