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June 16th , 2023 Political Note #568 Steve Horsford Nevada 04
2024 General Election
Steve Horsford is the 28th Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Sixty Members of Congress are members of the Caucus. Fifty-six are Democrats; four are Republicans. Of the 213 Congressional Democrats, 26% are members of the Caucus; 2% of the 222 Congress Republicans are Caucus members.
Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas described the Caucus as “probably the closest group of legislators on the Hill. We work together almost incessantly, we are friends and, more importantly, a family of freedom fighters.” She argued that they were effective beyond their numbers. And sixty is a big number.
Steve Horsford has a history of being effective. Before he was elected to Congress, he was the Majority Leader of the Nevada State Senate. Before that, he chaired the State Senate Finance Committee. He finds a way to power and effectiveness wherever he is. Nevertheless, a victor in 2022 by only 10,747 votes, he is #15 on Len’s List of vulnerable Democrats in the US House of Representatives. Demographics alone, make reelection a challenge. The district is 47% white, 28% Hispanic, and 14% African American.
Steve Horsford had to find his own way, even in childhood. His mother came to Las Vegas from Trinidad and became pregnant with him at 17. His dad did not exactly disappear, but he did not have much of a presence either. With his mom addicted to drugs, Steve Horsford’s school saw him as the family’s adult – when he was 10 years old. He demonstrated his leadership with the other kids. Elected president of his sixth grade class, he figured out how to get them all a juke box. He worked his way through high school – at a Pizza Hut and cleaning kennels for a veterinarian. When he was 19, his father was killed. There are two stories about that death – by someone robbing the restaurant where he was working as a cook or as a result of a dispute about drugs.
Steve Horsford came home from the University of Nevada, Reno to deal with the aftermath of his father’s death. He missed a year of schooling, returned, but did not quite finish. He was finally able to legitimately claim he had his Bachelor’s Degree after he got the degree in 2014. That year, he was in his first term in Congress, but he had a setback. He lost in November.
By the time he was 23, he had a job working for R&R partners, the marketing firm that created the aphorism – “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” From there he worked for and became CEO of the Training Academy for the Las Vegas local of the Culinary Workers of America – the most powerful union in Nevada. Their encouragement and support, in 2004, helped elect him to the Nevada State Senate.
Steve Horsford was back in Congress in 2018. He has had a distinguished career and a scandal or two on the way. When he was in the State Senate, he was embarrassed when a local television station found him parking in a handicapped parking spot. On a bigger scale, he offered private lunches to donors. Some called that “pay to play.” And still bigger, before introducing legislation that would help online gambling, he accepted a trip to the Bahamas from an online gambling company.
He has had personal embarassments. His wife, Sonya Douglass, who he married in 2000, has become a distinguished academic and is now on the faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University. Her views were transformed in graduate school, where she became convinced that Historically Black Universities were more effective in preparing educational leaders than integrated graduate programs. She wrote her dissertation about what she had learned. And of course, she is in New York while Steve Horsford is in Washington DC. That is not impossible for a marriage. But it is not the train trip that separates them.
Steve Horsford’s relationship with Gabriel Lindor is part of what separated him from his wife. He met Lindor during her internship in Harry Reid’s office and sustained a relationship with her for ten years. She made the relationship public through a podcast she titled Mistress for Congress. In response to the podcast, Sonya Douglass suggested that her husband not run for election again in 2022.
Steve Horsford’s political views are more conventional than his personal life. He points to his personal experience in his advocacy for vocational education. He points to everyone’s experience with Covid and his own personal history of heart surgery in his advocacy for universally accessible health care. And he points to his father’s death in his commitment to reducing crime by reducing the availability of guns. He would require background checks for all gun sales including sales at gun shows,a ban on assault weapons and bump stocks and all private sales. His position on undocumented immigrants is interesting. He is for DACA, for increased border security and for a pathway to citizenship for all immigrants.
You get a sense of Steve Horsford’s priorities from his Break the Cycle of Violence Act, co-sponsored with Lisa Blunt Rochester. Thought the bill did not pass the Senate, he proposes to get things done through incentives. The bill would have provided $6.5 billion in grants over eight years to community-based and faith-based organizations to coordinate with the police for gun-violence intervention and violence prevention programs.
Help Steve Horsford achieve his goals and ours. Provide him with the support he needs to get reelected.
Five Vulnerable Democratic Incumbents in the Southwest
Incumbent Gabe Vasquez New Mexico 02. In his first term, he is an environmentalist for the people and was elected to a district that keeps swinging back and forth from D to R and back to D. He is #1 on Len’s List of vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Former Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, who he ousted from Congress, is running to get the seat back. See Len’s Political Note #536
Incumbent Yadira Caraveo Colorado 08. In her first term, she is a pediatrician and a state legislator whose personal commitment has been to serve low income children, her political commitment is to create a society where everyone has a decent opportunity for a good life. She is #2 on Len’s List of vulnerable Democratic incumbents. No Republican has announced a candidacy for this seat yet. See Len’s Political Note #537
Incumbent Susie Lee Nevada 03. In her third term, beginning in 2018, she has won by 10 points, 3 points, and 4 points. He is #13 on Len’s List of Vulnerable Democratic Incumbents. Now divorced from the owner of several casinos, she was a philanthropist and community leader before she was a politician. Two Republicans have already announced their candidacy for this seat – a former state senator and a right wing columnist. See Len’s Political Note #533
Incumbent Steve Horsford Nevada 04. In his fourth term, an African American, he Igrew up with the responsibility of being head of the family from a very early age. He is a former majority leader of the State Senate and is #15 on Len’s List of vulnerable Democratic incumbents. See Len’s Political Note #568
Incumbent Dina Titus Nevada 01. In her 8th term in Congress, she served 20 years in the Nevada Senate after coming to Nevada from the South to be an academic and to teach history. In her most recent election, she won by almost 6 points and is #20 on Len’s List of vulnerable Democratic incumbents. No Republican has, as yet, announced for this seat. See Len’s Political Note #444 for 2022
Five Vulnerable Republican Incumbents in the Southwest and, where we have them already, Democratic Challengers.
Republican Incumbent Lauren Boebert Colorado 03. In her 2nd term in Congress, she is a former restaurateur and far right activist with a particular interest in supporting gun rights. In her most recent election she won by 546 votes. She is #1 on Len’s List of vulnerable Republican incumbents and will be facing Democrat Adam Frisch, a former member of the Aspen City Council, and the candidate who came close to defeating her in 2022. See Len’s Political Note #523
Republican Incumbent Dave Schweikert Arizona 01. In his 8th consecutive term and 9th term as a Congressman, the House ethics committee has been critical of his handling campaign funds. He is #8 on Len’s List of vulnerable Republican incumbents. Five Democrats have already announced they are running for this seat and there are rumors about a fifth. These include ex Arizona Red Cross CEO Kurt Kroeme, ex CEO of the financial firm Aspiration Inc Andrei Cherny, State Rep Amish Shah, orthodontist. Andrew Horn, and ex TV anchor Marlene Galan Woods.
Republican Incumbent Juan Ciscomani Arizona 06. In his first term as a Congressman, he was a senior advisor to the Arizona Governor. #10 on Len’s List of vulnerable Republican incumbents, he will face Kirsten Engel, who was his opponent in 2022. She is an environmental attorney, a former state rep and state Senator, and a faculty member at the University of Arizona Law School. Two other Democrats have announced – Businessman Jack O’Donnell and Regional Legislator Vieri Tenuta. See Len’s Political Note #558
Republican Incumbent Monica De La Cruz Texas 15. In her first term as a Congresswoman, she was a realtor before she was elected to Congress. She is #20 on Len’s List of vulnerable Republican incumbents and will face Michelle Vallejo, who runs, with her father, a flea market. In 2022, she was was handicapped by a very close primary run off and a lack of funds. She will be handicapped by neither in 2024. See Len’s Political Note #567
Republican Incumbent Eli Crane Arizona 02. I A former Navy SEAL in his first term as a Congressman, he joined with the most extreme Republicans in Congress after defeating a popular moderate Democrat in a district gerrymandered so that a Democrat would find it difficult to win. He is #25 on Len’s List of vulnerable Republican incumbents and could lose only in a heavily Democratic year against a strong Democrat who could be a moderate to Crane’s extremism. No Democratic candidate has yet announced for this seat.
