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David Parks (politician)

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David Parks
Parks in 2011
Member of the Nevada Senate
from the 7th district
In office
2012–2020
Preceded byDina Titus
Succeeded byRoberta Lange
Member of the Nevada Senate
from the Clark 7th (Dual-Member District) district
In office
2008–2012
Serving with Mark Manendo (2010-2012)
Terry Care (2008-2010)
Preceded byDina Titus
Member of the Nevada Assembly
from the 41st district
In office
1996–2008
Preceded byLarry Spitler
Succeeded byPaul Aizley
Personal details
Born (1943-12-22) December 22, 1943 (age 80)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Residence(s)Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
EducationUniversity of New Hampshire
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Military service
AllegianceUnited States of America
Branch/serviceUnited States Air Force
Years of service1966–1971

David Parks (born December 22, 1943) is an American politician from Las Vegas, Nevada. A Democrat, he served in the Nevada Senate for 12 years, representing the state's 7th district in Clark County. He was elected to the Senate in November 2008, prior to which he had served in the Nevada Assembly since 1996. He was term-limited in 2020 and did not run for re-election.[1]

Early life and career

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Educated at the University of New Hampshire, Parks served in the United States Air Force between 1967 and 1971, and was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. He then earned an MBA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Political offices

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A former assistant director of Clark County's Regional Transportation Commission,[2] he was first appointed to the Paradise Town Advisory Board in 1991 and served three terms. He was elected the board's chairman in 1992 and served in that role until his election to the State Assembly in November 1996. He was re-elected comfortably in 1998 and 2000.

In 2002, longtime Republican opponent Tony Dane (who Parks defeated in 1996 and 1998) convinced a man also called David Parks to run against him for the Democratic nomination in the 41st Assembly district. Challenger Parks' name was removed from the ballot when it became apparent that he was not a resident of Clark County, nor indeed of Nevada.[3] Incumbent Parks won the general election and was re-elected again in 2004 and 2006.

He was not a candidate for re-election to the Assembly in 2008 but instead ran for the Nevada Senate in the 7th district, seeking to succeed Dina Titus who mounted a successful bid for Congress.[4] Three Democrats and three Republicans filed for the seat. In the primary election held on August 12, 2008, he faced a well-funded opponent[5] but prevailed easily, winning 71 percent of the vote in a three-way race.[6][7] He faced Republican Lindsay Nicole Madsen in the November general election, winning easily; he garnered 68% of the vote to her 32%.

In 2010, he ran to succeed Rory Reid on the Clark County Commission, losing the Democratic primary election to Mary Beth Scow by just 91 votes.[8][9]

He was appointed to the Governor's Statewide AIDS Advisory Task Force in 1987 (serving until 1994) and again in 2002 (still serving).[10]

Electoral history

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David Parks was elected in 1996 to serve in the Nevada State Assembly in Clark District 41.

Nevada State Assembly, Clark District 41 General Election, 1998[11]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Parks 1,886 63.95
Republican Phillip Dane 1,063 36.05
Nevada State Assembly, Clark District 41 General Election, 2000[12]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Parks 2,593 65.33
Republican John Richie 1,376 34.67
Nevada State Assembly, Clark District 41 General Election, 2002[13]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Parks 3,949 53.72
Republican Philip Dane 2,800 38.09
Independent American Patricia Saye 602 8.19
Nevada State Assembly, Clark District 41 General Election, 2004[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Parks 7,400 59.12
Republican Patricia Saye 4,386 35.04
Independent American Christopher Hansen 731 5.84
Nevada State Assembly, Clark District 41 General Election, 2006[15]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Parks 4,542 59.89
Republican Bob Wong 2,681 35.35
Independent American Brad Lee Barnhill 361 4.76
Nevada State Senate, Clark District 7 Primary Election, 2008[16]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Parks 3,762 71.44
Democratic Brandon Casutt 679 12.89
Democratic Steve Nathan 825 15.67
Nevada State Senate, Clark District 7 General Election, 2008[17]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Parks 38,200 68.06
Republican Lindsay Nicole Madsen 17,926 31.94
Clark County Commission, District G Primary Election, 2010[18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Michael Dicks 371 4.16
Democratic Greg Esposito 2,128 23.87
Democratic Ron Newell 499 5.60
Democratic David Parks 2,913 32.68
Democratic Mary Beth Scow 3,004 33.70
Nevada State Senate, Clark District 7 General Election, 2012[19]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Parks 25,567 64.15
Republican Trish Marsh 14,285 35.85
Nevada State Senate, Clark District 7 General Election, 2016[20]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Parks 28,431 69.5
Libertarian Kimberly Schjang 12,454 30.5

Personal

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He is openly gay[2] and was the first openly gay member of the Nevada Legislature.[21] He is one of five openly LGBT members of the Nevada legislature, alongside Senators Pat Spearman and Kelvin Atkinson, as well as Assemblymen Andrew Martin and James Healey. His election campaigns have won the support of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.[22]

References

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  1. ^ Miller, Shannon (28 October 2019). "Terms limits, higher ambitions mean at least 11 open seats in the Legislature in 2020". The Nevada Independent.
  2. ^ a b Morrison, Jane Anne (May 24, 2002), "Challenger: Parks vs. Parks not political trick", Las Vegas Review-Journal, retrieved 2007-11-25
  3. ^ Cook, Tony; Coolican, J. Patrick (May 25, 2006), "Confessions of an ex-LV councilman", The Las Vegas Sun, archived from the original on January 27, 2013, retrieved 2007-11-25
  4. ^ Clark County Elections Dept., Candidate filing 2008, archived from the original on 2008-04-23, retrieved 2008-05-19
  5. ^ McGrath Schwartz, David (2008-05-06), "Given $50,000, he decides to run", Las Vegas Sun, retrieved 2008-08-13
  6. ^ "Nevada Secretary of State: Elections Results". Archived from the original on 2010-05-27.
  7. ^ Pope, Jeff (2008-08-13), "Scroggins to face Sisolak in race for Woodbury's former seat", Las Vegas Sun, retrieved 2008-08-13
  8. ^ Wyland, Scott (November 16, 2009), "Parks jumps into County Commission race", Las Vegas Review-Journal, retrieved 2009-11-17
  9. ^ "Scow tops Parks in commission race; Sandoval beats Gov. Gibbons". Las Vegas Review-Journal. June 8, 2010.
  10. ^ "2006 Member List" (PDF). Nevada State Health Division.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "1998-Nevada General Election". Nevada Secretary of State. November 1998. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  12. ^ "2000-Nevada General Election". Nevada Secretary of State. November 2000. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  13. ^ "2002-Nevada General Election". Nevada Secretary of State. November 2002. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  14. ^ "2004-Nevada General Election". Nevada Secretary of State. November 2004. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  15. ^ "2006-Nevada General Election". Nevada Secretary of State. November 2006. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  16. ^ "2008-Nevada Primary Election". Nevada Secretary of State. November 2008. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  17. ^ "2008-Nevada General Election". Nevada Secretary of State. November 2008. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  18. ^ "2010-Nevada Primary Election". Nevada Secretary of State. November 2010. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  19. ^ "2012-Nevada General Election". Nevada Secretary of State. November 2012. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  20. ^ "Nevada State Senate". Silver State Election. 22 November 2016. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  21. ^ Ball, Molly (2009-03-31), "Robocall attacks Parks for transgender legislation", Las Vegas Review-Journal, retrieved 2009-04-01
  22. ^ http://www.followthemoney.org/database/topcontributor.phtml?u=6893&y=0 [dead link]
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