- Find out more about the races below.
- Democratic US Senator Catherine Cortez Masto defeats Republican Adam Laxalt, Nevada
- The win of Cortez Masto means that Democrats are still in control of the US Senate.
- The nation’s most-watched race was the one in the swing states.
Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto beat Republican Adam Laxalt in Nevada’s US Senate election.
The victory gave Democrats 50 US Senate seats in the next congressional session — enough to again secure a majority even with Georgia’s US Senate race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker still undecided.
Candidates for the US Senate in Nevada
Cortez Masto has been a regular participant in close races. As the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, she led the party to a tie-breaking majority after Jon Ossoff and Warnock’s narrow victories in the 2021 Georgia Senate elections. A protégé of the late-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Cortez Masto made history as the first Latina elected to the US Senate when she succeeded Reid in 2017.
Nevada’s political royalty is where Laxalt comes from. Paul Laxalt, his grandfather, was both a governor of Nevada and a US senator. It was also Reported in 2013Pete Domenici is Laxalt’s father, and a senator from New Mexico. Cortez Masto’s campaign painted Laxalt out of touch due to his background, including in the military. Ad that echos HBO’s “Succession.”
While Laxalt held the office of state attorney general before, it wasn’t enough for Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak to defeat Laxalt in 2018. Sisolak will be the state’s first Democratic governor since over two decades. Laxalt, a Trump campaign top official, has led unsuccessful post-election challenges throughout the state. Attempted to create doubts about current race.
The GOP’s victory could have ended the longest-running evenly divided Senate. However, Cortez Masto held firm and blocked the GOP’s passage to 51 seats.
Nevada has a long history of voting
Since Reid was elected in 1986, Democrats have held at least one state Senate seat. The party’s total control was achieved in 2018 by the defeat of Dean Heller, the Republican incumbent, by Sen. Jacky Rosen.
Nevada has been considered a swing-state in presidential elections. However, experts fear that Nevada’s changing demographics will make it even more difficult for the GOP to win. Some of these fears have been dispelled by former President Donald Trump’s efforts to connect with Latino voters in a more general way.
The money race
According to OpenSecretsCortez Masto raised over $52.8 million and spent $46.6million. As of October 19, Laxalt had roughly $6.3 million in hand. Laxalt raised $15.5million and spent $12.3 million. As of October 19, she had roughly $3.2million on hand.
The expenditures by super PACs, committees of party members, and other organizations supporting or opposing these candidates have been huge. per OpenSecrets — about $128.3 million combined, through November 8. In all, 15 different outside groups spent at least $1 million on this race — a few into the eight-figure range.
Experts’ opinions
Laxalt and Cortez Masto were unanimously rated a “tossup” race by Inside Elections, The Cook Political ReportAnd Sabato’s Crystal Ball, University of Virginia Center for Politics.
