Just over a week after their initial recruit dropped out, Republicans nabbed a new candidate to run against Rep. Dina Titus (D) in the 3rd district.

Former state Sen. Joe Heck announced Tuesday on a local radio station that he was switching gears to join the House race from the 2010 gubernatorial contest, where he trailed several other candidates in GOP primary polls. National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Ken Spain called Heck “an even better candidate— than John Guedry, a local banker who dropped out of the race Sept. 25 for family reasons.

The 3rd district, which includes part of Las Vegas and a big portion of its suburbs in Clark County, is a classic swing district and is expected to produce a tight contest again in 2010. Titus defeated then-Rep. Jon Porter (R) 47 percent to 42 percent in 2008.

Heck, a physician from Henderson, was elected to the state Senate, representing part of Clark County, in 2004. He lost by re-election by less than a percentage point in 2008. Republicans on Tuesday were touting Heck’s medical background, calling him, in the words of NRCC spokeswoman Joanna Burgos, “a leader who truly wants to lower health care costs.—

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Andy Stone promptly put out a statement noting that Heck was “rejected by the voters in Senate District 5, he was being rejected by voters in the Governor’s race,— and predicted “he will be rejected by voters in the Third District.—