2022 United States Senate election in Nevada

The 2022 United States Senate election in Nevada was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Nevada. Incumbent Democratic senator Catherine Cortez Masto won re-election to a second term, narrowly defeating Republican challenger Adam Laxalt. Nevada's election results were slowed due to state law that allowed voters to submit mail-in ballots until November 12, and allowed voters to fix clerical problems in their mail-in ballots until November 14, 2022. No Republican has won this specific U.S. Senate seat since Adam Laxalt's grandfather Paul Laxalt won a second full term in 1980.

According to exit polls, Cortez Masto won 62% of Latinos, 64% of young voters, and 52% of women.

Cortez Masto made protecting abortion rights a central issue of her campaign. Many experts and forecasters saw Nevada as Republicans' best chance to pickup a seat in the Senate. Despite Laxalt leading in most polls, Cortez Masto narrowly won re-election by a little less than 8,000 votes.

Cortez Masto flipped Washoe County, improving her 2016 voteshare by 1.7%, although Laxalt improved on Joe Heck's margin in rural counties, and performed slightly better in Clark County. The incumbent Democrat's improvements in Washoe compared to 2016 proved to be decisive, as her victory margin there was slightly larger than in Nevada as a whole. With a narrow margin of 0.77%, this was the closest Senate race of the 2022 election cycle and the closest Senate election in Nevada since 1998.

Nominee

 * Catherine Cortez Masto, incumbent U.S. Senator (2017–present) and former attorney general of Nevada (2007–2015)

Eliminated in primary

 * Stephanie Kasheta
 * Corey Reid
 * Allen Rheinhart, Black Lives Matter activist and candidate for governor in 2014, U.S. Senate in 2016, and Nevada's 1st congressional district in 2020

Results
[[File:2022 NV US Senate Democratic primary.svg|thumb|250px|Results by county: {{legend|#7996e2|Cortez Masto}}

{{legend|#6674de|60–70%}}

{{legend|#584cde|70–80%}}

{{legend|#3933e5|80–90%}}

{{legend|#0d056c|90–100%}} ]]

Nominee

 * Adam Laxalt, former attorney general of Nevada (2015–2019), nominee for governor in 2018, and son of former U.S. Senator Pete Domenici and grandson of former U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt

Eliminated in primary

 * Sam Brown, U.S. Army veteran, Purple Heart recipient, candidate for of the Texas's 102nd House of Representatives district in 2014, and great-grandson of Paul Brown
 * William "Bill" Conrad, retired combat veteran
 * Bill Hockstedler, vice president of Ambient Clinical Analytics, sheriff's office volunteer, and U.S. Air Force veteran
 * Sharelle Mendenhall, pageant queen
 * Tyler Perkins
 * Carlo Poliak, retired sanitation worker and perennial candidate
 * Paul Rodriguez

Declined

 * Mark Amodei, U.S. Representative for NV's 2nd congressional district (2011–present) (ran for re-election)
 * Heidi Gansert, state senator for the 15th district (2016–present)
 * Dean Heller, former U.S. Senator (2011–2019) and former U.S. Representative for NV's 2nd congressional district (2007–2011) (ran for governor)
 * Ben Kieckhefer, state senator for the 16th district (2010–2021)
 * Brian Sandoval, president of the University of Nevada, Reno (2020–present) and former governor of Nevada (2011–2019)

Polling

 * Graphical summary

Results
[[File:2022 NV US Senate Republican primary.svg|thumb|250px|Results by county: {{legend|#e27f90|Laxalt}}

{{legend|#ffb2b2|40–50%}}

{{legend|#e27f7f|50–60%}}

{{legend|#d75d5d|60–70%}} {{legend|#ff9955|Brown}}

{{legend|#ffb380|40–50%}} ]]

Declared

 * Neil Scott, accountant

Declared

 * Barry Rubinson, nominee for NV's 4th congressional district in 2020

Declared

 * Barry Lindemann, asset manager

Not on ballot

 * J. J. Destin, truck driver
 * Gretchen Rae Lowe

Polling

 * Aggregate polls
 * Graphical summary


 * Catherine Cortez Masto vs. Sam Brown

Results
2022 Nevada us senate election swing map by county.svg Swing by county Legend

{{legend|#77e3ff|Democratic — +5-7.5%}}

{{legend|#AAEEFF|Democratic — +2.5-5%}}

{{legend|#D5F6FF|Democratic — +0-2.5%}}

{{legend|#FFD5D5|Republican — +0-2.5%}}

{{legend|#FFAAAA|Republican — +2.5-5%}}

{{legend|#FF8080|Republican — +5-7.5%}}

{{legend|#FF5555|Republican — +7.5-10%}} Cortez Masto won urban Clark County and Washoe County, home to Las Vegas and Reno respectively. Combined, these two counties contain more than 80% of the state's total population. While her margin in Clark County fell from 11% in 2016 to 8% in this election, she flipped Washoe County, which she lost by less than 1% in 2016, with a 4% margin of victory. Laxalt won by landslide margins in Nevada's rural counties, but they are lightly populated and cast less than 16% of the total vote. In the end, Cortez Masto's victories in the state's two largest counties gave her too large a lead for Laxalt to overcome in rural Nevada. As of 2023, no Republican has won any U.S. Senate race in Nevada since 2012.

By county

 * Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
 * Washoe (largest municipality: Reno)

By congressional district
Cortez Masto won 3 of 4 congressional districts.