Two state Senate races and two Assembly races are likely to be the focus for Nevada Democrats and Republicans this election season as they jockey for position in the 2009 Legislature.

"Most incumbents are safe," Reno-based Republican consultant and lobbyist Pete Ernaut said. "There are a couple of competitive races in the Assembly and one or two that could be competitive in the Senate."

Those few competitive races, out of the 10 seats in the state Senate and 42 in the Assembly that are up for election, nonetheless have the potential to fundamentally alter the dynamic of the statehouse. If the Democrats gain one net seat in the Assembly, they will hold two-thirds of the seats, the supermajority that is needed to pass tax increases and override gubernatorial vetoes.

If Democrats gain one net seat in the state Senate, they will take control of the upper house, where they currently are an 11-10 minority.

All four of the hot races are in the Las Vegas Valley. The two Senate races, District 5 and District 6, pit strong Republican incumbents against Democratic challengers. The two Assembly races are for open seats in divided districts, District 5 and District 29, one previously held by a Republican, the other by a Democrat.

Democrats' recent voter registration gains, which have continued since the big boost from the Jan. 19 caucuses, have given them a statistical edge in all four districts, but all are close enough that the outcome will come down to the strength of the candidates and the campaigns, analysts say.

STATE Senate District 6

Sen. Bob Beers is seeking a second term representing his state Senate district in the northwest valley. Beers, a certified accountant who works as a business consultant, faces Democrat Allison Copening, who works in public relations.

The district's registered voters are 41 percent Democrat, 39 percent Republican.

Cerebral and often sarcastic, Beers, 48, previously served three terms as an assemblyman and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006.

Beers said of the election: "I think it's a fork in the road," with one path leading to more taxes, the other to Beers.

"So far in this budget crisis, we have reduced one-time spending, but we have not reduced ongoing spending," he said. "We are giving (state) employees a 4 percent cost of living increase on top of the step increase (in salaries) of 5 percent for most people. That will increase our need for cash to deliver the same level of services in the coming years."

Beers said both types of spending should be considered for needed cuts. "It might mean freezes or delays in raises. It might mean smaller raises," he said.

Beers would like to see more of the state budget go to K-12 education, which he said could be achieved by spending less on the university system and welfare programs.

Beers criticized Copening for being a public employee. She was employed by the Las Vegas Valley Water District until recently and continues to work for the district on a contract basis.

To Beers, public employees serving in the Legislature violates the constitutional separation of powers.

Copening said she did not see any problem in that. She said she was finishing projects she started at the district but would probably end her work there in the coming months.

If elected, she said she would find another job.

Copening, 43, is a sunny, outgoing woman who says she doesn't have any specific proposals she would push for if elected. Rather, she says, she is offering her skills as a problem-solver and leader.

"As a legislator, I plan to get in there and understand the intricacies of why we have the issues we have," she said. "I have not been involved in the process, I haven't sat on the committees, so I don't understand clearly how we ended up the way we ended up with the issues that we have, with the budget and with education and so on. When I get in office, I can look at making decisions about those things."

Copening denied Beers' conviction that she would increase taxes. "The last thing you want to do is tax people at this time, the economic situation being what it is," she said. "We're going to have to cut and hope that the programs that are more important to quality of life will be spared."

She accused Beers of having little to offer but criticism. "I have yet to see him offer any solutions, rather than just tell us what the problems are," she said.

State senate District 5

Like Beers, state Sen. Joe Heck is a Republican seeking a second term representing a large suburban district. Heck's Henderson district is one of two in the state that has two state senators because of its size.

In 2006, Democrat Joyce Woodhouse defeated incumbent Republican Sandra Tiffany for the district's other seat.

The Democrats have eked out a slight advantage in registration, 42 percent to 41 percent, an edge of just over 500 voters.

Heck, an emergency room doctor and a colonel in the Army Reserve who just returned from a stint in Iraq, faces Democrat Shirley Breeden, a longtime school district administrator.

Breeden, 52, who filed her candidacy late Friday, the last day of the two-week filing period, did not respond to requests for an interview.

According to the Democratic Party's news release announcing her candidacy, Breeden plans to retire in August as the Clark County School District's director of professional development education.

Breeden said in the release that she hopes to address home foreclosures, the public health crisis related to ambulatory surgical centers and education.

Heck said he hopes his constituents will re-elect him because he has kept his promises, including a pledge to keep property taxes from rising out of control.

On health care, he said he would work to reform the boards that license medical professionals. He noted that he proposed legislation last year to change the way appointments to those boards are made, but it was cut from an omnibus bill.

Heck also proposed the legislation creating the Nevada Academy of Health, which recently had its first meeting.

"It seemed like we were always trying to play catch-up on health care policy in Nevada," he said. "I thought we should have an entity that is proactive that formulates recommendations for the Legislature and the governor."

Heck said education is the issue he most often hears about as he and his supporters knock on doors in the district.

Heck said teachers should be paid more and class sizes should be smaller.

On the budget, Heck said he was concerned that there isn't much left to cut.

Heck said he hopes the Legislature can have a broader debate about tax policy. While he said he does not favor increasing taxes because it would hurt the state's business climate, he said all options should be on the table to "come up with some kind of solution to insulate ourselves from these fluctuations."

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 29

Assemblywoman Susan Gerhardt, a Democrat, is not running for re-election to represent her Henderson Assembly district. Running to replace her are Republican Sean Fellows, an Air Force reservist who works at Nellis Air Force Base, and Democrat April Mastroluca, who works for the national Parent Teacher Association.

The district's voters are 42 percent Democrat, 38 percent Republican.

Fellows, 28, moved to the district in late 2006 and to Nevada in 2003, when he was on active duty and stationed in the state.

The state's top issues, he said, are "the budget, the budget, the budget."

"It's not a revenue problem, it's a spending problem," he said of the budget woes. "We are definitely in an economic downturn ... and families and businesses are feeling the crunch; government needs to feel it, too."

Fellows said he keeps the importance of his race to the numbers in the Assembly in mind.

"Having a two-thirds supermajority leads people to lose touch," he said. "I would not want Republicans to have a 28-14 majority either. When there's a balance, people are forced to work together."

Fellows said he thinks education can be improved by giving people more choices, such as charter schools and home schooling. He said the empowerment program that gives schools more autonomy is a step in the right direction.

On the hepatitis outbreak, he said it should not become an occasion for government expansion. "People talk about needing more inspections," he said. But inspectors witnessed some of the violations by the clinics, so they weren't a deterrent, he noted.

"We need realistic approaches, not government coming in and taking over," he said.

Mastroluca disagreed. "I don't think that more government is always the answer, but we need to be looking out for people," she said. She said she is worried about government cuts affecting families.

"My kids are active in music programs at their school," she said. "My daughter came in and said, 'Mom, you're not going to let them cut music out of school, are you?' What are people willing to give up to keep the things they want? That's a question only the people who live in the state can answer, and I'm listening to the people."

Mastroluca, 40, travels around the country working with state and local PTAs, which she said gives her insight into education.

"One of the keys I believe is parent involvement," she said. "All the studies say when parents are involved, kids do better. The chances of drug use go down. The chances of teen pregnancy go down. The more that the schools can do, the districts and the state can do to encourage parents to get involved, the better it will be."

She said she is concerned about the effect the foreclosure crisis is having on renters, who may be evicted without warning if the homeowner isn't making payments.

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 5

Previously represented by Assemblywoman Valerie Weber, a Republican, this northwest valley district now has nearly 1,300 more Democrats than Republicans. Democrats represent 43 percent of the voters, Republicans 37 percent.

The Republican seeking the seat is Donna Toussaint, a retired data management worker. Democrat Marilyn Dondero Loop, a textbook saleswoman, is her opponent.

Dondero Loop, 56, is the daughter of University Regent Thalia Dondero; her father was a longtime Clark County School District administrator. Dondero Loop also was a schoolteacher for many years.

"Education and the budget shortfall really go hand in hand," she said. "We need to prevent cuts to education. We need to put back in the career and technical education that's already been cut. We need to support those new teachers that come in."

She said more taxes might have to be considered. "I certainly don't believe that Nevadans want to raise taxes, but I think that we need to keep room for possible increases to avoid deep cuts," she said.

She said more inspectors are clearly necessary for medical clinics to avoid appalling lapses like what occurred recently. "We certainly inspect our food establishments consistently," she said.

Dondero Loop said another issue that has emerged as she talks to people in her district is copper theft.

Toussaint, 61, said she has a long record of community activism, including fighting the Federal Aviation Administration's move to create a new flight path over the northwest valley and successfully preventing a five-story structure from being built in her neighborhood of two-story homes.

She also has helped get bike lanes and stoplights and started the Lakes Festival of Lights, a free holiday event in the neighborhood.

Toussaint said she would look for straightforward answers. "A lot of times people overthink things," she said. "They come up with complicated solutions to simple problems. Simple solutions work. People can understand them."

Toussaint said she believed the budget difficulties could be endured by cutting unnecessary spending, though she could not point to any specifically. "I bet there's a lot of waste in there that we don't even realize," she said. "If we went in and cut out that waste, I believe we'd be about even," rather than facing a shortfall.

She said the budget should be divvied up between individual legislators, who each could go through a portion, line by line.

Keeping the state's business climate attractive is important, she said, which means not overtaxing them. "Large companies are not going to come here if they don't think their children are going to get a good education," she said.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.