In federal elections, stability often prevails in the mostly rural areas that are home to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s major labs, plants and sites. The 2022 midterm elections this week largely continued the trend, with all of one new face among the mostly unaffiliated contingent of lawmakers who represent the states and districts that host nuclear-weapon sites.
A breakdown of the races for seats nearby big National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sites follows. The list is organized in alphabetical order by state. Poll numbers were the most current available from the Associated Press and other major outlets at deadline for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. Some races remained to close to call at that time.
Senate
Incumbent Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) defeated challenger Mark Meuser (R) 59% to 41% to earn a second term, his first full term, as California’s junior U.S. Senator. California includes the San Francisco Bay Area’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Padilla holds the Senate seat vacated by Kamala Harris (D), who became President Joe Biden’s vice president in 2021.
Incumbent Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) defeated challenger Trudy Busch Valentine (D) 55.5% to 42.1% to earn his first term as Missour’s junior U.S. Senator. Missouri includes the Kansas City National Security Campus, the NNSA’s assembly hub for the non-nuclear parts of nuclear weapons. Schmitt won the seat being vacated by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who will retire from Congress.
Incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Calif.), running for her second term, trailed challenger Adam Laxalt (R) 47.6% to 49.4% in a race for one of Nevada’s U.S. Senate seats. Laxalt is the former state attorney general who filed a legal challenge questioning the validity of Nevada’s 2020 elections. This race was crucial for control of the U.S. Senate. At deadline, this was one of two Senate races Democrats had to win to preserve a 51-50 majority in the Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris (D) as a tie-breaking vote. Nevada includes the Nevada National Security Site, the desert subcritical testing laboratory where the NNSA verifies that the U.S. nuclear arsenal maintains its designed destructive capability.
Incumbent Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) defeated challenger Krystle Matthews (D) 62.9% to 37.1% to receive a second term, his first full term and the first he has won in his own right, as South Carolina’s junior U.S. Senator. Scott was appointed to the Senate in 2014 by then-Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to replace Sen. Jim DeMint, who left Congress two years into his second term to run the Heritage Foundation. South Carolina includes the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The NNSA bottles tritium for nuclear weapons there and is building a factory to produce plutonium pits on the site.
House of Representatives
Incumbent Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) defeated challenger Alison Hayden (R) 65.7% to 34.3% to earn a sixth term in Congress. After California’s redistricting this year, Swalwell represents the state’s 14th congressional district, which includes the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The lab was formerly part of the state’s 15th congressional district.
Incumbent Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo) defeated challenger Jacob Turk (R) 60.9% to 36.5% to earn a 10th term representing the Missouri 5th congressional district that includes the NNSA’s Kansas City National Security Campus, the assembly hub for the non-nuclear parts of nuclear weapons. This race was a rematch of the 2018 midterm election.
Incumbent Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) defeated challenger Kathleen Brown (D) 55.7% to 44.3% to earn a second term, her first full term, in Congress representing New Mexico’s first congressional district, which includes the Sandia National Laboratories’ main campus in Albuquerque, N.M. Stansbury won a special election in 2021 to succeed Debra Haaland, who became President Joe Biden’s (D) secretary of the interior.
Incumbent Rep. Teresa Fernández (D-N.M.) defeated challenger Alexis Johnson (R) 58% to 42% to earn a second term in Congress representing New Mexico’s third congressional district, which includes the Los Alamos National Laboratory. This race was a rematch of the 2020 general election.
Incumbent Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev) lead challenger and Sam Peters (R) 51.4% to 48.6% at deadline. Peters has publicly cast doubt on the results of the 2020 general election, local media reported. Horsford was running for reelection for a fourth term representing Nevada’s fourth congressional district, which borders the Nevada National Security Site. This race was a rematch of the 2020 general election. Horsford has represented the district for the last two sessions of Congress. He served his previous term from 2012 to 2014, after which he was defeated by Crescent Hardy, who served for a term before Horsford won the seat back in the 2018 midterms.
Incumbent Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who voted to decertify the 2020 election returns reported by Arizona and Pennsylvania, defeated challenger Judd Larkins (D) 60.1% to 39.9% to earn a 12th term in Congress representing South Carolina’s second congressional district, which includes the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The NNSA bottles tritium for nuclear weapons there and is building a factory to produce plutonium pits on the site.
Incumbent Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), who voted to decertify the 2020 election returns reported by Arizona and Pennsylvania, defeated challenger Judd Larkins (D) 60.1% to 39.9% to earn a seventh term in Congress representing Tenneessee’s third congressional district, which includes the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.: the NNSA’s defense uranium hub and the manufacturing center for nuclear-weapon secondary stages.
Incumbent Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who voted to decertify the 2020 election returns reported by Arizona and Pennsylvania, defeated challenger Kathleen Brown (D) 75.4% to 24.6% to earn a second term in Congress representing Texas’ 13th congressional district, which includes the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas: the NNSA’s service center and assembly-disassembly hub for all U.S. nuclear weapons.
