Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R) will face off against Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak (D) in the race to replace outgoing Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) in November.
Laxalt, who cast himself as an archconservative when he won his first run for statewide office four years ago, coasted through the Republican primary on Tuesday, outlasting state Treasurer Dan Schwartz (R) and a handful of lesser-known candidates.
Sisolak faced a far stronger challenge from fellow Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani (D). With 56 percent of the precincts reporting, Sisolak led by a 51 to 38 percent margin.{mosads}
Giunchigliani challenged Sisolak from the left, making an issue of Sisolak’s support for public funding of a new NFL stadium that will host the Raiders. She also benefited from a late endorsement from Hillary Clinton, who recorded a robocall that went out to Democratic voters over the past weekend.
But Sisolak touted his support for the Vegas Golden Knights, the city’s new NHL franchise that made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year. Sisolak ran advertising during the Knights’ improbable playoff run, capitalizing on the popularity of the city’s first major sports team.
In an address to supporters Tuesday night, Laxalt called Sisolak a “career politician who has spent decades complaining about the problems, and little time getting to work on the solutions.” He cast November’s election as a choice between “real solutions or a radical agenda that would take our unique state the way of California.”
Laxalt begins the sprint to November with a hefty cash advantage, after Sisolak spent more than $6.3 million to win his primary. Laxalt has raised about $6.7 million since the beginning of 2017 and spent about $3 million, according to filings with the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office.
Democrats are trying to end a two-decade-long dry spell in Nevada, where Republicans have held the governorship since Kenny Guinn won election in 1998. The party failed to recruit a top-tier challenger to Sandoval, who took 70 percent of the vote when he ran for reelection in 2014.
But this year, Democrats hope Sisolak can break the spell, in part because Nevada is home to so many of the party’s other top priorities. Both parties will spend heavily on the race between Sen. Dean Heller (R) and Rep. Jacky Rosen (D). Open House seats held by Rosen and Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D), both in the Las Vegas market, are likely to be top targets as well.
In 2016, Clinton beat President Trump in Nevada by just over 2 percentage points, or about 27,000 votes.
— This report was updated at 7:24 a.m.