Assembly Republican Minority Leader Heidi Gansert said today that her surprising decision not to seek re-election to her Reno district was “a personal decision,” but not one that closed off a future in politics. She said she decided “a while ago” not to run, but kept her decision secret so as to not cause a disruption in the recent special session to fix the state’s budget gap.
“It’s really more of a personal decision. I’m just going to take a break,” said Gansert, who was first elected in 2004. She became assistant minority leader in 2007, and minority leader in the 2009 session.
Gansert had been mentioned as a successor to Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, the longest-serving state senator in Nevada history. Although Raggio’s term doesn’t expire until 2012, some have speculated that Raggio would retire mid-term and allow the Washoe County Commission to appoint Gansert as his replacement. She said Thursday she wasn’t even considering that option. “It’s not even on my radar,” she said. “I’m pretty confident that Senator Raggio is going to serve out his term.”
But, Gansert allowed she may consider running for Raggio’s seat herself in 2012.
Gansert said rumors of a coup didn’t influence her decision to bow out of a legislative career. “There really wasn’t anything brewing,” she said.
Assemblyman John Hambrick, who said on Face to Face with Jon Ralston that he was interested in a leadership post, today declined to announce a run for minority leader, saying it would be inappropriate and self-serving given the timing of Gansert’s surprise announcement. Hambrick described himself as “flabbergasted” when Gansert told a conference call of Assembly Republicans her intentions to quit. 
“My interest in leadership is known,” Hambrick said. “I’m not going to back away from it. I’m not going to lie.” But he said he faces a primary challenger before any race for leadership. “I’ve got a long, hard job to do,” said Hambrick, who retired from a job with the federal government after serving with the U.S. Secret Service and other law-enforcement agencies.
Ironically, Gansert was considered vulnerable to a conservative challenge to her leadership job because she wasn’t seen as conservative enough, and Hambrick is to her right. However, Hambrick has drawn a conservative challenger in his district’s primary, ostensibly because he isn’t conservative enough, either. (Hambrick voted for the budget plan and jobs bill introduced at the recent special session; both items were backed by Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons.) “If you look at my record, I don’t know how far right they can go,” he said.
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