LAS VEGAS — Dennis Hof, who operates a half-dozen legal brothels in Nevada, has won the Republican primary for a state Assembly seat.
Yesterday, he ousted James Oscarson, a three-term lawmaker and Republican nominee, and will face Democrat Lesia Romanov in November.
Hof will be the favored candidate in Republican-leaning Assembly District 36, which primarily covers Nye County, and also includes portions of Lincoln County and a small part of Clark County, for a total population of about 67,000.
Hof celebrated his win at a victory party in Pahrump, complete with champagne for the 100 people who attended, including former madam and reality TV personality Heidi Fleiss, who wore a T-shirt that read “Vote Hof.”
At the end of the evening, at about 11:30 p.m., he held a large campaign sign, “Dennis Hof: The Trump of Pahrump.”
Hof told XBIZ today that the feeling from the big win yesterday was “unbelievable” and that there is “no doubt” that he will win the district seat in November.
If Hof wins in the November race, he wouldn’t be the only brothel owner in elected office — Lance Gilman, who operates the Mustang Ranch in northern Nevada, is a Storey County commissioner.
Voters in November will be voting on closing down brothels at least one of seven Nevada counties where prostitution is legal.
The question of whether to permit brothels will be on the ballot in Lyon County, where Hof already owns four.
Anti-brothel activists are also gathering signatures in an attempt to get a measure on the ballot in Nye County, where Hof owns two more brothels in Pahrump.