Nevada Democratic state Sen. Dallas Harris is being challenged by Republican attorney Lori Rogich.
Republicans are hoping a candidate with storied last name in Nevada politics can oust a Democratic incumbent in a state Senate district that heavily leans blue.
Democratic State Sen. Dallas Harris, an attorney who has served the district since 2018, is facing off against attorney Lori Rogich, a Republican, for Senate District 11.
The district has a sizable Democratic advantage, with 30,801 active registered voters compared to 25,215 active registered Republican voters. But nonpartisan registration is higher than both, with 38,100 voters.
Harris won re-election in 2020 with nearly 60% of the vote.
Democrats are one seat shy of a veto-proof majority in the Senate and would need to retain Harris’ seat as well as flip one other district to obtain a supermajority. Democrats currently have a supermajority in the state Assembly.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, along with his closely aligned Better Nevada PAC, have recruited Rogich in an effort to flip the seat.
On her website, Rogich, who did not respond to requests for an interview, touts herself as a “newcomer to the political arena” since she’s never run for office but understands the “negative impact of bad laws and unnecessary regulations.”
Rogich is the wife of Sig Rogich, a former campaign adviser for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, as well as Sen. John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign. Sig Rogich also served as a White House adviser and was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Iceland during the administration of the elder Bush.
The most recent campaign finance report shows that Harris had raised $232,000 as of July, while Rogich had raised $268,000 in the first six months of the year.
Harris said her challenger’s family’s political history and connections are different from the experiences of most Nevadans, including herself.
While knocking on doors and hearing stories of people who struggle with cost of living, child care and prescription drug prices, she said voters need someone who understands what they are going through – a qualification Harris meets as she herself is familiar with the “painful weekly payment for child care, because I have a 3 year old in preschool.”
“In the times we are in, we need somebody who knows what it’s like to be an average Nevadan,” Harris said.
She said her opponent can’t just “decide you want to buy your way into the state Senate.”
Republicans have heavily campaigned on control of the Legislature and the need to secure Lombardo’s veto power.
Harris said she isn’t focusing on Democrats winning a supermajority and overriding Lombardo’s vetoes.
“I think we all talk a lot about the idea of a supermajority but that’s not what I’m hearing when I’m knocking doors,” she said.
Criminal justice, housing crisis
Harris previously worked as an administrative attorney on the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada
She was first appointed to SD 11 in 2018 after Aaron Ford, who previously held the seat, was elected as attorney general.
Rogich previously served on Lombardo’s transition team for governor as part of the education transition committee and was appointed to the Cannabis Advisory Commission by Lombardo.
She won a lawsuit against the Clark County School District in 2021 over the district violating education disability law.
On its website, the Lombardo-aligned Better Nevada PAC writes “that Democrats have made it easier and easier to get away with crime” and Rogich is a better choice to be tougher on criminals.
Neither the PAC nor Rogich’s website specify what legislation they are referring to.
But the rhetoric is an echo of that used by Lombardo when he was running for governor, when he pointed to the 2019 legislation Assembly Bill 236, which made modest changes to sentencing policies by lowering some penalties for those convicted of nonviolent theft and drug crimes in an effort to address overcrowding in the state’s incarceration facilities.
The bill was significantly amended at the behest of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which ultimately testified in neutral before the bill passed with bipartisan support.
“There is a difference between being tough on crime and being smart on crime,” Harris said. “We needed to update our criminal laws. This was done pursuant to a study commissioned by (Republican Gov.) Brian Sandoval. To make this criminal justice reform effort a partisan thing now is really kind of a bit of revisionist history.”
On the campaign trail, Harris said voters are talking about the high costs of everything from prescription drugs to housing.
Lombardo has repeatedly called for the federal government to release more land owned by the Bureau of Land Management in order to develop more housing.
On her website, Rogich echoes Lombardo’s support for the federal government releasing “more federally owned land for economic development and affordable housing.”
Harris said while all options should be considered, making federal land available affordable housing is far from the silver bullet Lombardo and Republicans would have voters believe.
“Frankly, a good portion of it is in places where people don’t currently live,” Harris said of BLM land. “It’s not going to do us any good to open federal land in the middle of the state where there is no infrastructure, no cities, no towns.”
She added there are other policies to consider when addressing the cost of housing.
Lawmakers passed proposals in 2023 to address some housing issues, including temporarily capping the cost of rent for seniors, requiring modest transparency around rental application and junk fees, and reforming the eviction process.
“We are going to try to bring back those issues to try to address affordable housing,” Harris said. “We passed several pieces of legislation to try to provide relief for folks. Unfortunately, all of those efforts were vetoed.”