Titus faces three primary challengers as she seeks her eighth term in CD1

U.S. Rep. Dina Titus is among the many Democratic incumbents across the country facing a slew of challengers ahead of the midterm elections calling for a new generation of leadership in Congress. 

Titus, who was first elected to Nevada’s 1st congressional district in 2012 and faces three primary challengers in her re-election bid, makes “very little” of criticism opponents have levied that House members are institutionally older and unwilling to pass the torch. Titus was previously elected to a term in the 3rd congressional district in 2008, but lost reelection in 2010.

“Frankly, at times like this that are very turbulent where you have some strongman President like Donald Trump, I think you need someone with experience who knows how to make things happen, has a record of getting things done, has been ranked the third most effective member,” Titus said.  

Republicans hold a razor thin majority in the House and there is a very high chance Democrats could regain control in the upcoming midterm election. 

If successful, “I think you’d see in the House investigations of what’s been going on in the Trump cabinet and under the Trump administration, asking some hard questions about the war,” Titus said. 

Titus’ primary opponents include Joy Hoover, an entrepreneur and founder of the anti-sex trafficking nonprofit The Cupcake Girls; Gabriel Cornejo, a web and app developer who previously ran for president in 2024; and Luis Paniagua, a financial consultant. All agree with Titus that the House is in play – and Democrats winning a majority would bring a needed check on Trump.

Titus’ challengers credited Titus with some good work in Congress, but questioned if she is the best person for this moment. 

“I think what I’m bringing to the table is just a new generation of leadership and a type of campaign, a truly grassroots campaign that is for the people and funded by the people and built by the people,” Hoover said. 

Hoover noted that for nearly 30 years, the seat has been held by two people – before Titus, current Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley held the seat after being elected in 1998. 

“I think Dina Titus has done a lot of good work in the community,” Hoover said. “I respect who she is and what she’s done. This is not an anti-Dina Titus campaign. You’ll never hear me talk negatively about her, because that’s not who I am.”

Constituents, Hoover said, “haven’t really been offered a lot of choice in these races,” arguing this year could bring about change. 

Titus has seldom faced challengers in the majority blue district. 

She didn’t have a primary opponent last election cycle. In 2022 when Titus faced Amy Vilela, a former state co-chair for the 2020 presidential campaign for the U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, she won the primary election with nearly 80% of the vote.

This year’s race is actually giving people more options for the better, Paniagua said. 

“I think we really need to have a political change in terms of how we center people opposed to money,” he said. 

Cornejo argued that the generational divide in Congress is not only hurting Democratic standing in the House but it is alienating younger voters. 

“This should be the Generation X that’s leading right now, but it’s still the boomers …, that time has come and gone,” he said, adding “it’s up to us millennials” to take the reins.

Titus pushed back against criticisms about her being in Congress too long. 

“You want to throw all that out?” Titus said. ”You can’t criticize my policy position, so now you’re going to criticize that I’ve been there too long when I’ve been delivering. Why do you think I’m able to deliver?”

Titus said it is because of her experience that she knows “how the process works and how to do things for the good of people in Southern Nevada.”

She also questioned the seriousness of Cornejo, who previously ran for president in 2024 but appeared on ballots in eight states. 

“One of my opponents ran for president, don’t forget,” Titus said. “So that gives you some idea of how serious of a candidate he is.”

Though all candidates believe there is a tide changing among voters, Titus has not just her Democratic opponents but the various Republicans running against her as well.

Titus raised $1.5 million according to Federal Elections Commission filings and currently has about $1 million cash on hand. 

Hoover has raised $67,000 with about $1,400 cash on hand.

Neither Cornejo or Paniagua have raised anything.

Reining in Trump

Both Hoover and Cornejo are campaigning for term limits and campaign finance reforms. They also support Medicare for All, legislation that Titus has previously backed. 

Paniagua is running on a platform to incorporate East Las Vegas into its own city.   

One point of criticism that Titus’ opponents have pointed out was her vote for the Laken Riley Act, which was signed into law by Trump in the first month of his second term and allows undocumented immigrants to be detained for nonviolent offenses like shoplifting. 

Nevada’s entire Democratic delegation voted for the bill despite significant warnings from immigration attorneys and coalitions who warned the measure would “deny due process” for people accused of a crime without conviction.  

“When everybody knew that this was going to lead to racial profiling,” Titus turned her back on the community, Cornejo said. 

Paniagua said he has previously supported Titus but questioned her vote for the bill.

“How can you represent pretty much the entire East Side of Las Vegas, which is a heavy Latino community, and vote for that bill,” he asked. “The message was pretty detrimental for instilling fear across the community. Fighting fear is a difficult thing to do.”

When pointed out that the ACLU of Nevada, immigration attorneys and groups warned it would lead to due process issues, Titus said that “was speculation on their part.”

“I think everybody is entitled to due process,” Titus said. “ICE has turned out to overstep their authority. I saw this (bill) as a criminal crime prevention kind of action that was not just directed at all immigrants. I don’t have anything else to say about that.”

In the wake of a dramatic – and at times deadly – surge of federal immigration enforcement, there have been more calls for U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement to be abolished, which Hoover and Cornejo support. 

Titus argued if Democrats win the majority they would be in a better position to halt Trump’s excessive immigration enforcement. While she stopped short of calling for abolishing ICE she said she feels “strongly that restrictions should be put on ICE.”

If Democrats regain the House,  it offers a chance of reining Trump in, Titus said. 

“I’d like to see us do something about the tariffs to be sure that they are not controlled by the President, but by the Congress where they should be, and see if we can’t get a rebate for those tariffs that were already declared illegal,” she said. 

Titus also hopes a new Congress could push policies that make the tax structure more fair and “not one that just gives all the benefits to the wealthy and leaves the middle class holding the tab.”

Her opponents remain skeptical Congress can address affordability issues without having new leadership. The problem, Hoover said, is too many members are beholden to special interest groups who lobby against policies that help the middle class. 

Both Hoover and Cornejo have argued their top priority if elected would be passing legislation aimed at taking money out of politics. 

It’s not just age that concerns Titus’ opponents. 

The majority of Congressional members are millionaires, which disconnects them from the struggles over everyday Americans and the solutions they need, Hoover added.

“Across the nation, I think what we’re seeing is people waking up and going, ‘Why isn’t anyone representing us?’ ” Hoover said. “There is a major gap between the corporate class and the working class, and that’s something I really want to fight. That’s not something that most of our elected officials fight because they all take a lot of money from those corporations.”