James David Santini
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNevada'sat-large district
In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by	David Towell
Succeeded by	Harry Reid (1st district) Barbara Vucanovich (2nd district)
Personal details
Born	(1937-08-13)August 13, 1937 Reno, Nevada, U.S.
Died	September 22, 2015(2015-09-22) (aged 78) Rockville, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Democratic (until 1986) Republican (after 1986)
Education	University of Nevada, Reno (BA) University of California, Hastings (JD)

James David Santini (August 13, 1937 – September 22, 2015) was an American attorney, politician and lobbyist who served as theU.S. representative forNevada's at-large congressional district from 1975 to 1983. He was a member of theDemocratic Party until 1986, when he joined theRepublican Party.

Born inReno, Nevada, Santini graduated fromBishop Manogue High School in 1955 and attended theUniversity of Nevada, Reno, where he was a member ofAlpha Tau Omega fraternity. He earned hisJuris Doctor from theUniversity of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1962 and was admitted to the Nevada state bar in the same year, as well asCalifornia in 1963 andArizona in 1966.

Santini served in theUnited States Army from 1963 to 1966. Santini served consecutively asClark County, Nevada deputy district attorney (1966–1968), Clark County public defender (1968–1970),Las Vegas justice of the peace (1970–1972) and as a district court judge of Clark County (1972–1974). He was also owner and a teacher of the Nevada Bar Review from 1969 to 1974.

Santini was elected to the U.S. House in 1974, unseating incumbent RepublicanDavid Towell. He served from 1975 to 1983 as aDemocrat representing the state'sat-large district. In Congress, Santini compiled a moderate-to-conservative record and won reelection by overwhelming margins. Santini ran for theUnited States Senate in 1982, but was narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary by incumbentHoward Cannon. Cannon then lost the general election to former state SenatorChic Hecht.

Santini was the last person to represent the entire state in the U.S. House, asreapportionment gave Nevada two Congressional seats as of the 1982 Congressional election. He was succeeded by DemocratHarry Reid andRepublicanBarbara Vucanovich in the newly created1st and2nd Congressional Districts respectively.

In 1986, heswitched to the Republican Party and ran for the Senate seat then being vacated by the retiringPaul Laxalt. Although Santini won the Republican nomination easily, he lost the general election to Reid. Santini by 14,349 votes.

After leaving public office, Santini remained inWashington, D.C., and worked as a lobbyist, representing a number of tourism-related corporations. Among his major clients were the National Tour Association, which retained him as a legislative counsel for government issues related to the national and international tourism industry. Santini had been the federal legislation and regulation Washington, D.C., representative for NTA since 1983.

In 1990, Santini and his family appeared as contestants on the nighttime version ofFamily Feud. One of his aides appeared in a 1980 episode of the series and mentioned his name several times. Show hostRichard Dawson made light of theAbscam sting operation during the opening segment of the episode. His aide confirmed that Santini was not involved and was a "good guy". His aide's family lost the game to the returning champions.

Santini died on September 22, 2015, inRockville, Maryland, fromesophageal cancer.^[1] He was 78.

• United States Congress."James David Santini (id: S000058)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• Jim Santini papers. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Reno.

• 1937 births
• 2015 deaths
• American justices of the peace
• American prosecutors
• Deaths from cancer in Maryland
• Deaths from esophageal cancer in the United States
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Nevada
• Military personnel from Nevada
• Nevada lawyers
• Nevada Republicans
• Nevada state court judges
• Politicians from Reno, Nevada
• United States Army soldiers
• University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni
• University of Nevada, Reno alumni
• Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
• 20th-century American judges
• 20th-century American lawyers
• Public defenders
• Members of Congress who became lobbyists
• 20th-century United States representatives

• Articles with short description
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