59°F
weather icon Clear

Susie Lee, Steven Horsford cling to close congressional leads

Two of Nevada’s congressional races remained close as of Wednesday evening, with most of the four major-party candidates choosing to stay tight-lipped as they await a crucial Thursday morning update from Clark County election officials.

The race for Nevada’s 3rd District, representing parts of Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City, was perhaps even closer on election night than what was nationally advertised through months of bitterly fought campaigning.

Freshman Rep. Susie Lee, a Democrat, held a 1.5 percent lead over Republican small businessman Dan Rodimer as of Wednesday night.

Nevada’s other competitive congressional race, this one in the sprawling 4th District, also remained tight ahead of the planned Clark County updates.

Rep. Steven Horsford led Republican small businessman and former Assemblyman Jim Marchant, 50 percent to 47 percent.

All results are preliminary and unofficial until certified by election personnel, which will not happen until Nov. 16 at the earliest. Nevada will continue to count mail ballots until at least Nov. 10.

It’s unclear just how many votes remain to be counted in either race. All of the 3rd District is in Clark County, but the 4th includes all or part of six smaller, Republican-favoring counties with a part of Clark.

According to turnout figures from the Nevada secretary of state’s office, tens of thousands of Clark County mail ballots, which have heavily favored Democrats, have not yet been reflected in the preliminary returns released Wednesday morning.

Lee’s campaign released a statement late on election night: “While we know everyone is anxious to get results, we will patiently wait for every vote to be counted. With the majority of votes in, we feel confident that Susie Lee will maintain her current lead, and is in a strong position to win re-election to Congress.”

The campaign said it had nothing further to add on Wednesday.

Rodimer’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Marchant issued a statement on Wednesday, saying “I am confident that after the votes are counted, despite the massive irregularities, that President Trump and I will be successful in Nevada.”

The “massive irregularities” refer to a statement released Wednesday by the Trump campaign and Nevada Republican Party, in which the party alleged to have received “thousands of complaints” from voters about issues during the general election.

Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria said during a news conference Wednesday that, apart from a connectivity issue that delayed the opening of some vote centers on Election Day, he was not aware of any widespread issues.

Horsford’s campaign said it would not have a statement until Thursday.

Rep. Dina Titus, the Democratic dean of Nevada’s congressional delegation, won her race handedly on election night. In an interview with the Review-Journal on Wednesday, she expressed confidence in her colleagues’ chances.

“The votes left are mostly mail and in Clark County, and those have been favoring Democrats,” Titus said. “Steven will be fine, and Susie finished her campaign strong. I don’t see it going (Republicans’) way.”

^

Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @RoryDoesPhonics on Twitter.

THE LATEST
Nevadans support diaper tax exemption, state lottery

A public opinion poll on how Nevadans are feeling about several ballot questions found majority support a tax exemption for diapers, open primaries and ranked choice voting, and enshrining abortion rights into the constitution.

Former senator, VP candidate Joe Lieberman dies at 82

Joe Lieberman nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in 2000 and almost became Republican John McCain’s running mate in 2008.

Aging Hoover Dam may get $45M for maintenance

It will take tens of millions of dollars to repair and improve the dam over the next 10 years, officials estimate.

Judge issues gag order in Donald Trump’s hush money case

It prohibits the former president from attacking key figures in the case, like his former lawyer-turned-nemesis Michael Cohen or porn star Stormy Daniels.

Why RFK Jr. might not be on Nevada’s ballot

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign said it had enough signatures to appear on Nevada’s ballot, but the petition didn’t name a vice president, as state law requires.

 
Nevada terminates grants to immunization nonprofit

A nonprofit will have grants terminated after state officials say it failed to pay over $400,000 to vendors despite the state reimbursing it for those payments.