Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal Gov. Jim Gibbons chairs the Board of Examiners meeting Tuesday morning at the Capitol. Gibbons was ousted Tuesday by challenger Brian Sandoval
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons was tossed aside Tuesday - the first incumbent governor in Nevada history to lose a nominating election after a tumultuous first term marred by a bitter divorce, allegations of infidelities and an abrasive style that alienated members of his own party.
Gibbons was handily defeated in the GOP primary election by Brian Sandoval, a former federal judge who left the bench at the urging of party leaders to seek the state's highest office. He will face Democrat Rory Reid, the son of the Senate Majority Leader, who easily won his primary.
In early returns Sandoval maintained a 2-to-1 margin.
Gibbons, a 65-year-old former congressman and combat pilot who served in Vietnam and the first Gulf War, was shunned by the state's political power brokers amid all his personal problems, and he struggled to raise money against the well-funded Sandoval. Gibbons is the first incumbent governor to go down in defeat in 2010, but the outcome had more to do with his own issues than the anti-incumbent rage spreading nationwide.
Halfway through his first term, he filed for divorce from first lady Dawn Gibbons, claiming incompatibility to the woman he married in 1986. She, in turn, accused him of extramarital affairs with a former Playboy model and the wife of Reno doctor. The women and Gibbons denied the allegations.
Even before his first election, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress accused him of assaulting her in a parking garage after a night of drinks. No criminal charges were filed, though the waitress filed a federal civil lawsuit against him that is pending.
Gibbons was also hurt by the recession as Nevada's economy imploded when tourist and gambling taxes dried up and a housing boom that brought high-paying construction jobs went bust. Nevada's unemployment rate hit a record 13.7 percent in April, and it leads the nation in foreclosures.
Sandoval, 46, resigned from his lifetime appointment to the federal bench in September to run for office and quickly amassed a six-figure campaign war chest. He is a former state assemblyman, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission and attorney general, and is the first Hispanic politician elected to statewide office in the state.
He will now set his sights on Reid as Republicans hope to topple him and his father, Sen. Harry Reid, at the top of the ticket in November.
In the latest campaign disclosure, Sandoval reported raising about $1.8 million total, and had $575,000 in the back as of June 1. Reid, 47, reported raising $4.4 million total and had $2.8 million on hand going into the general election campaign.