Tuesday was a good night for congressional incumbents in Nevada, who easily overcame primary challenges.
The state’s four members of the House of Representatives all advanced to the Nov. 3 general election, according to unofficials results from the Nevada Secretary of State.
Five-term Rep. Dina Titus (D) took home over 86% of the vote against two challengers in the Democratic Party primary for the 1st Congressional District, which covers the region around Las Vegas. She will face Republican Joyce Bentley, a Realtor, who received just under 38% of the vote against three rivals.
Four-and-a-half-term Rep. Mark Amodei (R), the sole Republican in Nevada’s congressional delegation, secured just over 80% of the votes against two other candidates in the Republican primary for the northern 2nd Congressional District. He is now campaigning against Democrat Patricia Ackerman, a community activist, who took just under 50% of the primary vote in a seven-person field.
First-term Rep. Susie Lee (D) garnered over 83% of the vote against two challengers in the Democratic Party primary for the 3rd Congressional District, comprised of areas south of Las Vegas. In the fall, Lee will defend her seat against former professional wrestler Dan Rodimer, who won about 44% of the vote in a six-person Republican field.
Second-term Rep. Steven Horsford (D) won about 75% of the primary vote in a field of six primray candidates for the 4th Congressional District. The district covers much of central Nevada, including the Yucca Mountain federal property that for decades has been proposed for an underground nuclear waste disposal facility. Horsford served in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015, then lost his re-election bid before coming back in the 2018 midterm elections.
Some rival Democrats called for him to drop out after Horsford acknowledged an extramarital affair that occurred over several years, starting when he was a Nevada state senator. In November he will face Republican businessman Jim Marchant, who took 34% of the vote in an eight-person GOP field.
Titus and Amodei are considered heavy favorites to win-re-election, while Lee and Horsford might face tougher competition. Lee is still in her first term, while Horsford faces fallout from his extramarital relationship.
Neither of Nevada’s U.S. senators are up for election this year. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D) was elected to her first term in 2018, while Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) would go before the voters in 2022 for her second term.
Whatever their situation, Nevada lawmakers largely agree on preventing shipment of radioactive waste for permanent geologic disposal under Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
“The people of Nevada have made themselves clear: we do not want our state to be the dumping ground for the nation’s nuclear waste,” Horsford said in a prepared statement in February. “My constituents will not be ignored and my fight for their safety will continue.”
Amodei has tried to find a middle ground – agreeing “Yucca Mountain should become a simple dumping site for the nation’s nuclear waste,” but that the repository might ultimately be inevitable. In his position statement on the issue, Amodei said the Energy Department and Congress should work together to develop a nuclear research and reprocessing facility at the site.
The Energy Department in 2008 filed its license application for Yucca Mountain with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but the proceeding has been moribund for a decade after being defunded by the Obama administration. The Trump administration failed in three consecutive budget proposals to persuade Congress to provide money to resume licensing.
Ahead of the November elections, President Donald Trump in February tweeted out his support for Nevada’s opposition to the disposal site. The administration then dropped Yucca Mountain from its budget for the upcoming fiscal 2021, instead asking for $27.5 million to help stand up a program focused on consolidated interim storage of nuclear waste.
Meanwhile, Alexis Johnson has been declared winner of last week’s three-way Republican primary in New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District. She will face off against Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez to succeed Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.).
Johnson, an engineer who worked for Exelon Power, emerged the victor Saturday after absentee ballots were counted for the June 2 primary, according to an Associated Press article.
Johnson edged Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya Harry Montoya, 36.7% to 35.4%, according to unofficial figures posted Monday by the New Mexico Secretary of State. Finishing third was Karen Bedonie, a businesswoman and Navajo Nation member, with almost 28% of the vote.
Leger Fernandez, a lawyer who garnered endorsements from well-known Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N. Y), won her party’s primary by claiming almost 43% of the vote in a seven-person race. She finished well ahead of the No. 2 vote-getter, former Central Intelligence Agency officer Valerie Plame, with about 25%.
The 3rd Congressional District includes the Los Alamos National Laboratory and all or parts of 16 counties in northern New Mexico. Luján is giving up the seat and is campaigning to succeed retiring Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.). He had no opponent in the Democratic Party primary. Luján’s Republican opponent in the Nov. 3 general election is TV meteorologist Mark Ronchetti, who took more than half of the votes in the three-person GOP primary.
