Thanks for subscribing! Access your favorite topics in a personalized stream while on the go. download the app
Senate Chevron Icon Indicates an expandable section or menu or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Home (3 Regions) Chevron Icon Indicates an expandable section or menu or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Governor Chevron Icon Indicates an expandable section or menu or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Statehouse Chevron Icon Indicates an expandable section or menu or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Mayor (2 Races) Chevron Icon Indicates an expandable section or menu or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Democratic Sen. Kathryn Cortez Masto defeated Republican Adam Laxalt to win the US Senate race in Nevada. The victory gave Democrats 50 seats in the U.S. Senate in the next session of Congress — enough to secure a majority again, even as Georgia’s U.S. Senate race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker is still undecided. 2022 General Incorporations

Nevada US Senate Candidates

Cortez Masto is no stranger to closing contests. She led the Senate Democratic campaign as the party achieved a tie majority following narrow victories by Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the 2021 Georgia Senate runoffs. 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. Laxalt is descended from Nevada politicians. His grandfather, Paul Laxalt, was both a governor and a US senator. It was also revealed in 2013 that he is the son of Pete Domenici, a US Senator from New Mexico. Cortez Masto’s campaign has characterized Laxalt as irrelevant because of his past, notably in an ad echoing HBO’s “Succession.” Laxalt previously held state office as attorney general, but that wasn’t enough to prevent Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak from defeating Laxalt in 2018 to become the state’s first Democratic governor in more than two decades. Laxalt, as Trump’s top campaign official, led unsuccessful post-election challenges in the state and sought to cast doubt on the current race. A victory here for the GOP could well have decided the majority, ending the long evenly divided Senate. But Cortez Masto managed to hold on, blocking the GOP’s 51-seat sweep.

Nevada voting history

Democrats have controlled at least one of the state’s two Senate seats since Reid’s election in 1986. Sen. Jackie Rosen’s ouster of Republican incumbent Heller in 2018 gave the party outright control for the first time since 2000. Nevada is seen as a swing state in the presidential election, but experts worry that the state’s changing demographics would make it more out of reach for the GOP. Former President Donald Trump’s inroads with Latino voters in general have quelled some of those concerns.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Cortez Masto has raised more than $52.8 million, spent $46.6 million and has about $6.3 million on hand as of October 19. October 19. Spending by super PACs, party committees and other organizations supporting or opposing these candidates has been massive, according to OpenSecrets — about $128.3 million in total, as of Nov. 8. In total, 15 different outside teams spent at least $1 million on this match. few in the eight-figure range.

What the experts say

The race between Cortez Masto and Laxalt was unanimously rated a “blowout” by Inside Elections, The Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.