Stunning Nevada Early Voting Turnout May Help Democrats Win the Senate

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The battle for the U.S. Senate may come down to Nevada where the race between Senate candidates Dean Heller and Jacky Rosen is a dead heat. In fact, the headline in The Huffington Post this morning reads “Nevada Senate Race Down to the Wire.”

If the Democrat Rosen can win in Nevada, and if Democrats also take Republican senate seats in Arizona and Tennessee, then there is a chance Chuck Schumer could become the Senate Majority Leader starting in January. The Democrats would win control of the Senate with these three victories, even if they lose one current seat, such as the one currently held by Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota.

And now after one day of early voting in Nevada things are looking really good for the Democrats’ chances of picking up a seat there. Veteran Nevada political report Jon Ralston reported on a turnout surge during the first day of early voting.

Ralston tweeted:

“Early voting in the Democratic stronghold of Clark County is going to be at least triple what it was in 2014. Looks more like a presidential year. Big show for first day and it peters out? Or a sign of what’s to come?”

According to Ralston, these stunning early voting numbers are a very good omen for Democrats. After he reviewed the results last night he sent out another tweet, saying:

“Been watching early voting a long time and I don’t think I have ever seen Dems win Washoe by 15 points — 49-34. It’s NV’s swing county, GOP has 2 percent edge. It’s only one day, we still need to see Clark. But that is a bad omen for Repubs.”

Not only that, but the final voter registration numbers for Nevada also show Democrats with 598,174 registered voters to the Republican Party’s 523,251 — a registration advantage of nearly 75,000. This is a big increase over the last election, and shows the impact of strong Democratic Party voter registration efforts in the state.

And to cap off the good news for Democrats in Nevada, on Saturday it was reported that Republican governor nominee Adam Laxalt, the state’s current Attorney General, may be facing disbarment because he did not report to the Nevada State Bar Association two times he had been arrested.

This additional scandal, just two weeks before a tight election, is not what Nevada Republicans either needed or wanted right now.

As the Huffington Post said today, “Heller could squeak by to his second term if turnout mirrors low levels seen in past midterm elections.” But it looks like turnout will be anything but low. Both registrations and early voting for Democrats appear to be at record highs.

If turnout numbers continue to be high then it is very likely that Rosen, and other Democrats, will win their races in Nevada. And if that happens there is a realistic chance that Democrats will also win control of the U.S. Senate.

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Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.