THE OPPORTUNITY

In 2022, Nevada’s trifecta was a key rightwing target. The States Project worked in the state for the first time, and while we successfully helped defend majorities in both state legislative chambers, voters elected a new rightwing governor.

Governor Lombardo has since used his veto power on a record number — more than 75 — of the bills sent to him by the legislature in 2023, including caps on prescription drug prices, free school meals for every child, and housing protections for renters. Despite the governor’s vetoes, lawmakers have an impactful record to share with voters, and a strong case for why lawmakers who voted against these popular policies should not be re-elected.

So in 2024, The States Project will work in Nevada again, this time to build a veto-proof supermajority that will give state lawmakers the governing power they need to improve lives. To achieve this goal we will need to hold every seat in both chambers, plus flip just one more seat in the Senate.

The Stakes

In 2020, as part of a plot to help Donald Trump steal the presidency, Nevada was one of the states with a fraudulent slate of “alternate” electors that did not represent the will of voters. Since then, the state has lost over half of its top election officials and much of its elections staff, partly due to an extreme level of harassment and threats by election-deniers. Some of this turnover has resulted in election deniers themselves taking over these positions.

Lawmakers who hold the majority in both chambers passed several policies to address these threats to democracy during the most recent legislative session, including a proposal that would have criminalized future attempts to appoint fake electors.

Lombardo vetoed this bill, along with several others designed to make it easier for every qualified voter to cast a ballot, including:

• Providing Nevadans who work during the day with expanded DMV hours so they can register to vote.
• Requirements for polling places to have enough handicap-accessible voting machines to ensure voters with disabilities can cast their ballot.

The Landscape

Accomplishing our goal of giving state lawmakers the power to prevent their rightwing Governor from blocking policies that will improve Nevadans’ lives will not be easy. Building on lessons learned from last cycle, we’re beginning our electoral work in the state earlier than ever. Half of the Senate is up for election this year, so we will need to protect every vulnerable incumbent in that chamber, plus flip an additional seat.

In 2022, we won eight Assembly seats by less than 1,500 votes, two of those by less than 400 votes. To protect the threshold we have in that chamber, and have any chance at a veto-proof supermajority in the legislature, we will need to hold every single Assembly seat.

• In 2022, with the entire Nevada Assembly and half of the Senate up for election, The States Project successfully helped to defend both chambers!
  • Candidates we supported netted one additional seat in the Senate; the Nevada legislature is now just one Senate seat away from a veto-proof supermajority.
• In the State Assembly, we went into the election needing to avoid four losses. Candidates we supported held every seat they were in and picked up two additional seats.
• Six of the candidates we supported faced extremist opponents who denied that President Biden is the rightful president. All six democracy champions won their elections.
• Every candidate we supported across both chambers won their elections narrowly — most with margins under 5 percent of the vote.