Republican Laxalt ahead in Nevada Senate race

Laxalt's victory would make up for the lost GOP Senate seat in Pennsylvania.
Adam Laxalt, Las Vegas, Nov. 2, 2022
By Madeleine Hubbard

Republican Adam Laxalt on Thursday is ahead of incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada's tense U.S. Senate race that is yet to have a declared winner.

With 83% of the votes counted as of Thursday morning, Laxalt is ahead of Cortez Masto by 49.4% to 47.6%, according to The Associated Press. If Laxalt wins, he will be Nevada's first Republican senator in a decade. 

Endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Laxalt's victory would make up for the lost GOP Senate seat in Pennsylvania, which flipped blue with John Fetterman's win on Tuesday.

Early Wednesday morning Cortez Masto said she was still confident the election would go in her favor. "We know this will take time and we won't have more election results for several days," she tweeted. 

Laxalt on Thursday tweeted that his team expects the remaining mail-in ballots "to fall well below the percentage [Cortez Masto] needs to catch us."

Nevada's executive branch may also flip red. Incumbent Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolak is coming in at 46.23% to GOP challenger Joe Lombardo's 50.1% with 83% of the ballots counted.