Year of the (Republican) Woman in Nevada

(Chuck Muth) – Republicans only have one woman in the state Senate, Barbara Cegavske, and she’s termed out after this year. In the Assembly, the GOP only has two women – conservative Michele Fiore and moderate Melissa Woodbury.

But that situation could change dramatically next year.

While Cegavske will leave, it is well-known that Senate Minority Leader Moderate Mike Roberson is singularly intent on anointing a woman candidate to replace her, any woman, no matter how under-qualified said woman might be when compared to the impressive political resume of Assemblyman John Hambrick, who is very interested in the seat and highly deserving of a shot at it.

Similarly, in the Senate District 9 race against incumbent Democrat Justin Jones, Roberson is also trolling for a woman candidate and may have settled on Becky Harris – a failed Assembly candidate in 2012 who doesn’t even live in the district but is able to move there. And there’s also Mari St. Martin, who ran for that seat last year and might want to give it another go.

Meanwhile, a number of promising conservative women are stepping up to the plate in state Assembly races and could significantly boost the roster of members of the fairer sex.

Assemblywoman Michele Fiore is likely to hold onto her seat despite rumored efforts by some moderates in her caucus to field a primary challenger against her in the District 4 race in Las Vegas.

Dr. Robin Titus is almost a shoe-in to replace moderate Assemblyman Tom Grady in the District 38 seat in Lyon County.

Lisa Krasner has an excellent shot at knocking off moderate Assemblyman Randy Kirner in the GOP primary next year for his strongly Republican District 26 seat in Reno.

Jill Dickman is a longtime GOP activist in Reno who has a great shot at knocking off incumbent Assemblyman Skip “Union Label” Daly, the only Democrat currently representing a GOP-majority district.

Rumors continue that moderate Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury of Henderson might make a run for state Controller, or even just retire outright. If so, conservative Amy Groves, who unsuccessfully ran in 2010 in a huge D-majority district, has property in District 23 and is seriously considering running there.

And Victoria Seaman, also an unsuccessful candidate in 2010, told me Friday night she intends to run to replace Democrat incumbent Assemblyman William Horne, who is termed out of his District 34 seat in Las Vegas.

And I’m sure there are others yet to come.

So not only could the GOP caucuses become more conservative for the 2015 session, it’s likely to look a lot better, too!