In congressional races in Washington state, incumbents who help control the purse strings for the Hanford Site, the Department of Energy’s largest and most expensive nuclear cleanup property, won re-election.
Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose 4th congressional district includes Hanford and who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, was declared the winner by the Associated Press over Democratic Party challenger Doug White, according to Roll Call.
The incumbent Newhouse, who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot of Trump supporters, had beaten both White and a Trump-backed challenger in an open primary in August. As of Wednesday morning, Newhouse claimed more than 68% of the vote Tuesday against White, according to online tabulations by the New York Times.
Meanwhile, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has been declared the winner of her re-election contest against Republican Tiffany Smiley. Smiley, born near Hanford in Pasco, Wash., is a former nurse who became a veteran’s rights advocate after her husband was severely wounded in Iraq in 2005. Deadline-hour numbers from the New York Times showed Murray with 57% of the vote.
In New Mexico, incumbent Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) won re-election, defeating GOP challenger Mark Ronchetti, a former television news meteorologist by about a margin of about 6%, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
At the same time, incumbent Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.) who represents New Mexico’s second congressional district, including the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, is in a tossup race, narrowly trailing Democrat Gabe Vasquez by 1,000 votes as of Wednesday morning, according to the New York Times.
In New Mexico’s third congressional district, which includes the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) won reelection over Republican challenger Alexis Martinez Johnson, according to a report by local media.
Meanwhile over in the Midwest, J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) claimed the Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) for the Republican Party. In one of the more high-profile national contests, the political newcomer, a lawyer and best-selling author endorsed by Trump, defeated Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) by about 53% to 47%, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
As for Ohio’s second congressional district, which includes DOE’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, incumbent Rep. Ben Wenstrup (R-Ohio) eased to a re-election victory by claiming nearly three-quarters of the vote against Democrat Samantha Meadows, according to media reports.
In Kentucky, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), whose district 1 includes the Paducah Site, cruised to re-election over Democratic challenger Jimmy Ausbrooks. Comer claimed nearly 75% of the vote. Statewide, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) won re-election to the U.S. Senate by taking 60% of the vote and defeating Democrat Charles Booker.
In Tennessee, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) whose 3rd congressional district includes much of the DOE’s Oak Ridge Site and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 National Security Complex, eased to re-election victory over Democrat challenger Meg Gorman.
Likewise, in South Carolina’s 2nd congressional district, which represents the Savannah River Site, incumbent Joe Wilson is the victor with about 63% of the vote against Democrat challenger Judd Larkins.
Civilian nuclear power in the midterms
Officials were still counting votes in a few races in crucial nuclear power and waste states and districts at deadline Wednesday, including the most politically charged of them all.
Out in Nevada, incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) trailed former state attorney general Adam Laxalt (R) by around three percentage points, 49.9% to 47.2%, as of Wednesday morning, according to NBC News election data. About 80% of votes have been counted in the Silver State.
Cortez Masto is an avowed opponent of the mothballed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nye County, Nev. The senator, elected in 2016, has lobbied over the last several fiscal years to keep funding for Yucca Mountain out of the federal budget and proposed legislation aimed at blocking the Department of Energy from accessing federal funds to develop the site.
Laxalt is no friend of Yucca Mountain, either. During his time as Nevada’s attorney general, he successfully countered a 2018 lawsuit from the state of Texas aimed at fast-tracking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s review of the Yucca Mountain project. Laxalt also oversaw Carson City’s suit against DOE over its plan to ship weapons-usable plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site.
In the race for the governor’s mansion, incumbent Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) was down about four points to former Clark County, Nev., sheriff Joe Lombardo as of Wednesday morning. Sisolak in September asked NRC to allow Nevada to make a formal motion to cancel the agency’s long-stalled review of the Yucca Mountain site.
Meanwhile in California, Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) was ahead of challenger Brian Maryott (R) in the race to represent the Golden State’s 49th congressional district. As of Wednesday morning Levin led Maryott by roughly 4,000 votes, around 51% to 49%, with just over half of the district’s ballots counted.
California’s 49th district is home to San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) and its 123 canisters of spent nuclear fuel, stored on-site. During his time on Capitol Hill, Levin has used SONGS as a springboard to become one of Congress’s most vocal proponents of nuclear waste issues.
