Dean Heller - U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. House of Representatives

See also: Nevada 2nd congressional district election, 2006, United States House of Representatives elections in Nevada, 2008#District 2, and United States House of Representatives elections in Nevada, 2010#District 2

Heller announced his candidacy in 2005. On August 15, 2006, he narrowly won the Republican primary for the congressional seat being vacated by 10-year incumbent Jim Gibbons, who was running for governor. Heller received 24,781 votes to Assemblywoman Sharron Angle's 24,353. Dawn Gibbons, a former State Assemblywoman and wife of the incumbent, finished third with 17,328 votes.

Heller defeated University of Nevada Regent and Democratic candidate Jill Derby in the November general election by 5 percent, the closest race in the history of this normally heavily Republican district. Heller lost Washoe County, home to Reno and by far the largest county in the district (it casts more than 70 percent of the district's vote). However, he won most of the rural areas of the district by margins of 2-to-1 or more, allowing him to win the district by 12,600 votes. Heller was almost certainly helped by the presence of Gibbons atop the ballot; Gibbons carried the 2nd by a landslide margin in his successful gubernatorial bid. He faced Derby again in 2008. However, the district reverted to form and Heller won by 10 points. He easily dispatched an underfunded Democrat in 2010.

In 2009, Heller had been rumored to be a candidate to challenge embattled Republican incumbent Governor Jim Gibbons or Democratic United States Senator Harry Reid in 2010. He declined to run for governor or senator, and instead chose to run for re-election.