Danny Tarkanian

Danny Tarkanian
Personal details
Born	(1961-12-18) December 18, 1961 Redlands, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Amy Hanson Tarkanian
Children	Lois, Ashley, Ava and Jerry
Alma mater	University of Nevada, Las Vegas University of San Diego
Religion	Armenian Apostolic
Website	Official site

Daniel John "Danny" Tarkanian (born December 18, 1961) is an American real estate and small business owner and Republican Party politician. In 2004, Tarkanian was the Republican nominee for Nevada Senate and lost in the general election. In 2006, he was the Republican nominee for Nevada Secretary of State and lost in the general election. In 2010 he was a candidate in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, finishing third behind Sharron Angle and Sue Lowden. In 2012 he was the Republican nominee for Nevada's 4th congressional district and lost in the general election.

Early life, education, and law career

Tarkanian was born in Redlands, California, the third of four children. He is the son of Jerry Tarkanian, a former prominent UNLV basketball coach, and Lois Tarkanian (née Huter), a Las Vegas City Councilwoman, educator of children with disabilities, administrator, and a co-founder for California's first private school for the deaf.

When Tarkanian was teenager, he moved into three different California cities (Riverside, Pasadena, Huntington Beach) because his father advanced in his professional career.

The Tarkanian family moved to Nevada in 1973 while Danny was 12. He attended Hyde Park Junior High School (Las Vegas, Nevada) and later the Bishop Gorman High School. He achieved honors in all four years. After graduating from high school, he spent one year at Dixie College, before becoming a student-athlete at UNLV where he was coached by his own father.

At Bishop Gorman High School, he played both basketball and football, and both sports teams went into the playoffs and won state championships. In basketball, he played point guard. In football, he played QB and was named All-Conference and All-State at his position twice. He was also named the Nevada’s Most Valuable Player.

He played basketball one season at Dixie State, where his team to the regional playoffs. He was named the school’s Male Freshman of the Year.

Danny played 3 seasons, 1981–1984, for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball. He was the starting point guard and captain. In his sophomore year, his team won 24 straight games and was ranked Number One nationally.

He was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in the 1984 NBA Draft in Round 8.

At UNLV, Danny was twice named First-Team Academic All-American by the CoSIDA. He was the school’s first Rhodes Scholar candidate and received the NCAA post-graduate award.

Following graduation, Danny attended University of San Diego School of Law, where he finished third in his class.

Danny passed the Nevada Bar Exam and practiced law for eight years, four as proprietor of his own firm.

In 1995, Jerry Tarkanian became the head coach for the Fresno State Bulldogs basketball team at Fresno State, where Danny joined his father as an assistant coach. The team qualified for the post-season every year during Tarkanian's tenure.

Danny moved back to Las Vegas following his father’s retirement in 2002. He started a real estate investment business and he co-founded the Tarkanian Basketball Academy.

Political career

2004 Nevada Senate election

Campaign

On May 4, 2004 Tarkanian filed to run in Nevada's 11th District (map) against incumbent Michael A. Schneider.

Results

2004 Nevada Senate election in Clark County District 11

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Michael A. Schneider	13,649	54%
	Republican	Danny Tarkanian	11,746	46%
Majority
Turnout
	Democratic hold		Swing

Aftermath

Following the election, Tarkanian successfully sued his Democratic opponent for defamation. During the campaign, Schneider accused Tarkanian of setting up telemarketing companies that ran scams victimizing senior citizens and that he turned "state's evidence" against the telemarketers to avoid being prosecuted. Tarkanian practiced civil law until 1995 and stated that he helped set up the companies, but had no involvement in the day-to-day operations of any of them was not aware that any of the companies were already engaged in illegal activity at the time that he helped to set them up. The case went to trial on July 27, 2009. Schneider stood by statements he made in a 2004 debate with Tarkanian and in campaign ads and fliers accusing Tarkanian. Former assistant U.S. Attorney Leif Reid, son of Nevada U.S. Senator Harry Reid, testified that Tarkanian was not part of the investigation into the companies. On July 31, a Clark County District Court jury ruled in Tarkanian's favor and awarded him $50,000 in damages. On August 3, Schneider agreed to pay a $150,000 settlement in the case.

2006 Secretary of State election

Campaign

In December 2005, Tarkanian announced his second bid for public office, this time a statewide election for Nevada Secretary of State. He defeated Brian Scroggins in the Republican primary and faced Democratic nominee Ross Miller, the son of former Nevada governor Bob Miller in the general election.

Results

2006 Nevada Secretary of State election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ross Miller	279,510	48.7%
	Republican	Danny Tarkanian	232,705	40.6%
	Independent American	Janine Hansen	38,757	6.8%
	None of These Candidates		22,666	4.0%
Majority
Turnout
	Democratic hold		Swing

2010 U.S. Senate election

Campaign

Main article: United States Senate election in Nevada, 2010

In 2009, Tarkanian announced that he would run against Democratic U.S. Senator Harry Reid, who is currently the Senate Majority Leader. Before other candidates entered the primary, Tarkanian was the front-runner for the Republican nomination. Former Nevada Republican Chairwoman Sue Lowden and Former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle entered the primary field shortly after Tarkanian's announcement and quickly overtook him in the polls. However, polls comparing the hypothetical matches of the leading Republicans versus Reid indicated a slight edge for Tarkanian: In the average of three polls taken from May 28 to June 3, Tarkanian polled 2% higher than Lowden and 3% higher than Angle against Reid. Those polls indicated Tarkanian had a lead of about 1% over Reid. Angle won the nomination with Tarkanian finishing third in the field. Angle ultimately lost the general election to Reid.

Results

Republican Primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Sharron Angle	70,422	40.1
	Republican	Sue Lowden	45,871	26.1
	Republican	Danny Tarkanian	40,926	23.3
	Republican	John Chachas	6,925	3.9
	Republican	Chad Christensen	4,803	2.7
	Republican	None of these	3,090	1.8
	Republican	Bill Parson	1,483	0.8
	Republican	Gary Bernstein	698	0.4
	Republican	Garn Mabey	462	0.2
	Republican	Cecilia Stern	355	0.2
	Republican	Brian Nadell	235	0.1
	Republican	Terry Suominen	223	0.1
	Republican	Gary Marinch	178	0.1
Total votes			175,691	100

2012 congressional election

Campaign

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Nevada, 2012

In January 2012, he announced he will run in the newly created Nevada's 4th congressional district. The district includes most of northern Clark County, as well as all or part of the rural counties of Esmeralda, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye and White Pine. Obama is projected to have earned 56% of the vote here in 2008. U.S. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid defeated Republican Assemblywoman Sharron Angle by a 7-point margin, 51%-44%, while Reid defeated her statewide by a five-point margin. Racially, the white population is 62% and the African American population is 16% (which is higher than the other three districts). Hispanics are 27% of the district. As far as party registration, 46% are registered Democrats, higher than the statewide average of 43%. Registered Republicans are 33% of the district, while they make up 35% statewide.

In June 2012, a federal court issued a $17 million judgment against Tarkanian and his family in a California real estate deal gone bad. He issued a statement saying he would appeal. In June 2012, Tarkanian won the Republican primary with 32% of the vote, defeating eight other candidates. The most notable of these was State Senator Barbara Cegavske, who won the endorsements of the party establishment. Tarkanian faced Democratic state senate majority leaser Steven Horsford in the general election. He lost to Horsford 50%-42%. Although Tarkanian won the rural counties in the district by margins of better than 2-to-1, it was not enough to overcome a 28,800-vote deficit in the district's share of Clark County, home to four-fifths of the district's vote.

Results

Primary results

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Danny Tarkanian	7,605	31.5
	Republican	Barbara Cegavske	6,674	27.7
	Republican	Kenneth Wegner	5,069	21.0
	Republican	Dan Schwartz	2,728	11.3
	Republican	Kiran Hill	666	2.8
	Republican	Diana Anderson	607	2.5
	Republican	Mike Delarosa	370	1.5
	Republican	Sid Zeller	252	1.0
	Republican	Robert X. Leeds	165	0.7
Total votes			24,136	100

General Election

Nevada 4th Congressional District 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Steven A. Horsford	120,501	50.11
	Republican	Danny Tarkanian	101,261	42.11
	Independent American	Floyd Fitzgibbons	9,389	3.90
	Libertarian	Joseph P. Silvestri	9,341	3.88
Total votes			240,492	100.0

Personal life

In October 2001, Danny married Amy Hanson. The couple currently lives in Las Vegas and they have three daughters and one son: Lois, Ashley, Ava, and Jerry Jr. In 2011, Amy Tarkanian was elected chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party, served about eight months, and resigned in February 2012 during her husband's primary campaign.

External links

• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission