All in the Family
It’s a Mixed Bag When Relatives Are on the Ballot Together
Roll Call Staff
A political legacy may have foundered in Ohio’s 2nd district last week when Sen. Mike DeWine’s (R) son lost a special primary to succeed U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman in Congress.
But in Nevada and Maryland, potential candidates are hoping to use their family name and fundraising contacts to replace family members in Congress in 2006 — and hoping to benefit from appearing on the ballot at the same time as their better-known relatives.
With Rep. Jim Gibbons (R) preparing to run for governor of Nevada, his wife, former state Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, is running in a three-way GOP primary to replace him in the House.
Meanwhile, in Maryland, Rep. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) is running to succeed retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), while his nephew, state Del. Jon Cardin (D), is hoping to succeed his uncle in the House.
Running for office with a famous last name brings distinct advantages, as Eddie Murphy’s character showed in the film, “The Distinguished Gentleman.” But running with a familiar name also carries potential pitfalls.
A New Day Dawns
With her interest in pushing organ transplants and crisis call centers, some may have expected Dawn Gibbons to jump at the chance to serve as the Silver State’s first lady and use the platform to promote her pet issues. But Dawn Gibbons knows safe Congressional seats rarely become open.
If she gets her wish, in January 2007, her husband will move into the governor’s mansion and she will take over his $1,000-per-month studio apartment at the Capitol Hill Suites.
It would not be the first time Dawn Gibbons has stepped into her husband’s shoes.
For four months in 1991, Gibbons replaced her husband in the state Assembly while he was flying reconnaissance missions in the Gulf War.
She was so nervous when she first stepped into the media spotlight that she made then-Gov. Bob Miller (D) do all the talking when they announced her husband’s temporary resignation. By the end of the session, however, she was hooked on politics.
Gibbons was elected to the Assembly in her own right in 1998 and served six years. With her son heading to the University of Nevada at Reno in the fall, the former state lawmaker from the “biggest little city in the world” said that she is ready to come to Washington, D.C.
“I’m lucky to be married to Jim Gibbons because he was raised by a mother who worked,” Dawn Gibbons said. “He has always supported me. I’m his equal. It’s not all about him.”
One of Jim Gibbons’ rivals for the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, refuses to make an issue out of the dual bids for high office. The former businesswoman prefers to focus on her qualifications to be the state’s CEO.
Hunt noted that legacies are nothing new in Nevada politics: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (D) son, after all, chairs the Clark County Commission.
But Dawn Gibbons’ two Republican rivals for the House are not giving her a free pass.
First Lady From a Distance?
State Assemblywoman Sharron Angle (R) thinks the state will be “shortchanged” without a full-time first lady.
“She would make a gracious first lady,” Angle said. “Where is she going to be if she goes to Congress?”
Secretary of State Dean Heller’s campaign spokesman, Mike Slanker, considers Jim Gibbons the “prohibitive favorite” to be the state’s next governor. But he does not think Nevada’s 2nd Congressional district is “ready to elect a husband and a wife to two powerful political seats.”
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