Nevada GOP Representative Mark Amodei was easily re-elected to a 7th term

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Six-term Republican Rep. Mark Amodei, as expected, defeated Elizabeth Mercedes Krause in a rural northern Nevada district where no Democrat has ever won.

The 2nd Congressional District was considered the only safe seat for both parties among the four parties in the western Nevada battleground, where three incumbent Democrats faced stiff challenges. All three of those races were too early to call on Wednesday.

Voting officials in the two most populous counties, which include the population centers of Las Vegas and Reno, warned that it would take several days to process mail-in ballots, which could be counted up to four days after Election Day, until to mark them by Tuesday.

Amodei, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, has won at least 58 percent of the vote since winning his first full term in a special election in 2011. His sprawling district includes Reno, Sparks and Carson City, as well as rural areas. across the state from south of Lake Tahoe to north of Elko.

Krause, chairman of the Nevada Native Caucus and a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, was largely unknown and underfunded.

Three Democratic candidates in Nevada were trying to keep their congressional seats in key races targeted by Republicans in their bid for a majority in the U.S. Congress.

The two swing districts, which stretch from Las Vegas through the suburbs into the countryside, have been competitive for decades. Rep. Susie Lee is running against Republican April Becker, and Rep. Stephen Horsford is running against Republican Samuel Peters.

And for the first time in years, as a result of redistricting, six-term Rep. Deanna Titus is in the hot seat in the traditional Democratic heartland that covers the Las Vegas Strip, after party strategists sacrificed some ground in exchange for gains elsewhere. . Mark Robertson, a retired Army colonel, is seeking to become the first Republican to win the No. 1 seat since 1998.

“We always knew it was going to be a tough race and tonight we weren’t going to have a final result,” Titus said just after midnight. “Election officials will continue to count ballots in the coming hours and days.”

Becker, a Las Vegas attorney who narrowly lost his bid to unseat the state Senate leader two years ago, is trying to unseat Lee, who has made his staunch support for abortion rights a centerpiece of his campaign. to give In 2020, he won the 3rd District, which geographically borders Arizona, by 3 percent.

Peters, a war veteran who lost the 2020 GOP congressional primary, is trying to unseat Horsford, who won re-election in 2020 in the 4th District, which stretches into Utah, by 4.9 percent.

No Republican presidential candidate has carried Nevada since 2004. But President Joe Biden won by just 2.4 percentage points over Donald Trump in 2020. And Nevada’s gas prices, among the highest in the U.S., have fueled discontent with the economy and fueled inflation.

Nearly three-quarters of Nevada voters say things are going in the wrong direction in the country, according to an extensive AP VoteCast poll of more than 2,100 voters in the state.

The economy was on the minds of many Nevada voters, with nearly 5 in 10 naming it the nation’s most important issue. Immigration, abortion, crime and climate change followed closely behind, with nearly 1 in 10 voters naming each of those issues.

According to the survey, nearly 5 in 10 respondents named inflation as the most important factor in deciding how to vote. But Nevada voters were evenly split on whether they thought inflation was due to Biden’s policies or factors beyond his control.

Voters have a negative view of the economy, with nearly 8 in 10 saying economic conditions are not very good or bad. Only about 2 in 10 say the economy is excellent or good. And nearly a third of voters say their family is struggling financially.

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that recognized the constitutional right to abortion, also played a role in most voters’ decisions, with nearly 8 in 10 citing it as a factor in their vote. About a quarter of them call it the most important factor in their vote.

A majority of Nevada voters also support abortion rights, with nearly 7 in 10 saying it should be legal in all or most cases, according to the poll.

According to AP VoteCast, it’s unclear how much of a role Biden and/or his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, played in Nevada’s congressional races.

Only about 4 in 10 Nevada voters say they approve of Biden’s handling of his job. Among Democrats and Democratic voters in Nevada, nearly 7 in 10 say they support the progressive movement, according to the poll. Among Republican and Democratic voters, nearly 6 in 10 say they support Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, according to the poll.

Trump did not endorse any of the Republicans running for the House seat, as he pitted Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo’s bid to unseat Gov. Steve Sisolak and former Attorney General Adam Laxalt against Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, the Senate’s most vulnerable Democrat. is considered to have

Peters is the congressional candidate who has aligned himself most closely with Trump in his race against Horsford. He urged Republicans in Congress to fight for Biden’s victory in 2020 and said he would not endorse it without more information.

Like other Democrats, Lee has championed abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade.

Becker opposes abortion except for rape, consanguineous marriage, and harm to the mother, and supports anti-abortion rights groups. But she stressed on the campaign trail that abortions are legal in Nevada up to 24 weeks under a voter-approved measure. He says that means any federal restrictions on abortion would be unconstitutional.

Interest groups outside of both parties sunk millions of dollars into this race.

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Associated Press writer Sarah Rankin in Washington, DC contributed.

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