Dina Titus
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Dina Titus (born 1950) is the Minority Leader in the Nevada State Senate. She has held the post of Minority Leader since 1993 and has been in the Nevada Senate since 1989. When the state Legislature is not in session, Titus is a political science professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
[edit] Biography
Born Alice Costandina Titus into a Greek family in Thomasville, Georgia, she grew up in Tifton, Georgia. Raised as a "Southern belle", active in tap dancing and cheerleading, she was nevertheless part of a political family; a grandfather was a United States Representative, an uncle was in the Georgia General Assembly, and her father ran for mayor of Tifton.
Always a strong student, Dina was admitted to the College of William and Mary solely on the strength of her test scores and high school grades (before ever being able to complete high school), from which she graduated in 1970 with a B.A. in American government. Titus went on to receive a master's degree from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in political science from Florida State University. In 1977, the newly-minted Ph.D. then came to Las Vegas to teach political science at UNLV.
A term as a staffer in US Senator Howard Cannon's office interested Titus in Democratic Party politics, and so she ran for the State Senate in 1988, winning a seat. She represents District 7, which includes most of the Las Vegas Strip from Sahara Avenue down to and including McCarran International Airport.
On August 15, 2006 Titus defeated Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson to secure the Democratic nomination for the upcoming gubernatorial election. With no other serious candidates for the office, Titus received 64,006 votes, Gibson 42,973.[1] She lost the general election to Jim Gibbons by a margin of 47% to 44%, due in large part to the strong popularity of Gibbons in rural and western Nevada.
Titus is married to Thomas Clayton Wright, a UNLV history professor. Some of her personal interests are travel and tap dance.
[edit] References
- Erin Neff, "Titus shows punch", Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 3, 2005
[edit] External links
Categories: 1950 births | Living people | American political scientists | College of William and Mary alumni | Florida State University alumni | Members of the Nevada Senate | People from Georgia (U.S. state) | People from Nevada | University of Georgia alumni | University of Nevada, Las Vegas | Greek American politicians
