OPINION: So you're a Democrat elected to represent a red district. Now what?

It's often better to be lucky than good, but it never hurts to be both. Rep.-elect Teresa Benitez-Thompson (D-NV), the first Democrat ever to win Northern Nevada's 2nd Congressional District, proved to be a lot of both this year. A canny political veteran with deep roots in the community, she proved to be the perfect candidate to take advantage of a blue wave and a fatally flawed opponent who opportunistically moved to Northern Nevada after Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) announced his retirement from the seat. Before the wave crested, however — and before Northern Nevadans became better informed about their newest resident-turned-Republican congressional candidate — even Benitez-Thompson admitted she was a long shot. She was right. No Democrat had ever won the district before. Only two Democrats — Pete Sferrazza in 1992 and Jill Derby in 2006 — lost by less than 10 percentage points. Even now, Republicans still enjoy a nearly 12 percent voter registration advantage.

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