Nevada primary the first step in key election year
For the first time in a statewide election, Clark County residents can vote at any one of 172 voting centers in Clark County, but one candidate worries the new voting system will shut out voters who may head to old polling sites.
“I am very concerned that longtime voters will continue to go to their old polling locations only to find them closed with no recourse to find a nearby vote center,” said state Sen. Tick Segerblom, who is running for the Clark County Commission and urged elections staff to post paper notices at inactive voting sites.
The complete list of locations is available at elections.clarkcountynv.gov/VoteCentersVoter/index.html.
Tuesday’s primary election is the first vote in a crucial year that will see Silver State voters choose a new governor, new members of Congress and more.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
While Democrats Steve Sisolak and Chris Giunchigliani have engaged in a slugfest in their gubernatorial race, Republican front-runner Adam Laxalt has been content to sit back — spending little time and money campaigning — and wait for his opponent to emerge.
Sisolak and Giunchigliani have spent months battering each other with blistering TV ads, jockeying for major endorsements and debating at public forums over gun control, taxes, Planned Parenthood and more.
But many candidates are already looking ahead to November.
Nevada’s highly anticipated U.S. Senate race could determine control of Congress’ upper chamber, but Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has little competition in his primary. His four Republican challengers are trailing in fundraising and would score a massive upset if they won. Heller’s most formidable challenger, businessman Danny Tarkanian, dropped out of the Senate race in March at President Donald Trump’s request.
Heller’s leading Democratic opponent, freshman U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen, is also expected to breeze past four challengers to win her primary, and she has spent most of her campaign efforts on attacking Heller. The two have come after each other for months on tax reform, health care, net neutrality and veterans issues.
Nevadans also will elect representatives in all four congressional districts. Incumbent Reps. Dina Titus in Congressional District 1 and Mark Amodei in Congressional District 2 are expected to win easily. But the two open seats — Congressional Districts 3 and 4 — could be toss-ups in November.
Republicans control 235 House seats, but Democrats hope to win enough seats to regain control of the chamber.
Tarkanian is the GOP front-runner in CD 3 — the seat Rosen is vacating — though he faces eight opponents, including state Sen. Scott Hammond and former TV reporter Michelle Mortensen. In CD 4, Democrat Steven Horsford and Republican Cresent Hardy are expected to win their primaries Tuesday to advance to a rematch in November.
Horsford and Hardy each served in Congress for one term. Horsford lost to Hardy in 2014. Then Hardy lost in 2016 to current Rep. Ruben Kihuen, who decided not to seek re-election amid sexual misconduct allegations.
Contact Ramona Giwargis at rgiwargis@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4538. Follow @RamonaGiwargis on Twitter.
