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Conservative activist joins GOP primary for Congress in 1st District

Updated February 17, 2022 - 5:18 am

The Republican primary in the 1st Congressional District is getting more crowded, after conservative activist David Brog on Wednesday announced his candidacy for the seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Dina Titus.

Brog is known as a supporter of former President Donald Trump and as a defender of Israel. He helped found the group Christians United for Israel and is executive director of the Maccabee Task Force. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, he’s also one of the organizers of the National Conservatism Conference. He was a speaker at the Israeli American Conference for educators in 2021 at Lake Las Vegas.

“I’ve spent my life fighting for the conservative principles of President Donald Trump’s America First agenda, and I’m running for Congress in Nevada’s 1st District to help refocus the politicians in Washington on putting our own citizens and communities first,” Brog said in a statement Wednesday. “In Congress, the only people that Dina Titus puts first are President Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi — with whom she has voted 100 percent of the time. We can no longer afford a rubber stamp like Dina Titus in Congress who does nothing but support Joe Biden’s inflation-boosting spending, open border policies and economic policies that have destroyed our communities.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee replied in a statement on Wednesday: “With a conservative activist, far-right conspiracy theorist, and radical abortion ban proponent, among others, the GOP primary in Southern Nevada is shaping up to be a messy race to the right that’s sure to only get worse in the months ahead.”

But before Brog can take on Titus, he will need to survive the Republican primary. Already in the race are Carolina Serrano, who led Hispanic outreach efforts for Trump in 2020, businessman and Army veteran Mark Robertson and political consultant and podcaster Jessie Turner. Titus faces a Democratic primary from former Congressional District 4 candidate Amy Vilela.

The 1st District has changed considerably after last year’s redistricting, from a compact, highly Democratic stronghold in the center of the valley to a sprawling area that takes in parts of downtown Las Vegas, stretching all the way to Henderson and including conservative enclaves in Sun City Anthem and Boulder City. Some Democratic voters formerly in the 1st District were moved to neighboring districts by the Democratic authors of the plan. Although Titus registered strong objections, the final maps were approved by the Democrat-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Steve Sisolak anyway.

Filing for the seat opens on March 7. The primary election is on June 14.

Contact Steve Sebelius at SSebelius@reviewjournal.com. Follow @SteveSebelius on Twitter.

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