LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — President-elect Donald Trump is the first Republican presidential candidate to win Nevada’s six electoral votes in 20 years.
While the Associated Press had not called the race in Nevada for Trump as of Wednesday night, 8 News Now and its sister cable network, NewsNation, projected Trump would win the state. As of Wednesday at 6 p.m., Trump led Vice President Harris by about 5 percentage points statewide.
With about 90% of the expected votes counted, Mr. Trump had garnered more than 680,000 votes and was one point behind in Clark County. Harris significantly underperformed in Nevada’s urban counties compared to Democrats who have won statewide races.
Harris conceded the race to Trump on Wednesday and promised a smooth transition. President Joe Biden invited Trump to the White House, an invitation which Trump accepted.
In 2004, in what would be the last time a Republican won Nevada, former President George W. Bush won the state’s then-five electoral votes by about 3%. The final total gave Bush 418,690 votes to Democratic Sen. John Kerry’s 397,190. Kerry later became Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama.
In 2008, Obama, a Democrat, won Nevada by more than 12 percentage points to Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain. Obama won with 533,736 votes.
In 2012, Obama won re-election by a smaller margin to former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Obama won almost the same amount of votes he did in 2008: 531,373. Romney later become a U.S. senator from Utah.
In 2016, Trump lost Nevada to former first lady and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, by about 2 points. Clinton won with 539,260 votes to Trump’s 512,058.
In 2020, Trump again lost Nevada, this time to President Joe Biden. Biden won by about 2 points — or 33,000 votes.
Nevada’s top offices often switch political parties. Since 2004, Nevada has had both Democratic and Republican governors, U.S. senators and representatives.
