Patricia Ackerman scores upset victory in race to unseat U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei

Many races still undecided after long delays in reporting results

James DeHaven
Reno Gazette Journal
Patricia Ackerman

Northern Nevada voters gave a first-time Democratic congressional candidate a chance to make history and sent a handful of familiar Assembly candidates to November’s general election, according to long-awaited primary election tallies released by state officials on Thursday.

Hourslong lines at very few in-person polling places prompted lengthy delays in reporting results from Nevada’s first vote-by-mail primary, leaving the outcome of some high-profile Reno-area races unclear more than 48 hours after the polls closed.

State law gives voting officials seven days to count absentee ballots and another three days to certify the results.

Here’s a closer look at unofficial results:

2nd Congressional District

First-time congressional candidate Patricia Ackerman could become the first Democrat elected to represent the state’s sprawling 2nd Congressional District after easily topping six other hopefuls vying to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei in November.

Ackerman, a businesswoman and former actress who lost a 2018 bid to unseat then-Assembly Minority Leader Jim Wheeler, won more than 49 percent of ballots so far counted in the district. The 62-year-old Minden resident overcame a better-known opponent in two-time congressional hopeful Clint Koble, who picked up 22 percent of the vote. Reno-based marketing director Ed Cohen was the only other candidate to secure double-digit support in the race.

Ackerman faces the tough task of ousting Amodei, who will defend his seat after handily beating a pair of little-known primary challengers.

More:Live election results from Washoe County's June 9 primary

Related:Election results delayed statewide after lines lasted into Wednesday in Southern Nevada

The Nevada State Democratic Party praised her nomination in a statement issued shortly after the race was called.

“Northern Nevada deserves a leader in Congress willing to stand up to Trump and his dangerous agenda -- someone who will put everyday Nevadans over the ultra-wealthy, who will be a champion for veterans, and who will work to increase access to affordable health care, not rip care away from hundreds of thousands in our state,” Party Chair William McCurdy II said. “Patricia Ackerman is that leader. She isn’t afraid to stand up and fight back on the issues that matter most to Nevadans and she is the strongest candidate to face Mark Amodei in November.”

Democratic congressional hopeful Patricia Ackerman files candidacy paperwork at the Nevada Secretary of State's office on Friday, March 6, 2020.

Nevada Assembly

Republican Jill Dickman is headed for a fourth electoral showdown with Sparks Democrat Skip Daly in Assembly District 31. 

Dickman, who managed to beat Daly in 2014’s “red wave” election that ousted scores of Democrats in Carson City, topped her nearest GOP rival by 22 percentage points in the suburban Sparks swing district. Daly, the incumbent, has represented the district since defeating Dickman in 2016's general election. He did not face a primary challenger on Tuesday.

Teachers union lobbyist Natha Anderson, daughter of longtime Sparks legislator Bernie Anderson, holds a 20-point lead over fellow Democratic newcomer Lea Moser in Assembly District 30. That race had not been called by early Thursday afternoon. The eventual winner will face Republican Randy Hoff in November. Assemblyman Greg Smith, D-Sparks, decided not to seek re-election to the seat after being appointed to replace disgraced ex-Assemblyman Mike Sprinkle in 2019.

Democrat Richard 'Skip' Daly, left, the incumbent, is competing with Republican Jill Dickman to represent Assembly District 31.

In District 26, Republican incumbent Lisa Krasner notched a comfortable victory over challenger Dale Conner in the only other competitive legislative race on Washoe primary ballots. Krasner faces Democrat Vance Alm in November.

Incumbent Assembly Democrats Sarah Peters and Teresa Benitez-Thompson advanced to the general election after running unopposed on Tuesday. Republican Assemblywomen Jill Tolles and Alexis Hansen also got a free pass into the fall election, as did state Sen. Heidi Seevers-Gansert, R-Reno. Gansert will square off with Democratic newcomer Wendy Jauregui-Jackins in November.

State Supreme Court

Chief Justice Kristina Pickering is headed for re-election after nearly doubling the combined vote totals won by Las Vegas-based personal injury attorneys Esther Rodriguez and Thomas Christensen.

Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon found himself in a much tougher race against state lawmaker Ozzie Fumo. Neither candidate had secured more than 50 percent of the vote as of Thursday afternoon, putting the pair on track for a November runoff election. Las Vegas attorney Erv Nelson played spoiler in the contest, siphoning off more than 31,000 votes that could’ve swung the race to one of the top two vote-getters. 

City Council races

Reno’s closely watched Ward 1 City Council race remained too close to call more than 48 hours after the polls opened.

Incumbent Jenny Brekhus holds a roughly 9 percentage point lead over Reno real estate agent J.D. Drakulich, who received 36 percent of the votes counted so far. Business executive Britton Griffith, Mayor Hilary Schieve’s favored candidate, trailed with 19 percent of the vote.

Councilwoman Neoma Jardon is likely to land another term at City Hall after winning 54 percent of unofficial results tallied in Ward 5. Councilman Devon Reese is well-positioned to retain the city’s at-large seat with 46 percent of the vote.

Reno City Council members, from left: Jenny Brekhus, Neoma Jardon, Devon Reese.

Sparks City Councilmen Donald Abbott and Paul Anderson also look likely to keep their seats. Both incumbents sit just a few percentage points shy of the 50 percent threshold needed to win, with plenty of votes still to be counted.

More than 436,000 Nevadans turned out to vote in the contests, or around 27 percent of active registered voters.

Some 83,000 Washoe County residents cast a ballot, including more than 1,000 who braved long lines to vote in person at the Registrar of Voters’ office.

The county’s 28.5 percent turnout rate far exceeded many officials’ expectations for the primary, which was only shifted to a mostly mail-in format in March. It also surpassed the 27 percent turnout mark set during the 2018 midterms.

State elections officials estimate fewer than 10,000 ballots were cast in person on Election Day, though that proved more than enough to overwhelm the 19 polling places operated by county election workers — some of whom reported lines more than five hours long.

Nevada usually opens around 300 polling places in a traditional primary, which tend to see around 20 percent turnout. 

Washoe County Registrar of Voters Deanna Spikula says her office received around 1,300 "challenged" ballots, most of which were flagged for a mismatched voter signature.

Voters have until June 16 to fix problems with ballots rejected by county officials, who have pledged to count every vote postmarked by June 9.

James DeHaven is the politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal. He covers campaigns, the Nevada Legislature and everything in between. Support his work by subscribing to RGJ.com right here