Last time we talked about the 1972 primary that changed Nevada. A decade later, the primaries and general election proved to be important to Nevada’s future.
For the first time, Nevada had two House seats, thanks to the growth recorded by the 1980 census. In both cases, the primaries were pretty easy and the general election was hard-fought, but not all that close. The northern Nevada seat went to Barbara Vucanovich, the state’s first congresswoman, who served seven terms and became the first Nevadan to be in the party leadership in the House. The southern seat went to Harry Reid, who moved up to the Senate after two terms, eventually becoming Senate majority leader.
The marquee race was the U.S. Senate. On the Republican side, a Nevada political newcomer, Rick Fore, seemed the likely winner. Then, at the last minute, Chic Hecht filed. He was a longtime Las Vegas businessman who had been in the state senate. Hecht won.
As for the Democrats, after four House terms, Jim Santini wanted to move up to the Senate. But after four terms there, Howard Cannon wanted one more round. They waged a brutal primary fight, with accusations flying back and forth. In the end, Cannon held on, winning by a large enough margin in Clark County to hold off Santini. It was the only county Cannon won.
Then it was on to the general election. Few thought Hecht had a chance — and, interestingly, one of the few was Cannon. Hecht had a speech impediment, so you rarely if ever heard his voice. He ran anti-Cannon ads and tied himself to a pair of Republicans wildly popular in Nevada: Ronald Reagan and Paul Laxalt. Most politicians seek attention; Hecht would respond if you asked him, but otherwise he didn’t say a lot publicly, and the media didn’t ask him much or seek him out. Meanwhile, outside money poured in from the National Conservative Political Action Committee, known as Nickpack. They accused Cannon of missing a lot of votes. They called him liberal, much as Santini’s campaign did, and some of the Democrats who backed Santini didn’t stick with the party and Cannon for the general election. Meanwhile, some liberals were unhappy with Cannon’s support for airline deregulation and defense industries. Critics said he’d been around DC too long. That was ironic. As the seventh-ranking senator in seniority, that meant Cannon had power he could use for Nevada, and he used it.
Cannon also took hits because of the mob. Some organized crime figures and the Teamsters Union boss, Roy Lee Williams, had been caught on wiretaps talking about trying to bribe Cannon. They never actually tried. But that got a lot of attention. Their trial was held that fall, and just before the election, Cannon had to go testify. All of those factors combined to help Hecht beat Cannon by only about 5,600 votes out of more than 240,000 cast.
There was also a hard-fought Democratic primary for governor that year, involving then-Lieutenant Governor Myron Leavitt and State Treasurer Stan Colton. The winner went on to defeat incumbent Bob List in the general election. The election was indeed important to Nevada’s future… and, as it turned out, mine! If I hadn’t won, maybe I wouldn’t be reading Nevada Yesterdays.