Nevada Sen.Catherine Cortez Mastohas narrowly defeated tough Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, securing a second term in office andkeeping the Democratic Party’s majority in Senate.
Democrats now have the opportunity to gain a Senate seat for the upcoming legislative session, if Georgia also swings bluein the December runoff election.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty
Cortez Masto was the first Latina elected to U.S. Senate, who focused much of her reelection campaign on her opponent’s firm anti-abortion stance, a top-of-mind issue for many voters sinceRoe v. Wadewas overturnedin June.
Laxalt, meanwhile, previously served as Nevada’s attorney general from 2015 to 2019, and comes from a powerful political family (his grandfather and father were both U.S. senators).
GOP Senate Candidate Adam Laxalt Campaigns Across Nevada.Mario Tama/Getty
But the Republican and Trump-endorsed candidate’s far-right viewpoints proved detrimental in a previous attempt to climb the ladder when he ran for governor in 2018.
Early election results showed Laxalt with a slight lead over Cortez Masto, but the scales tipped with the count of late-arriving mail-in ballots from Democratic strongholds such as Clark and Washoe Counties.
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In the same state where Sen. Cortez Masto won her reelection bid, Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak lost his, conceding to Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo on Friday.
Providing one major win — and one major loss — to each party in the midterms, Nevada has once again demonstrated that it is a true purple state.
source: people.com
