Nevada 2024 primary election live updates: Brown, Amodei, Horsford win key primaries (2024)

Washoe County voters went to the polls Tuesday in a primary election that will decide often-heated races for U.S. Senate, school board, city councils and more. About 51,000 people cast ballots during two weeks of early voting.

If you had any issues voting, please email RGJ political reporter Mark Robison at mrobison@rgj.com.

Incumbents Del Carlo, Orr positioned to win education seats

Incumbents held sizable leads for key education seats as of Tuesday night, according to partial vote totals reported by the Nevada secretary of state’s office.

Carol Del Carlo, who represents District 9 on the University Board of Regents, held a lead of 59.9% to 22.7% over Gary T. Johnson, her closest competitor, as of 10 p.m. Tuesday. If she wins, Del Carlo would be termed out of office. In 2023, the state Legislature reduced the Regents' term length to four years. following this six-year term.

The 13-member Board of Regents oversees the state’s public colleges, including the University of Nevada, Reno, Truckee Meadows Community College and UNLV. District 9 includes Washoe, Churchill, Douglas, Lander, Lyon, Mineral and Storey Counties as well as Carson City.

Elsewhere in Nevada, Carlos Fernandez held a 9% lead in the District 1 race, and Tonia Holmes-Sutton had a narrow 2% lead for District 4. Both races appear likely headed to a run-off in this November’s general election.

In the race for State Board of Education District 2, incumbent Angela Orr held 51.3% of the vote, while her closest challenger, Paul “Doc” Davis, had 20.5% of the vote. Orr was appointed to the seat by Gov. Joe Lombardo last October.

The 11-member board oversees the state’s K-12 schools. Only seven board members are voting members; four of those are directly elected by voters to four-year terms.

Elsewhere in Nevada, Danielle Ford held a 2% lead over Rene Cantu for District 3; Tim Hughes ran unopposed for District 4.

Should any candidate receive more than 50% of the vote during the primary election, they would win the seat outright, rather than advance to the general election.

-- Brett McGinness

Amodei, Horsford headed for House primary wins

Mark Amodei, the incumbent for Congressional District 2 for the U.S. House of Representatives, won the Republican primary by roughly a 2-to-1 margin over challenger Fred Simon Jr.

Amodei's win likely cinches another term in Congress representing the solidly Republican district, which covers Reno and much of rural Northern Nevada. His challengers in the general election include Lynn Chapman of the Independent American Party, Javi Tachiquin of the Libertarian Party, and nonpartisan candidate Greg Kidd.

In southern Nevada, incumbent Steven Horsford won the Democratic primary for Nevada's Congressional District 4 by a 9-to-1 margin over challenger Levy Shultz. Horsford will advance to face the winner of the Republican primary in the Democratic-leaning district.

-- Brett McGinness

Andriola supporters encouraged by early returns

Cheers erupted at Clara Andriola’s watch party at Sparks Water Bar when the first set of primary election results came in.

As of 8:45 p.m., Andriola held a 2-to-1 lead over her closest opponent, challenger Mark Lawson.

Andriola was appointed to Washoe County Commission's District 4 last year by Governor Joe Lombardo after Vaughn Hartung resigned from his seat. It is a heavily Republican district; whoever wins the Republican primary has a high likelihood of prevailing in November.

This is Andriola’s first time running as a candidate.

-- Mark Robison

In-person turnout falls short of 2022 in Washoe County

Washoe County reported a total of 12,721 in-person voters on Election Day, about twice the turnout number as of 3 p.m. Tuesday.

The office of the Nevada secretary of state earlier reported a turnout of 11,063 voters in Washoe County during the early-voting period between May 25 and June 7.

The countywide in-person turnout of 23,784 falls well short of the 2022 primaries, when 39,395 voters went to the polls during early voting and Election Day voting. That election included high-profile primary races for statewide offices including governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, controller and attorney general.

Mail-in ballots postmarked by June 11 will be added to the total in the coming days. In 2022, more than half of Washoe County's voters — 55,949 — submitted ballots by mail.

-- Brett McGinness

All polling centers closed

All polling locations in Washoe County are now closed, Cari-Ann Burgess, Washoe County's interim registrar of voters, announced shortly before 7:30 p.m.

The announced closure time was 7 p.m., but those waiting in line at any of the 49 polling locations were still able to vote, in accordance with Nevada state law.

The Washoe County Registrar's Office is expected to begin releasing results soon.

-- Jaedyn Young

Parents bring their children along to show them democracy in action

Dylan Shaver, a registered Democrat in Reno, likes to vote in person, bringing his kids to show them what it's about.

"I got a sticker, the kids got stickers," Shaver said with a smile as the two children played with ladybugs just outside the Bartley Ranch center.

Marissa McClish, a nonpartisan Reno resident, had her two children with her while she voted at the Sparks library.

"I think it's important for them to just physically see what it looks like to vote," McClish said.

McClish said she was concerned about electing suitable school board trustees.

"For me, having school board members who really understand the system, or take the time to understand the school system and really be promoting what's best for kids," McClish said. "Sometimes the loudest voice isn't the voice that I think is the most appropriate."

McClish's children found a swarm of ants around a can of vanilla frosting as they were waiting near the entrance, and begged her to take a picture of the vanilla frosting.

McClish smiled and said, "This might be the best memory of their day."

-- Jaedyn Young

Economy, environment, taxes, democracy — issues on the minds of voters

Ralph Woolbright, a registered Republican voting at Reno Town Mall, said his biggest concern this election was the state spending on "nonsense stuff." He wants to see more work on the roads, especially due to the gas tax going up."You pay a tax, but you want to see some results," Woolbright said.The Reno resident said he had opted out of receiving a mail-in ballot but he still got one. He then had to wait 15 minutes while they verified him in the system.

"The whole process is getting to be ridiculous," Woolbright said. "It used to be everyone showed up on voting day, you voted, that was the end. ... It's getting confusing."

Terry Ochs, a nonpartisan Reno resident, said she has two sons who are teachers, and that she and her husband were sympathetic to their causes."We're concerned about the fragility of democracy. Environment is a big thing for us," Ochs said.Keith Nielsen, a registered Republican in Reno, said he was concerned about immigration and the economy."I think we need to have our borders closed," Nielsen said with a laugh. "And the economy, politicians are spending too much and we're running up a lot of debt."

Democrat Derik Enriquez walked around the corner from his house to the Sparks Library to vote. He said his top concern this election is the country's democracy.Asked what about democracy specifically: "Freedom, pretty much," Enriquez said with a shrug.

-- Jaedyn Young

Washoe's interim registrar says her team is caught up on counting early votes

Cari-Ann Burgess, Washoe County's interim registrar of voters, confirmed all of the early votes had been counted as of 3 p.m., including the ballots received through this morning.

The county started counting at 10:30 a.m. and hopes to have the first wave of numbers from the Nevada secretary of state's office released by 8:30 p.m., she said.

Currently, the counting is processing the 3,500 ballots they received from the post office today. Burgess also hopes for a majority of the votes to be counted tonight, though some ballots may trickle in via mail until June 15.

Ballots from the vote centers aren't expected to come in until at least 8 p.m. Burgess confirmed that there have been roughly 6,200 voters today as of 2:45 and she expects much more into the evening.

"People get off work and go vote, and I'm really hoping that they do. They need to vote," Burgess said. "Every vote counts."

Burgess is hoping for a 30 to 35 percent turnout, but she said voters seem to be confused about the two separate primaries and caucus in Nevada. A Presidential Preference Primary and Republican Caucus were held in February to select presidential candidates. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won.

Today's primary is for the local and state leaders.

There have been no known issues or security threats at polling locations or at the registrar's office, she said.

-- Jaedyn Young

Voter turnout across Nevada a paltry 5% — including mail-in ballots, early voting — as of 2 p.m.

Voter turnout in Nevada’s 2024 primary is abysmally low.

As of 2 p.m., about 33,000 Nevadans had voted Tuesday. About 6,000 of those were in Washoe County.

Combined with the 66,000 Nevadans who voted early – on machine and by mail – that adds up to turnout of about 5% of registered voters.

Washoe County was a smidge better – about 5.3% of registered voters have cast a ballot.

A flood of late voters would be needed to get anywhere near 2022’s primary election when turnout hit about 26% statewide and 31% in Washoe County.

Two years ago, there were numerous competitive statewide primary races, especially among Republicans. Joe Lombardo faced Joey Gilbert for governor, and Adam Laxalt faced Sam Brown for U.S. Senate.

In Washoe County, a number of school board races came down to a few percentage points, and heated Republican commission campaigns saw Mike Clark topple incumbent Bob Lucey while Jeanne Herman hung on against Wendy Leonard.

Low turnout can allow candidates who may have been longshots to outperform expectations if their supporters are more fervent about voting.

-- Mark Robison

Two days after receiving Trump endorsem*nt, U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown votes in Reno

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown and his wife, Amy, voted Tuesday afternoon at Reno High School.

The Army veteran is the fundraising leader among the 12 candidates running in the Republican primary race to decide who will face incumbent Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, in November.

Standing under a shade tree after voting, Brown stood firmly with former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Brown on Sunday.

“He’s got a real clear path to winning the White House,” Brown said. “We can also win back the majority in the Senate through Nevada.”

Asked about attacks by Jeff Gunter, a primary opponent and Trump’s ambassador to Iceland, Brown responded, “One of the reasons to be excited about today is the only thing matters at this point is what the voters say.”

He will need to persuade nonpartisans – Nevada’s largest political affiliation – to win in November.

Asked what he would say to them, Brown said, “My message is not geared for just one party.”

He mentioned that the Reno-area house he and his wife bought six years ago, they couldn't buy now.

“We've had to adjust the way we buy groceries because prices have gone up so much,” he said. “That's not just a Sam and Amy Brown phenomenon. That's not a partisan message. There's a lot of independents and even Democrats who want relief and want help in those issues.”

Five of the school board trustees meeting today are also on the primary ballot

Five of the seven school board trustees meeting today are also on the ballot for the primary election.

Four trustees -- Diane Nicolet, Alex Woodley, Jeff Church and Beth Smith -- are running to maintain their seats, and Joe Rodriguez is vying for a spot on the Sparks City Council.

Nineteen candidates total are on the ballot for the four seats on the board.

Any candidate who gets at least 51 percent of the vote wins outright. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters after today’s election move on to the general election in November.

Rodriquez faces two challengers for the Sparks City Council, incumbent Kristopher Dahir and Billy Hurt. If he wins, he will have to resign from the school board before being sworn into office. The board would then appoint his replacement.

This happened when former Trustee Angie Taylor was elected to the Nevada Assembly in 2022. After she resigned, Woodley was appointed by the board to replace her.

Dropping off mail-in ballots a popular option with voters

Brown Elementary polling site manager Kathy Smith described turnout on Tuesday as slow but steady at the south Reno location.

“The primaries always see less voters than general elections,” Smith said.

Smith noticed one interesting trend at her polling place, however.

“We’ve had a lot of drop-offs with mail-in ballots,” Smith said. “It’s almost as many as actual voters.

“It seems that people are comfortable with dropping their mail-in ballots here."

Mail-in ballots have been a popular topic in recent elections, including in Washoe County where thousands have been challenged. Just because a large number of mail-in ballots have been challenged, however, is not an indication of voter fraud as the bulk of the challenged ballots were returned as undeliverable by the post office.

-- Jason Hidalgo

South Reno dad hopes for improved education for Nevada kids

With a kid set to start school in the coming semester, education was at the top of Reno resident Eric Kertzman’s mind as he cast his vote in the primaries.

“Nevada has been grasping for a long time to climb that (education) rank,” the 39-year-old Kertzman said.

“I have a 5-year-old who’s about to enter Brown Elementary School and I also have a 1-year-old, so as someone with a young family, education is important.”

Kertzman, who voted at the polling location at Brown Elementary School on Tuesday, is a registered Democrat. He described himself as a moderate, however, pointing to his support in the past for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential run.

Kertzman is especially leery of candidates supported by questionable special interests. Instead, he wants to support candidates backed by people who have the area’s best interests in mind.

“I want to make sure they are in line with the values of where we live and the beauty of what we have in our very special corner of the country.”

This means candidates who can tackle issues over Northern Nevada’s growth and its impact on services and infrastructure.

Kertzman also believes it’s important to support candidates who will support people’s freedoms instead of taking them away. Access to books at libraries is one example.

“Anything that’s in the Library of Congress deserves to be in a local library as well,” Kertzman said.

-- Jason Hidalgo

For 19-year-old precinct manager, election day volunteering runs in the family

Aiden Bonar has been volunteering at election sites before he could even vote.Now, three years later, he’s a precinct manager, and he's still never voted for a president.

Bonar, 19, was the precinct manager at Wooster High School on Tuesday. Come November, he will cast his first vote in a presidential election.

“It’s been really slow, “said Bonar, who said he’s texted every one of his friends to vote as Wooster, which had about 40 voters by noon. “I’m just here to make sure everything runs smoothly.”

But slow is anything but usual for Bonar, who graduated from the Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology in 2022. He’s a nursing student at the University of Nevada, Reno, a National Guard member and he works at a local coffee shop.

The slow election site was a chance to sit and visit with family. His grandmother Lani Bonar and mother Trina Granmer were both volunteering, too.

Bonar’s grandmother passed down the tradition of volunteering on election days to her grandson when he was young. She has been a polling worker for the last 14 years.

“I was done and retired but he talked me into it for today,” Lani Bonar said.

She said she remembers giving him political stickers that he kept in a suitcase under his bed when he was still in elementary school.

Someday, she’s hoping he considers a career in politics.

“I’m not sure,” Bonar said. “Does it come with free stickers?“

-- Siobhan McAndrew

Voter says school board discord has been 'an embarrassment'

Reno resident Nicole Buhrmann echoed a familiar message when explaining why she decided to vote in today’s primaries.

“You can’t complain if you don’t vote,” Buhrmann said.

Buhrmann is especially keeping a close eye on the school board race. She criticized the drama that has dominated discussions over the school board, which has been marked by controversy recently.

“It’s been so contentious in the past year,” Buhrmann said. “It’s an embarrassment.”

Buhrmann, a Republican and librarian, is also quite concerned about some folks who she thinks are intent on forcing their own belief system on others. Buhrmann is not a fan of banning books, for example, which she considers a “huge issue.”

“You have people running that want to impose their values who don’t have children in the district,” Buhrmann said.

Although every parent has the right and responsibility to support and raise their own child, they don’t have the right to impose their values on everyone else’s children, according to Buhrmann. This includes depriving others of the ability to read certain books in libraries.

“Banning books makes me sick — or restricting access,” Buhrmann said. “It’s disgusting.”

-- Jason Hidalgo

'It looks like they’re overseeing things this time'

Jim McNamara, the poll manager at the Bartley Ranch voting center, said things have been steady since the opening.“Never more than two people in line or so,” McNamara said. “Everyone’s been real nice, real calm, unlike the election two years ago.”However, the site can still be unpredictable, according to McNamara, and it’s typical to see more people around lunch time and in the early evening as people get off work.

Greg Burns, a registered Republican but self-proclaimed Libertarian in Reno, came down to Bartley to vote in-person when he didn’t receive his mail-in ballot. Burns said it wasn’t the county’s fault because he’s moved a few times recently.Burns typically votes by mail, but when he received a voter notification card, it gave him peace of mind about not receiving a ballot via mail.“It looks like they’re overseeing things this time,” Burns said with a laugh. “Where I did not feel that previously.”

-- Jaedyn Young

When will Nevada primary results be in?

It’s possible early results could start being reported by about 7:15 or 7:30 p.m. That’s because fewer Nevada voters are choosing to vote in person because of widespread adoption of mail-in ballots.

Results are not allowed to be released to the public until the last person in line to vote anywhere in the state has cast their ballot. But this can mean delays.

In the 2020 general election, Nevada was last in the nation to announce results because voters were still in line in Las Vegas after midnight on Election Day. Technical issues and long lines exacerbated by COVID were blamed.

For February’s Presidential Preference Primary, results were delayed until almost 9 p.m. because three counties were slow to close their vote centers.

Vote totals will change slightly after tonight as mail-in ballots are received and challenged ballots are adjudicated over the next few days.

Official results will be certified at 10 a.m. June 21 by the Washoe County board of commissioners.

Cari-Ann Burgess, the interim registrar of voters for Washoe County, said the county has roughly 300 election workers at voting centers.

Washoe County will start counting the mail-in ballots around noon so they can get through as many as they can. Other counties are starting their counting earlier, but all registrars hope to get results in by 6 p.m. to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office.

There was only roughly 17 percent turnout this morning, but Burgess expects a big push of Nevadans voting in-person. She also hopes for no more errors during this primary and the general election in November, emphasizing that the county was on top of it.

“We are a purple state. We are a swing county. Every vote absolutely counts. Your vote can turn a race, so please get out and vote,” Burgess said.

-- Mark Robison and Jaedyn Young

Voters don’t need to surrender mail-in ballots to vote physically, says site manager

A site manager for one of Washoe County’s polling places is reminding voters that they do not need to bring their mail-in ballots in order to vote physically at a polling station.

“A lot of people think you have to bring your mail-in ballot to surrender but you don’t,” said Nicole Obritsch, polling site manager at South Valleys Library. “We can have them sign a form that says you’re not going to vote twice.”

Otherwise, voters who have already filled in their mail-in ballots can also drop them off via the mail-in drop boxes available at the polling locations, Obritsch added.

The South Valleys polling place, which is located off Wedge Parkway in south Reno, saw a steady number of voters on Tuesday morning.

Turnout appears to be mirroring the presidential primaries held earlier this year so far, according to Obritsch.

“We had a line of about 15 people when we started but the line’s been going pretty quickly,” Obritsch said. “It’s been a pretty good morning.”

Gwendolyn Chatham, a Reno resident, said her voting experience at South Valleys Library was great, but this year was out of her normal routine.

“I haven’t voted in-person for years because I usually do mail-in ballot, but we didn’t get our mail-in ballot this year and nobody knows why,” Chatham said.

Chatham decided to run out at 7 a.m. before she went to work and was happy there was no line.

-- Jason Hidalgo and Jaedyn Young

School board candidate: Parents should be notified if a transgender student is on their child's team or field trip

Jeff Church, Washoe County school board trustee, was campaigning outside the library around 7:30 a.m. He sat at a table with signs on his car promoting conservative candidates.

“Obviously it’s legal, we’re beyond the 100 feet,” Church said. “And some people don’t know who to vote for in certain races.”

Nevada law stipulates that poll workers consistently check to make sure people are not campaigning or electioneering within 100 feet of the entrance of voting centers.

Church said he wanted to make sure people were voting for the right candidates, with primary concerns on Nevada education and transgender stipulations on his mind.

Church said he wanted to make sure people were voting for the right candidates, with his primary concerns being Nevada education and transgender issues.

"I'm totally LGBT friendly ... but parents should be notified if their son or daughter is sharing a room with a non-gender individual on a field trip," he said. "At bare minimum they should be notified."

"If they're playing on a sports team ... parental notification, I don't think that's too much to ask."

-- Jaedyn Young

Economy, border issues top Reno couple's priorities in voting

Charlie Schopper and wife Kathy Schopper, both 78, were all smiles as they walked in to vote at South Valleys Library in Reno.

“(We’re) 58 years married,” Kathy Schopper said proudly.

The couple, who were born and raised in Reno, described this year’s upcoming elections as especially pivotal for the future direction of the country.

“This is probably one of the most important elections of our lives and our children’s lives,” Kathy Schopper said.

The Schoppers pointed to several national issues as the key factors for driving their vote. Charlie Schopper pointed to inflation and high gas prices as signs that things have been headed in the wrong direction for average Americans.

“The economy is No. 1,” Charlie Schopper said. “The border is No. 2.”

The Republican couple added that more focus needs to be placed on domestic issues. Both feel that too many resources are being invested overseas on foreign issues such as the war in Ukraine.

“Charity starts at home,” Kathy Schopper said. “We need to take care of our people first.”

“We need to take care of our veterans, our old people, our children that don’t have homes,” she added. “We need to take care of that now and then worry about the other people and their wars and everything else.”

Becca Franssen of Reno dropped off her mail-in ballot at Billinghurst Middle School voting center just after 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Franssen decided to use the drop box because "of all the mess with the mail right now."

"I was really excited about the Reno City Council race," Franssen said of what had her out voting today, saying the issues she cares about are "transportation, houselessness, education and the environment."

James Neal of Reno was the only voter at Billinghurst when he cast his ballot. The polling location has had about 40 voters since opening at 7 a.m.

Neal has filled out his paper ballot but opted to vote in person after he changed his mind on a candidate and crossed out a name.

"I received more information about somebody so changed my vote," said Neal, a Republican.

He said he really wanted to cast his vote for Sam Brown, who is running for U.S. Senate.

"He is very well qualified and I like his policies."

-- Siobhan McAndrew