Meet Dr. Lehrner, the spouse who swtiched parties

It’s an improbable love story: Soft-spoken, Republican doctor meets aspiring Democratic politician. Yet what makes them different may well be what holds them together.

Dr. Larry Lehrner had recently divorced when a friend told him about an aspiring Las Vegas lawmaker, Shelley Berkley.

“He told Shelley that I was dying to go out with her, and me that she was dying to go out with me,” Lehrner recalled.
Of course he was flattered, and although he knew who she was, “neither one of us had ever thought about dating the other.”

Lehrner called her several times, but between her rigorous campaign schedule and his long hours as a kidney specialist, they just couldn’t get together.

He proposed several dates between campaign events, but none worked. After four attempts, they met at a Sammy’s Pizza Kitchen for their first date.

“She met me there in case I turned out to be a lunatic and she couldn’t get away quickly,” Lehrner said.

About 20 minutes into dinner, Lehrner announced that he had a confession. He let the mystery of the moment build. “I have to be upfront with you,” he said, prompting Berkley to wonder just what the man she had just met would confess.
After several tense moments, Lehrner dropped the bomb: “I’m a Republican.”

As it turned out, being on opposite ends of the political spectrum was never an issue in their relationship, Lehrner said. He calls the fact that she was in politics “a plus.”

“We both have a great interest in politics, so that gives us something to talk about,” he said.

They married two years after their first date, in March of 1999, during a break in the congressional calendar.

The wedding itself was nothing short of an extravaganza — with 600 guests and an entourage of 17 bridesmaids. Lehrner, always the more low-key of the pair, had only five groomsmen.

He is very different from his wife, Lehrner said, but that’s part of why their relationship is a success.

“She’s fun and outgoing,” he said. “I’m more of an introvert, but somehow it worked.”

Case in point: “When she walks into the room, she finds the largest, loudest group and joins it,” Lehrner said. “I find the farthest corner and turn my back to the wall. That’s an exaggeration, but it’s not far from the truth.”

Berkley, now a fifth-term congresswoman, catches the first plane into Sin City each weekend, but time is precious. Every Monday she makes the journey back to the Beltway.

Lehrner travels to Washington a few times a year, to visit, attend a White House party or meet with the Renal Physicians Association, for which he is a board member.

“She says she becomes a doctor’s wife for the weekend,” he said.

As a couple, they adjusted long ago to the rigors of congressional life.

“I’m kind of an independent person,” said Lehrner, who is managing partner in a Las Vegas medical practice that employs 14 doctors.

He also makes jokes about his medical specialty, nephrology.

“She said she thought it was sex with dead people,” Lehrner recalled. “Either she truly didn’t know what it was or she just loves to use that story. It gets a great laugh.”

His work, however, is serious — involving treatments ranging from dialysis to kidney transplants. Lehrner said the field is shifting toward a prevention-based approach, keeping patients healthy so they won’t need a machine to filter their blood or a new organ to replace a poorly functioning one.

The couple routinely discuss policy, especially medical issues. “I put my two cents in,” he said.

Two years ago, Lehrner switched parties, opting to join the Democrats after Congress became involved in the debate over Terry Schiavo, the Florida woman whose persistent vegetative state ignited a national firestorm.

“The party that I knew talked about state’s rights and limited government,” he said. “I felt that the decision was more medical than legal and it was completely inappropriate for Congress to vote on it.”

The decision came as a surprise to Berkley, who announced in a television interview, “I love Republicans. I even married one!” before Lehrner had told her of his decision. “I said, ‘Shelley, I need to tell you something. You can’t use that line anymore.’ ”

Her response?

“Well, it only took you seven years.”

“She doesn’t hold much back,” Lehrner said.