Experts say Cobb a rising star in state GOP

BY RAY HAGAR • APRIL 19, 2009

He started his career at the Nevada Legislature as a lightning rod.

In 2007, Ty O. Cobb was a freshman assemblyman from Washoe County’s District 26. On day one, he broke a tradition that sent shock waves through Carson City.

In a ceremonial vote, the young Mr. Cobb refused to vote for Barbara Buckley as the Speaker of the Assembly, even though her position had been pre-ordained by the overwhelming majority of Democrats in the Assembly.

And for that, he was vilified by some.

“The Democratic caucus felt quite insulted because that is not how we operate,” said Assemblywoman Shelia Leslie, D-Reno, and a key ally of Buckley’s.

Much of Cobb’s conservative constituency loved it, however. They applauded the rookie for standing up and throwing a partisan punch. It helped set him up for a bright future in conservative politics and a prime candidate to advance to the state Senate in 2010.

“I remember people would come up to me and ask me what I thought of that vote,’ said Assemblyman Chad Christensen, R-Las Vegas. “I said, ‘I believe we are elected by the people who have elected us.’”

The vote, however, also produced some blowback for the 34-year-old Cobb.
“There was word after that that his bills would have a hard time being heard or passing,” Christensen said.

Fast-forward to the 2009 Legislature. That blowback remains. Cobb’s bills have gone nowhere. Bills that would direct the state to take another look at the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository or tighten the state’s unemployment law never got out of committee in a lower house dominated by Democrats.

Rising conservative

Cobb’s political star keeps rising with conservatives, political experts said.

“You can’t blame Ty for not getting things done,” said Chuck Muth, a Las Vegas blogger and conservative activist. “The Democrats have a 28-14 super majority.”

In Cobb, many Northern Nevada conservatives see the future, said Fred Lokken, a registered Republican and political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College.

With polish and patience, Cobb could eventually take the place of longtime state Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, as Northern Nevada’s leading conservative, Lokken said.

“All of Nevada will be looking for the statesmanship that comes from Northern Nevada, and I think Ty could become that person as he grows into his political role,” Lokken said. “It will be up to him just how he wants to respond to that.”

Cobb must improve his across-the-aisle diplomacy and mellow his staunch right-wing ideology to become a statesman, Lokken said. Lokken noted that Raggio, in his younger days, was a stern law-and-order Nixonian Republican whose background was that of the Washoe County district attorney.

“In Bill Raggio’s career, I would say there was a time when he came from a more narrow perspective,” Lokken said.

These times are different than the era that molded Raggio, others said.
It would be almost impossible now for any Northern Nevada politician to duplicate Raggio’s role, Cobb’s Assembly caucus members said.

“What we are seeing in Nevada is a proverbial shift,” said Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City. “You’ve got conservative northern and rural people and that is his (Cobb’s) base and where he thrives. But you have to weigh that against the Democratic Party shift in Southern Nevada.”

Cobb is seriously considering running for the state Senate seat currently held by state Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno. Townsend is term limited and cannot run again, after being first elected in 1982.

“I have definitely been encouraged to look at the seat,” Cobb said. “I have been asking people their thoughts on it, and it is universally positive. But obviously, I’m focused right now on our work in the Assembly, and we are knee deep in issues.”

Cobb already has banked-rolled about $77,000 for the race. He has been elected twice in a very conservative district where the big fights have been in the GOP primaries.

Townsend’s senate district also is right-leaning.

“It is even more conservative as mine,” Cobb said.

It gives him hope of advancing his career.

“If I want to focus on that (Senate) race, I definitely think that I could win it,” Cobb said.

Democrats see Cobb’s district in a different light.

“It is a very Republican seat, and it seems that the candidates that emerge from the Republican primary there seem to be these very extreme Republicans,” Leslie said. “But the Democrats in that district are just appalled with Mr. Cobb’s representation.”

Family lore

Any future opponent, however, will be hard pressed to match Cobb’s family roots.
Cobb is in the fifth generation of a family that can be considered royalty by Nevada standards.

Cobb’s great-great grandfather, Sam Cobb, arrived in Virginia City in 1864 and worked as a miner, according to family lore. It was the same year Nevada was admitted to the Union.

Before coming to Nevada, Sam Cobb was a Tennessee volunteer for the Union army during the Civil War. He escaped from a Confederate prison camp and then fled west.

William Cobb, son of Sam Cobb, became the sheriff of Storey County, then assemblyman and then senator from Storey County.

In 1931, Will Cobb served in the Assembly along with Fred Small of Washoe County, who is Cobb’s great grandfather on his mother’s side.

Will Cobb is shown in a 1930s cartoon from the Nevada State Journal, carrying a lottery bill.

“He was one of the original sponsors of the lottery bill in the state of Nevada,” Cobb said, noting that his views on a lottery are opposite from his great grandfather’s.

Cobb gets another kick out of the political philosophies of his two great grandfathers.

“In 1931, they both voted against legalizing gambling,” Cobb said, laughing.
Cobb’s grandfather, Ty Cobb Sr., is considered one of the best-known sportswriters, editors and authors in Nevada history. He was well-known for his columns, “Cobbwebs.”

Young Mr. Cobb displays his grandfather’s plaque from his induction into the Wolf Pack Hall of Fame on his office wall at the Legislature. Ty Cobb Sr. is the only sportswriter to be inducted into the Wolf Pack Hall of Fame.

Cobb’s father, Ty W. Cobb, is a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan, and Cobb grew up in Virginia, in awe of a father who was among the president’s most-trusted advisers.

“That obviously would be the roots of my political career,” Cobb said. “Growing up during the Reagan administration with my Dad, especially with his serving in his (Reagan’s) inner circle, that taught me a lot about conservative policy. I was essentially learning at the feet of (former attorney general) Ed Meese and (senior adviser) Lynn Nofsinger, the legends of the Republican Party and conservative movement.

“To see my dad inside the walls of that movement definitely was huge,” Cobb said. “So, when he talks, I listen.”

Not all of Cobb’s family life has been happy. He and his wife, Emily, divorced last fall after less than two years of marriage, Cobb said.

They have a daughter, Lizzey, who is 17 months old. Lizzey’s pictures are everywhere in Cobb’s office at the Legislature.

His lost marriage has a connection to his political career, Cobb said.

“Politics doesn’t make it easy when you are just first married,” Cobb said. “She (Emily) got pregnant three months after we married. Then, you have the rough and tumble session in 2007.

“I blame myself for the whole breakup,” Cobb said. “I should have focused more on the relationship. You come down here and see me in meetings, and I am intently reading a bill, looking at the questions,” Cobb said. “I should have had that same focus on really what was the most important part of my life.”

Reprinted by permission of RGJ