Nevada state Senate race flips, candidates extend leads

One Nevada state Senate race flipped in the latest election returns reported Sunday along with a race for Clark County Commission, with new leaders increasing the margins from earlier in the day.

With all congressional races called as of Saturday, attention has shifted to the down ballot contests as elections workers moved through the remaining ballots. The deadline for finishing the count is Thursday.

The race for the open Senate District 5 saw a change from Saturday with Democrat Kristee Watson overtaking Republican Carrie Buck and moving into a 134-vote lead in the afternoon results update. Watson led Buck by 48 Sunday morning. Her lead is 0.2 percent in a race that saw the two candidates garner more than 60,000 votes combined.

In Senate District 6, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro increased her slim lead over Republican April Becker and broke the 50 percent threshold. Cannizzaro now leads by 1.2 percent and 714 votes in a race where more than 62,000 ballots were cast.

With Democrat Wendy Jauregui-Jackins conceding Saturday in Washoe County’s Senate District 15 race again Republican incumbent Heidi Gansert, the makeup of the Senate would not change if current margins hold, with 13 Democrats and 8 Republicans. Thousands of votes remain to be counted in Clark County.

State Assembly

In Assembly races, Republicans inched closer to denying Democrats their supermajority as new vote totals maintained or extended their leads in a handful of races. Democrats currently have a 29-13 majority but appear heading toward losing three seats.

In Assembly District 4, Republican Richard McArthur’s lead over incumbent Democrat Connie Munk dipped slightly but was still more than 1,900 votes and 4.9 percentage points. In Washoe County’s AD 31, incumbent Democrat Skip Daly remains 1,300 votes behind Republican Jill Dickman. And in AD 37, Republican challenger Andy Matthews’ lead over incumbent Democrat Shea Backus also saw a slight drop to 607 votes, about 1.9 percentage points.

Democrats remained ahead in AD 29, where incumbent Lesley Cohen increased her lead over Republican Steven Delisle to 1,008 votes, nearly 3 percentage points.

Clark County Commission

In the Clark County Commission District C race, Democrat Ross Miller, who overtook Republican Stavros Anthony in the morning update to lead by eight votes, increased that margin to 259 votes in the afternoon update. Miller’s lead is now 0.2 percentage points.

District, Family Court

In three Clark County District Court races, incumbent Bill Kephart was down nearly 9,400 votes against challenger Crystal Eller. Jessica Peterson’s lead increased to just more than 6,200 against incumbent Judge Trevor Atkin. And attorney and former police officer Tara Clark Newberry’s lead expanded to nearly 12,500 over attorney Jacob Reynolds in a race for an open seat.

In three county Family Court races, Family Court Hearing Master Amy Mastin was up by more than 7,600 votes against attorney Lynn Hughes, an increase from Saturday. Attorney Dawn Throne widened her lead to nearly 6,300 votes over attorney Bill Gonzalez, And attorney Heidi Almase expanded her lead to more than 11,600 votes against attorney Jim Davis.

Ballot questions

A constitutional change to legalize same-sex marriage, was still heading toward passage with 62 percent approval. Three others also moved toward passage: making changes to the Pardons Board, guaranteeing voting rights and requiring utilities to generate 50 percent of their energy output from renewable sources by 2030.

A fifth question was heading to defeat. A proposal to remove the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents from the state constitution was losing by 16,600 votes out of nearly 1.2 million cast, with 49.4 percent in favor but 50.6 percent opposed.

Contact Capital Bureau reporter Bill Dentzer at bdentzer@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DentzerNews on Twitter.