EDITORIAL: 3 Nevada House races now rated as toss-ups

Tuesday’s primary balloting brought few surprises. Some races remain unsettled, thanks in part to outstanding ballots that have yet to be counted. Universal mail voting does not make for timely election results, even when turnout is light.

At the top of the statewide ticket, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo earned the GOP gubernatorial nod, picking up nearly 40 percent of the vote in the 15-candidate field. He’ll face Gov. Steve Sisolak in a race that likely provides the GOP its only chance to check a Legislature dominated by Democrats.

The favorites also prevailed in Nevada’s House and Senate races, which will play a role in determining control of Congress.

Former Attorney General Adam Laxalt won his GOP primary and now faces incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, considered one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats this cycle.

Nevada’s three Southern Nevada U.S. House races are set and could be competitive, despite new districts drawn by Democrats.

In the 1st Congressional District, incumbent Dina Titus will face Republican Mark Robertson, a former U.S. Army colonel who emerged from the primary. In the 3rd Congressional District, incumbent Susie Lee will square off against Republican April Becker, who narrowly lost a race for the state Senate in 2020. The 4th Congressional District features incumbent Steven Horsford against Republican Sam Peters, who owns an insurance firm.

In a sign of the headwinds Democrats face this November, all three races are rated as toss-ups by the influential Cook Political Report despite the fact that Republicans are significantly outnumbered in each district.

In down-ballot primary races, the most interesting development was an apparent voter rebellion against members of the Clark County School Board. While all three board members on the ballot this cycle likely will survive into the general — mail ballots that are received by Saturday must be counted — their performances were underwhelming.

In District D, Steven Conger had a 26.6 percent to 25.6 percent lead over incumbent Irene Cepeda. Another challenger, Brenda Zamora had collected 24.3 percent of the vote. The top two move forward to November.

A similar scenario played out in District F, where incumbent Danielle Ford was in second place, barely managing 19 percent of the vote and trailing former Assemblywoman Irene Bustamante Adams by 2.3 percentage points.

The only board member with a lead was District G incumbent Linda Cavazos, who picked up 35 percent of the vote, nearly double her closest challenger.

The school district is a mess, and the school board has been a circus of late. Clark County voters appear to have noticed.