Her grandfather, Charles Derby, worked as a mining engineer in the Virginia City mines, and her father attended Fourth Ward School in Virginia City, later moving to Lovelock to develop the Flying Flapjack Ranch, where Derby spent the first years of her life.
After residing in the Bay Area, teaching, and traveling, she took a job with a company in Saudi Arabia in 1966 and lived there for three years.
Derby ran against Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller, who won the Republican nomination in August and the general election in November.
In December 2005, CNN political analyst Paul Begala, who helped engineer Bill Clinton's 1992 win, said he was encouraged by U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to "stump" for Derby.
[3] On September 20, 2006, the Las Vegas Sun reported, "Heller was 8 points ahead of Democrat Jill Derby of Gardnerville.
[6] On February 20, 2008, Derby announced a second run for Nevada's 2nd congressional district against her previous opponent, freshman congressman Dean Heller.