2006 Congressional Campaign
Derby ran against Secretary of the State of Nevada Dean Heller, who won the Republican nomination in August and the general election in November.
Derby was always fighting an uphill battle in her campaign to win a primarily Republican district. Although she did win the Democratic primary by default (no Democrat challenged her in the primary election), many claimed she had no chance of winning. When polls showed the race was tied, President George W. Bush came to Nevada twice to campaign for Heller.
Derby had numerous supporters early on. In December 2005, CNN political analyst Paul Begala, who helped engineer Bill Clinton's 1992 win, said he was encouraged by U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to “stump” for Derby. In July the Las Vegas Sun reported Derby raised $269,000, ending with nearly $514,000 on hand for her campaign.
On September 20, 2006 the Las Vegas Sun reported, "Heller was 8 points ahead of Democrat Jill Derby of Gardnerville. In a Reno Gazette-Journal-KRNV News 4 poll taken soon later with a 4 percent margin of error, 18 percent of the potential voters were undecided."
The race was close, but Heller managed to maintain a 5 percent lead winning 50% of the vote compared to Jill's 45%. In response to her defeat Derby said "I got into this race to take Congress back, to restore the checks and balances that have been absent in our government, and get our country back on track to a brighter future. All that got accomplished in this election. We lost our battle but we won the war."
Read more about this topic: Jill Derby
Famous quotes containing the word campaign:
“The fact that a man is to vote forces him to think. You may preach to a congregation by the year and not affect its thought because it is not called upon for definite action. But throw your subject into a campaign and it becomes a challenge.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)