Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) is risking her second midterm defeat in two different districts in the last 12 years, as polls show her Republican opponent, Mark Robertson, a retired U.S. Army colonel, with a lead and the momentum in the waning days of the general election contest in Nevada’s 1st Congressional District.
Two years later, she moved to what was then called Nevada’s “safest” congressional district for Democrats, pushing out a young, popular Latino Democrat who was favored by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for the seat, according to a Las Vegas newspaper account at the time.
Polls, District Turning Against Titus
A new Emerson College poll of 480 likely voters shows Robertson with a commanding lead over Titus with less than a week left.“With undecided voters’ support accounted for, Robertson’s support increases to 54% and Titus to 42%. Since the July Emerson/KLAS/The Hill survey, Titus has held at 41% while Robertson has gained 14 percentage points, from 37% to 51%,” added the Emerson survey.
Titus’ GOP opponent Robertson noted that if there was no joy in Nevada in 2010 over her performance, the mood is even worse in 2022.
“Dina Titus is an unapologetic progressive. She’s never seen a spending bill she didn’t embrace,” Robertson told The Epoch Times in an interview.
Robertson said he has spent the last 675 days speaking with the voters of the district on a full-time basis and has come to the conclusion that Titus hasn’t kept up with the voters’ quickly-changing moods.
“That was fine when the district was so overwhelmingly Democrat, but it’s no longer that way. It’s a very balanced district now. In fact, independents are the largest voting bloc, and independents aren’t happy with the inflation and with the wasteful government spending,” he said.
The sea change happened as the state’s Democrats took the risk of diluting Nevada’s Democrat majority in some congressional districts in a bid to add to the number of seats Democrats could have in a normal election year.
Robertson agreed, saying “We’re seeing an enthusiasm gap with Republicans leading Democrats by about 11 percent in expected turnout.”
The Robertson campaign has done the math, and GOP challenger contends the numbers look good for the campaign.
“The Democrats have a registration advantage from Cook Political Report as D+3. We need a 5 percent turnout advantage and a 5 percent advantage with independents. One report says we have a nearly 30 percent advantage with independents breaking nearly two-to-one for us, and then we have that 11 percent enthusiasm turnout advantage overall, that favors Republicans versus Democrats,” he added.
Attack Ad
For Robertson, the race has become somewhat personal, as Titus has been running ads that say that he “got rich while the firm he worked for swindled seniors out of millions.”Robertson was a registered financial advisor with Securities America, a broker-dealer, which was named in a complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about the sale of some sophisticated trading products not suitable for all investors, a not-uncommon occurrence with stock brokerages.
Robertson himself, however, was not named in the action by the SEC; only the firm where he was licensed was named.
Polarization and Hostility Dominate
Long-time Las Vegas talk host Alan Stock said that the race in Nevada’s 1st Congressional District is important because right now, Nevada, like the rest of the country is in disarray and perhaps the Titus ad campaign is a reflection of that.“I think it reflects the polarization that’s going on, nationwide,” Stock told The Epoch Times.
“This society has become more polarized in my lifetime than ever before and a lot of the country is divided and polarized. There’s a lot of hostility out there,” he added.
Stock, who has had Robertson on his show a few times, said the retired Army colonel was one of the “good guys,” which Stock didn’t say about some other GOP candidates in Nevada.
The race could be even more important because the divide in Nevada, like the rest of the country isn’t just between liberals and conservatives.
“There is that polarization within the parties themselves,” said Stock.
“I haven’t seen that before. I’ve seen where people won’t get involved in races, but not where they’re putting ads on TV like that,” said Stock.
“Republicans are probably pulling more together in this election than I’ve seen in the last couple of elections. I think they’re much more together at this point,” said Stock.
Stock says that hopefully, it means that the GOP will elect some candidates, like Robertson, who intend to unite people rather than divide people.
Democrats Have ‘No Answers for Latinos’
One Robertson booster criticized Titus for ignoring a group that has increasingly been turning to the GOP for answers to their problems: Latinos.“The Democrat Party in general does not have a Latino answer,” Al Rojas, an electrical engineer who supports Robertson, told the Epoch Times.
“[Titus] does not reach out to Latinos. She hasn’t shown anything where she’s meeting with Latinos,” Rojas said.
Rojas said typically the Democrats use Latinos to divide people.
The engineer said that what bothers him is that a lot of the money coming into the race is coming from outside sources, not from Nevada, because that money represents groups that don’t care about the district.
But those figures are dwarfed by outside spending for the race which Open Secrets said is over $14 million, split very nearly 50-50 between the two candidates.
Latinos want candidates who stand up for “God and country and for those who pay their bills on time,” added Rojas.
“They [Latinos] believe in family, God, job security, freedom, capitalism, education—and they like to work,” said Rojas, who noted that Titus’ district is the most rundown of the four Nevada congressional districts, with rampant homelessness.
Robertson’s Army Experience
For his part, Robertson, who has a direct email listed on his campaign website that goes to him personally, and a link that will schedule a 10-minute personal call with him there too, said the trick is to not change once elected.“I hope to be able to maintain that even after I’m elected,” said Robertson when asked about the easy method of communicating with him.
Robertson believes that he is uniquely qualified to keep that communication going, after serving in the Army as a civil affairs officer.
When people hear civil affairs they think about somebody whose duty is to deal with the press.
But civil affairs officers in the Army work with local populations to take care of problems and help citizens govern themselves and improve the quality of life, in the same way the best people in Congress do.
He used his last deployment to Syria as an example.
“The military cleared the town of Arak, Syria and then the civil affairs folks, like me, backed up with Special Forces would go in and help the Syrian people create their own civilian-led governing councils,” Robertson explained.
Democrats’ Failures
Robertson faulted Titus and the Democrats for failing to deal with Nevada’s everyday problems such as the increasing crisis when it comes to water, an important issue for a state that is largely desertRobertson said that Nevada can survive without another bridge being built or adding another EV charging station, but will literally die without water.
“Our Nevada delegation, especially as Dina Titus is on that committee, failed to get the resources to address the severe water issues that are in the West. That should have been at the top of the list when you’re talking about vital infrastructure,” said Robertson, referring to Titus’s membership on the House Transport and Infrastructure Committee. He added that less than 1 percent of the new Democrat infrastructure law went to water infrastructure.
Robertson also said that the best way to prevent U.S. involvement in foreign wars is to make it absolutely clear to countries, like China, for example, that the consequences of attacking other nations will be severe.
He said that he is convinced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine had it not been for President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
That withdrawal and the mixed messages Biden sent to Putin about the consequences of a Russian attack precipitated the current war in Ukraine, Robertson said.
And it’s something that we just can’t afford to get wrong with China and Taiwan, he added, referring to the communist regime’s designs to seize the self-ruled democratic island.
“We can no longer afford to show this type of weakness. We must show strength and resolve,” Robertson said.
“We ought to be going public on what it would mean to China if they were to go into Taiwan. And that includes all the elements of national security, diplomatic, information, military, and economic consequences. Economics may be where China would be most vulnerable,” he added.
Titus, Roberstson said, isn’t up to the task of representing a diverse constituency, as the 1st Congressional District now has.
“Dina Titus is a very poor campaigner. This district was so overwhelmingly Democrat that she didn’t campaign in the past,” he said.
“There’s no joy amongst voters right now with inflation and crime and open borders and poor performing schools.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to Titus’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee for comment.
