Democrat Ackerman wins House primary in northern Nevada

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Democrat Patricia Ackerman won a seven-candidate contest for a northern Nevada congressional district, according to results released Thursday from Tuesday’s primary election.

Ackerman, a retired mountaineer and former actress, will face Republican Rep. Mark Amodei in November. Amodei has represented the 2nd Congressional District, which covers, Reno, Carson City and much of northern part of the state, since 2011.

Democrats have been making gains in their voter registration numbers in the Reno area in recent months but they have a big gap to overcome across the GOP-heavy district.

The Associated Press has not yet declared a winner in the Republican primary races for the 1st, 3rd and 4th congressional districts. The winners will take on three incumbent Democrats in November. Two of those districts, held by Rep. Susie Lee in the 3rd District and Rep. Steven Horsford in the 4th, are considered swing seats that the GOP has a chance of winning.

Results released so far show former professional wrestler Dan Rodimer leading the Republican race for Nevada’s 3rd District, followed by former State Treasurer Dan Schwartz and four others.

Rodimer declared victory Thursday. The Associated Press has not called the race with many votes still to be counted.

In the 4th District, former state lawmaker Jim Marchant was leading an eight-way primary, followed closely by Sam Peters, an insurance business owner and retired Air Force major.

Secretary of State Barabara Cegavske plans to release more results Friday morning and every day until Wednesday.

Initial primary results weren’t released until Wednesday morning after long lines left voters waiting as long as eight hours after polls closed to cast ballots.

Cegavske significantly reduced the number of in-person polling places because of the coronavirus and instead encouraged voters to cast ballots by mail. Though many did vote by mail or took advantage of two weeks of in-person early voting, many still showed up at the polls Tuesday, including those who said they didn’t receive ballots.

Results released Thursday also showed Assemblyman Chris Edwards lost a Republican primary for his southern Nevada seat to Mesquite City Councilwoman Annie Black. Edwards was first elected in 2014. No Democrat is running in November.

Price is a national political reporter for The Associated Press. She is based in New York.