Nevada Senate election - live: Laxalt lead narrows as mail-in ballots favour Cortez Masto in crucial race

One of America’s most contested midterm races between Adam Laxalt and Catherine Cortez Masto is coming to a head in Nevada.

As of Thursday morning, Republican Mr Laxalt maintained a slight lead over Democrat incumbent Ms Cortez Masto in the Senate race with just over 79 per cent of votes counted, according to the New York Times.

The race is still subject to substantial shift as two counties with the vast majority of voters - Clark and Washoe - continued to tabulate mail-in ballots that maintained late into Wednesday night with large margins for Democrats, according to the Nevada Independent.

Those ballots will continue to come in over the next several days, as state law requires them to be postmarked by Election Day at the latest.

In the race for Nevada governor, incumbent Democrat Steve Sisolak was several points behind Republican challenger Joe Lombardo, sheriff of Clark County and head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, as of Thursday morning with 79 per cent of votes counted.

Four House seats are also up for grabs in Nevada, with Republican Mark Amodei claiming the first victory as he won reelection for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.

Why the Nevada race is so important

14:53 , Megan Sheets

In an Editor’s Letter prior to Election Day, The Independent’s Eric Garcia outlined why the Nevada race between Adam Laxalt and Catherine Cortez Masto:

“Nevada doesn’t get as much attention as other states, because outside of Las Vegas and Reno, it is largely seen as rural and desert – and it only has six electoral votes. But that doesn’t mean it is unimportant. In fact, I’ve been keeping an eye on the state ever since the Nevada caucuses in the 2020 Democratic primary, when eventual President Joe Biden posted a weak second place against Bernie Sanders. Sanders won thanks to an aggressive Latino outreach in the state.

“I began telling anyone who would listen (and many who wouldn’t) that this meant Biden could underperform with Latino voters in the presidential election, too. This would be borne out when Donald Trump improved his margin with the group and Biden barely won Nevada in 2020 – to say nothing of Trump’s strength in south Texas and Miami, where there are also high amounts of Latino voters.

“Now, in the 2022 midterms, Nevada faces perhaps the tightest and perhaps most consequential races with Adam Laxalt facing Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto; Governor Steve Sisolak facing Republican Sheriff Joe Lombardo; and election-denying Republican Jim Marchant facing Democrat Cisco Aguilar.”

Read more:

In the US midterm elections, it all comes down to Nevada

US midterms: Who won, who lost and what we know so far

14:52 , Megan Sheets

As the results continue to roll in from the midterm elections, it quickly became clear that the contest had been much closer than expected and the outcome more nail-biting and unpredictable than many had foreseen.

The Republicans appear close to securing a majority in the House of Representatives at the time of writing and could yet sneak an advantage in the Senate too, which would allow them to play havoc with Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.

But the “red tsunami” that many blustering conservative commentators had confidently forecast was about to level Washington DC has most certainly not materialised.

South Carolina GOP senator Lindsey Graham admitted as much when he was asked by NBC what he had seen play out and answered dryly: “Definitely not a Republican wave, that is for darn sure.”

Here, The Independent provides all the latest results from the races and breaks down who, who lost and what’s still to be decided.

US midterms: Who won, who lost and what we know so far

Nevada mail-in ballots continue to arrive with large margins for Democrats

14:51 , Megan Sheets

As mail-in ballots continued to be counted in Nevada, the tightening race in the Senate appeared to close some of Republican Adam Lexalt’s lead over Democratic challenger Catherine Cortez Masto.

“In Senate race, combined results from Lyon, Nye and Washoe have reduced Laxalt’s lead to under 16,000,” tweeted Jon Ralston, CEO, The Nevada Independent, late Wednesday night local time.

“Washoe mail was huge for CCM, as she turned a 5K deficit there to a 400-vote lead. The urban mail is coming in with large margins for Dems,” he added, noting that the votes likely wouldn’t be tabulated till Thursday.

“This is where the Senate race is right now, with 100K-plus mail ballots still to be counted in Clark and Washoe,” he tweeted, while sharing a screenshot of the race results that showed Mr Laxalt ahead with 15,812 to Ms Cortez Masto.