Dennis Hof, the flamboyant brothel owner from Pahrump, Nevada—who declared himself “the Trump of Pahrump” as he won a surprise victory in the Republican primary for a State Assembly seat in June—will be unexpectedly facing a Democratic opponent in the November election, even as he battles Nye County in a lawsuit over his now-shuttered brothels.
According to The Parhump Valley Times, after the Nye County Liquor and Licensing Board on August 7 refused to renew Hof’s brothel licenses, the 71-year-old self-described “pimp” filed a lawsuit against the county—his fourth—seeking monetary damages as well as an injunction against closing his businesses.
Whether the lawsuit will distract Hof from his campaign to win the 36th District Nevada Assembly seat is uncertain, and may not matter in the overwhelmingly Republican district. But 51-year-old elementary school teacher and assistant principal Leisa Romanov believes that she may have a better chance than previous Democrats running for the seat—a seat that Democrats have not even bothered to contest in the last two elections after losing in 2012 by 30 points.
“Right now, so many women are running and I’m running against a man who is very much like (Donald) Trump in the way he views women and treats them,” Romanov, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, told the Los Angeles Times. “I think that’s a huge part of this election, and I think it will work in our favor.”
In Nye Country, which comprises most of the 36th Nevada Assembly District, Trump in 2016 defeated Hillary Clinton with 68 percent of the vote, to juts 26 percent for Clinton. But in Clark County where Romanov resides—but only a sliver of which is part of the 36th District—Clinton beat Trump handily, 52-42.
Overall, in 2016, Clinton won the state of Nevada by about 27,000 votes, or roughly two percentage points.
Even Romanov herself is a former Republican, she told the Times, but she switched parties after a painful divorce which “raised my level of empathy. I was more aware of the struggles of a single mom and trying to make ends meet, trying to take care of a family and household.”
University of Nevada at Reno political scientist Erik Herzik told the Times that Romanov’s bid is a highly improbable one. “The demographics are overwhelmingly against her,” Herzik told the paper. “I think Democrats know this is a long shot, but it's a better shot than they’ve had in the past when they’ve had no candidate.”
Hof, however, could find that his current legal dispute with the county becomes political baggage. In addition to alleged code violations, the county licensing commissioners accuse Hof of making false statements in testimony before the board earlier this year.
Photo by Daniel Dacumos / Wikimedia Commons
