Jill Derby

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Jill Derby has served since 1988 as an elected Regent for the Nevada System of Higher Education. She served as the Democratic candidate for the open seat of Nevada's 2nd congressional district in the 2006 election.

1 Biography
2 2006 Congressional Campaign
3 Democratic Chairwoman
4 Issues
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Biography

Derby was born in Lovelock, Nevada to a father who was a World War II pilot and rancher. Her great-grandfather had settled in Nevada at the turn of the century and that's where her family has remained. In 1973 Derby married veterinarian Steve Talbot and has two children, Ryan and Tobyn. She studied anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno and University of California, Davis where she earned her doctorate in 1988.^[1]

She also was a health educator and training coordinator in Saudi Arabia. She has traveled through the Himalayas and been to Cambodia to the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat.

[edit] 2006 Congressional Campaign

Main article: Nevada 2nd congressional district election, 2006

Derby has had numerous supporters. CNN political anaylst, as the Reno Gazette-Journal reported, Paul Begala, who helped engineer Bill Clinton's 1992 win, said he was encouraged by U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to “stump” for Derby.^[2] In July the Las Vegas Sun reported Derby raised $269,000, ending with nearly $514,000 on hand for her campaign.^[3]

Secretary of the State of Nevada, Dean Heller won the Republican nomination in August to be Derby's opponent.

Derby was always fighting an uphill battle in her campaign in a primarily Republican district. Although she did win the Democratic primary by default (no Democrat challenged her in the primary election), many claimed she had no chance of winning. When polls showed the race was tied, President George W. Bush came to Nevada twice to campaign for Jill's opponent.

On September 20, 2006 the Las Vegas Sun reported, "Heller was 8 points ahead of Democrat Jill Derby of Gardnerville. In a Reno Gazette-Journal-KRNV News 4 poll taken soon later with a 4 percent margin of error,18 percent of the potential voters were undecided."^[4]

On November 7th, 2006 Jill was defeated in her run for US Congress by former Secretary of State Dean Heller. The race was close, but Heller managed to maintain a 5 percent lead winning 50% of the vote compared to Jill's 45%[2]. In response to her defeat Derby said "I got into this race to take Congress back, to restore the checks and balances that have been absent in our government, and get our country back on track to a brighter future. All that got accomplished in this election. We lost our battle but we won the war."

[edit] Democratic Chairwoman

On March 31, 2007 Nevada Democrats elected Derby as the next state chairwoman of the Democratic party. Derby will lead the party during the 2008 presidential caucus Jan. 19. Derby was elected after Tom Collins announced he would not seek re-election as chairman.

[edit] Issues

She identifies as a moderate politician with a "unique understanding of the most significant issues of the day – from education to the Middle East." Her campaign focuses on making healthcare affordable to combat the double digit increase in Nevadian family healthcare costs.[3] This also included lowering prescription drugs and overcome the prescription drug bill, which "Congress passed was by and for the pharmaceutical industry, not patients."

She also mains to restore fiscal responsibility. She noted, "politicians have created runaway deficits with wasteful spending, pet projects like the Alaskan bridge to nowhere, and special interests tax giveaways like billions for the oil companies."[4] She promises to "restore fiscal discipline in Washington, support a balanced budget, and pay down the national debt.”

Her stance in the Iraq War has been concrete in that Americans should "win the war once and for all." She believes "career politicians in both parties have failed to craft a plan to win the war and get the job done. Now that we’re there, we’ve got to finish what we started, honor the sacrifice of our service men and women, and built a stable peace. I’ll stand up to leaders in both parties who claim we don’t need a plan, and hold them accountable for success. And I’ll stand up to leaders in my own party and oppose an immediate withdrawal."[5]