LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Ballots are still trickling in to local elections offices in the 2026 Nevada primary, with final, unofficial results expected next week. In the meantime, here are five takeaways from the primary election.
WATCH | 5 takeaways from the primary election
Every vote counts!
Some races in the primary were decided by huge margins. Gov. Joe Lombardo, for example, faced six candidates (and the "none of these candidates" ballot option) and is leading now with nearly 90 percent of the vote.
It's a contrast to 2022, when he faced 15 candidates, won with 38 percent of the vote and had to fend off a lawsuit from No. 2 finisher Joey Gilbert, whose lawsuit was rejected by a judge. Gilbert had to pay Lombardo's attorney's fees.
But other races on this year's primary ballot were much closer, showing every vote is critical.
Assemblyman Howard Watts II on Friday conceded his ultra-close bid for re-election, down just 44 votes to challenger Miguel Davila. Watts is the only sitting member of the Legislature seeking re-election who lost.
And in the Democratic primary for Assembly District 41 — the seat being vacated by Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui — environmental activist Vinny Spotleson is leading by 91 votes over challenger Gabriella Wyett.
Spotleson also ran for Assembly a decade ago, coming in second in a Democratic primary in Assembly District 21.
But races have been decided by much less. In 2020, then-former Las Vegas Councilman Stavros Anthony lost a race for Clark County Commission to ex-Commissioner Ross Miller by just 10 votes. (A recount later widened that margin to 15 votes.)
Anthony later went on to be elected lieutenant governor in 2022, and faced no competition this year in a Republican primary.
And in 2022, Drew Johnson was ahead of incumbent Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones on election day, and for days afterwards, until late-arriving mail ballots shifted the race to Jones, who ultimately won by 336 votes. (Johnson this year won the Republican primary for state treasurer.)
In 2011, Tanya Flanagan and Linda Meisenheimer tied for runner-up in North Las Vegas City Council Ward 2. They drew cards to determine who would ultimately face off with the front-runner. Pamela Goynes Brown. Flanagan lost, with the five of diamonds against Meisenheimer's king of diamonds.
Brown went on to serve on the council and ultimately as mayor, while Flanagan was elected to the Nevada Assembly and handily won the Democratic primary this year for Clark County recorder.
A lot of people didn't vote, though
As of Friday afternoon, total turnout stood at 21.6% of the more than 2 million active registered voters, which means more than 78% of people who were signed up to vote never did.
There are some reasons for that: This is a mid-term election, when there is no presidential candidate at the top of the ticket to drive turnout. This year, neither of Nevada's U.S. senators was on the ballot, either.
Nevada also has a closed primary election; only registered Republicans and Democrats can participate in partisan contests for their party's potential nominees. So the 38% of voters registered non-partisan, or those registered with minor parties, could only participate in races such as city council, school board, board of regents and judicial contests.
And some voters were automatically registered at the DMV, but never intended to vote. These "zombie voters" boost voter rolls, but often skip elections, resulting in lower turnout numbers.
Endorsements matter (sometimes)
President Donald Trump has not been shy about wading into Republican primary fights. So far in his second term, he's helped to end the careers of U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and five members of the Indiana state Senate, all because those lawmakers failed to support him in some way.
Here in Nevada, Trump's influence was most acutely felt in Northern Nevada, where he backed David Flippo, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who was originally running in the 4th Congressional District but switched to the 2nd after the unexpected retirement of incumbent Mark Amodei, R-Nev.
Amodei and Gov. Joe Lombardo were backing former Nevada state Sen. James Settelmeyer for the post, but Trump's backing — and an aggressive campaign by Flippo that questioned Settelmeyer's bona fides — put Flippo over the top 46.8% to 34.7%.
Trump also backed composer Marty O'Donnell in the GOP primary for Congressional District 3, where the president's first-term ambassador to Iceland, Dr. Jeff Gunter, was also running. O'Donnell ended up with 42.3%., and Gunter finished third, with 19.6%.
And in the Republican race for attorney general, Trump gave a late endorsement to Adriana Guzman Fralick, who was running against Douglas County Commissioner Danny Tarkanian. Guzman Fralick took 60.2% to Tarkanian's 34.6%.
Lombardo issued a slew of endorsements, many for Republican candidates who did not face primary opposition. Most of the governor's endorsed candidates in competitive contests won their races, including in Clark County Commission District F, where Lombardo backed Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama. She defeated Albert Mack, who'd been backed by Sheriff Kevin McMahill, Lombardo's former No. 2 in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
But the governor lost in some key races, too, including secretary of state, where his endorsed candidate — Shirley Folkins-Roberts — narrowly lost to former Assemblyman Jim Marchant. The governor's choice for Washoe County district attorney, incumbent Chris Hicks, also lost to Sparks City Attorney Wes Duncan, a former GOP assemblyman.
When you come for the king...
After a proposal to pass $1.8 billion in film tax credits failed, both in the regular 2025 session and again in a session called for November, unions representing laborers and building trades vowed to take out several elected officials who'd voted no, denying them promised jobs.
But they failed.
In state Senate District 2, they targeted state Sen. Edgar Flores, D-Clark County, who'd voted against the credits, by backing North Las Vegas Councilman Isaac Barron. Flores, who pled no contest to a misdemeanor DUI offense, was seemingly an easy target.
But as of Friday, Flores was leading Barron 54% to 45%.
Another target; Assemblyman Jovan Jackson, D-Clark County, in Assembly District 6. But Jackson was leading union-backed Douglas Candido 71% to 29%.
Other lawmakers who voted no, including Assemblywoman Venicia Constidine, D-Clark County, were sailing through, 80% to 20%.
And Lou DeSalvio, president of the Laborers Union Local 872, came in fourth in the race for Assembly District 1, with just 9 percent of the vote. Laborers Vice President Marco Hernandez also fell short in his third attempt to unseat Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, 57% to 43%.
The powerful Clark County Education Association joined the construction trades in backing DeSalvio, Candido and Barron.
Controversy sometimes kills
Candidates who faced controversy didn't fare well in the primary elections.
In Nye County, Justice of the Peace Michele Fiore was running in third place in her bid for re-election to the bench. Fiore hadn't served for months after being suspended by the state Judicial Discipline Commission, following her conviction by a jury on wire fraud charges.
Fiore stood accused in federal court of taking money she ostensibly raised to pay for a statute of a fallen Metro Police officer and using it instead for personal expenses. Before she could be sentenced, President Donald Trump pardoned her for the offenses.
But the discipline commission ordered her suspension, saying her conduct — and the failure to repay the allegedly defrauded donors — brought discredit upon the judiciary. Fiore sought to stop the proceedings at the Nevada Supreme Court, but justices rejected the request.
The commission is still planning a hearing, but it may be moot now that voters have rejected Fiore at the polls.
And university Regent Patrick Boylan, who courted controversy when he made disparaging remarks about biological men playing in women's sports, was losing his race for re-election to former state Sen. Mo Denis, D-Clark County.
As of Friday, Boylan was in fourth place in a six-person race.
But not all controversy is deadly.
In the Republican primary for secretary of state, Marchant was ahead as of Friday with 32.6% of the vote.
Marchant has questioned the results of elections repeatedly in the past. He once said Nevada had not had a legitimate election since 2006, and that everyone in office since then had been "installed by the deep state cabal." (Marchant served in the Nevada Assembly from 2016-2018.)
After winning the 2022 Republican primary for secretary of state, he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he wasn't confident in the result.
But Marchant won the primary for the same office again this year, despite Lombardo's backing of Folkins-Roberts.
Another of the candidates Marchant beat? Former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, who has also questioned the results of elections she's lost in Northern Nevada and statewide. Angle came in third in the GOP primary.
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