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GOP’s Joe Lombardo Defeats Incumbent Dem Steve Sisolak in Nevada Governor’s Race

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Republicans have managed to flip a governor’s seat in a traditionally blue state, according to a Friday report.

Joe Lombardo, the former sheriff of Clark County who also spent two decades in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, knocked off Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak, Fox News Digital reported.

Sisolak was elected governor in 2018 after spending about 10 years as a Clark County Commissioner. “The economy and inflation, education, crime, and the governor’s performance in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic were key issues in the gubernatorial campaign,” the outlet noted.

Though Clark County is only around 7 percent of Nevada’s land area, it contains about three-quarters of the state’s population, making it the state’s largest county by far.

Former President Donald Trump backed Lombardo, which likely helped him win a crowded, tough primary fight earlier this year. Lombardo appeared at a rally with Trump near Reno last month.

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Lombardo was congratulated by the Republican Governor’s Association following his win.

“The RGA is excited to congratulate Governor-elect Sheriff Joe Lombardo on winning Nevada’s gubernatorial race,” said RGA Co-Chairs Governors Doug Ducey and Pete Ricketts.

“After four years of Steve Sisolak’s small business and job-killing policies, Governor-elect Lombardo’s unique perspective as a seasoned law enforcement officer and fiscal conservative will get the state moving in the right direction on behalf of all Nevada families,” the co-chairs continued.

“The RGA was proud to be a crucial partner in this race to elect Joe and fire Steve Sisolak. Our independent expenditure effort in Nevada was the largest in RGA history and we’re excited to have Joe joining our ranks,” they added.

It’s likely that a huge shift in voters from Democrat to Republican helped Lombardo secure his victory.

Thousands of former Democrats in Nevada left the party over the summer and re-registered either as Republicans or Independents, which was enough to put the state in play in the 2022 midterms and beyond if the current trend continues.

Approximately 2,300 Democrats have left the party and re-registered as Republicans, while an additional 5,000 non-partisan voters also joined the GOP over the last three months, The Nevada Independent reported.

Since January 2022, the gap between the number of Democrats and the number of Republicans decreased by almost 15,000 registered voters to roughly 50,000, according to the Office of Nevada’s Secretary of State.

The Tampa Free Press added:

President Joe Biden won Nevada during the 2020 presidential election by roughly 33,000 votes; however, President Trump was able to increase the number of votes he received in the states most populous counties when compared to the 2016 election results, according to Politico. If the trend continues in the GOP’s favor, Biden’s lead would be cut in half and Nevada would be a toss-up for the first time since 2004.

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In October 2020, the gap between registered Republicans and Democrats was nearly 90,000 voters, according to statistics from Nevada’s secretary of state. As of May 2022, the gap is less than 60,000 voters and falling fast…

Meanwhile, there is another tight race in the state that has yet to be decided: A Senate battle between Adam Laxalt, a Republican, and Democratic incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. As of early Saturday morning, Laxalt maintained a thin lead over Cortez Masto, 48.5 percent to her 48.14 percent, with 96.4 percent of precincts counted.

“The mail will continue to process every day, and the curing processing takes place every day as well,” Clark County’s top election official, Joe Gloria, said earlier this week of the delay in counting.

“The mail can come through until this Saturday. As long as it is postmarked by November 8th,” he said, Fox 5 Vegas reported.

“The cure runs through Monday, which is November 14th. So, anybody on the cure list, which means we couldn’t match their signature to what we have on file, they have until Monday, close of business in order to get that ballot cured,” he said.

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The outlet noted further:

Gloria also said 5,555 provisional ballots need to be verified and counted but first, those voters who registered to vote at the polls on Election Day must be verified by the Secretary of State as valid voters which won’t happen until at least Tuesday.

“We are hoping that those will get counted by Wednesday,” Gloria added.

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