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Presidential election in Nevada, 2020
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|
2020 presidential election  |
Democratic primary: February 22, 2020 |
Republican primary: N/A |
Electoral College: Six votes |
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) won the presidential election in Nevada on November 3, 2020. Nevada was one of 13 battleground states. Biden won the presidential election with 306 electoral votes to President Donald Trump's (R) 232 electoral votes.
Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in Nevada on February 22, 2020, receiving 24 pledged delegates. Biden was allocated nine pledged delegates and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg was allocated three.
The Republican caucuses were canceled, and the Nevada Republican Central Committee bound the state's 25 delegates to Trump.[2][3]
Starting in 2008, Nevada was the first Western state in the election cycle to hold a presidential primary or caucus. In 2020, it was targeted by both the Democratic and Republican parties.[4]
Nevada was one of six states with six votes in the Electoral College, making it tied for 30th-most. Nevada was carried by the overall national winner in the nine presidential elections between 1980 and 2012. Between 1900 and 2016, Nevada was carried by the Democratic presidential candidate in 53.33% of elections and by the Republican candidate in 46.67%. It was carried by the overall national winner in 86.67% of those elections.
In the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton (D) carried Nevada with 47.9% of the vote to Trump's (R) 45.5%.
This page includes the following sections:
- Lawsuits related to the presidential election in Nevada
- Candidates and election results
- Polls in Nevada
- PredictIt market
- Campaign events in Nevada
- Government response to coronavirus pandemic in Nevada
- Democratic caucus
- Republican caucus
- Candidate filing requirements
- Historical election trends
- Presidential election by state
Kraus v. Cegavske
- Case name: Kraus v. Cegavske (Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Gloria in the lower court)
- Related election/s: Presidential election (Nevada)
- Court: Nevada Supreme Court (lower court: Clark County District Court)
- Issue: Whether Clark County election officials could use artificial intelligence to verify mail-in ballot signatures and make copies of ballots whose originals could not be machine-processed.
- Current status/outcome: The Nevada Supreme Court declined to block a lower court's order on this question, allowing officials to continue using the aforementioned processing procedures. The Trump campaign subsequently withdrew its appeal.
- Order/decision date: November 3, 2020
- Order/opinion link: Link
Candidates and election results
General election
Presidential election in Nevada, 2020
Candidate/Running mate |
% |
Popular votes |
Electoral votes |
||
| ✔ |
 
| Joe Biden/Kamala D. Harris (D) |
50.1
|
703,486 | 6 |
 
| Donald Trump/Mike Pence (R) |
47.7
|
669,890 | 0 | |
 
| Jo Jorgensen/Spike Cohen (L) |
1.1
|
14,783 | 0 | |
 
| Don Blankenship/William Mohr (Independent American Party) |
0.2
|
3,138 | 0 | |
| Other write-in votes |
1.0
|
14,079 | 0 | ||
 |
Total votes: 1,405,376 |
Primary election
Polls
PredictIt markets
What is a PredictIt market?
PredictIt is an online political futures market in which users purchase shares relating to the outcome of political events using real money. Each event, such as an election, has a number of contracts associated with it, each correlating to a different outcome. For instance, an election contested between four candidates would be represented by eight separate contracts, with each contract correlating to a particular candidate winning or losing the election.
The price of a share in each individual contract rises and falls based on market demand. Once the event's outcome is decided, holders of shares that correlate with the correct outcome receive a $1 payout for each share they held.
For example, a user buys 10 shares at 20 cents each in a presidential primary saying Candidate A will win. If Candidate A wins the election, the user earns $10. If the candidate loses, the user earns no money and loses his original $2 investment.
Why do PredictIt markets matter?
Services such as PredictIt are being used to gain insight into the likely outcome of elections. Microsoft Research economist David Rothschild argues that they are better suited to the task than polls: "I can create a poll that can mimic everything about a prediction market...except markets have a way of incentivizing you to come back at 2 a.m. and update your answer."[7][8][9]
Campaign events in Nevada
This section features clips of Biden and Trump at presidential campaign events in Nevada during the 2020 general election.
Biden in Nevada
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Trump in Nevada
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Summary of changes to election dates and procedures
Nevada modified its absentee/mail-in voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:
- Absentee/mail-in voting: Mail-in ballots were sent to all registered voters in the general election.
For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.
Frequently asked questions
The 2020 election took place against a backdrop of uncertainty. Our readers had questions about what to expect in elections at all levels of government, from the casting of ballots to the certification of final results. Ballotpedia's 2020 Election Help Desk was designed to answer those questions. Ballotpedia is in the process of compiling and answering frequently asked questions related to the 2020 elections. Questions related to this election will be available soon.
Additional resources
- Documenting Nevada's path to recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020-2021
- Government responses to and political effects of the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 (Nevada)
- School responses in Nevada to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic during the 2020-2021 school year
- Debate in Nevada over responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020
- Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020
Democratic caucus
- See also: Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) was formally nominated as the Democratic presidential nominee at the 2020 Democratic National Convention on August 18, 2020.[11] The convention was originally scheduled to take place July 13-16, 2020.[12] Organizers postponed the event in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Prior to the national convention, individual state caucuses and primaries were held to allocate convention delegates. These delegates vote at the convention to select the nominee. In 2020, a Democratic presidential candidate needed support from 1,991 delegates to secure the nomination.
With the plurality of pledged delegates, Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee on April 8, 2020, after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) suspended his presidential campaign.[13] Biden crossed the delegate threshold necessary to win the nomination on June 5, 2020.[14]
Biden announced U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D) as his running mate on August 11, 2020. Harris is the first Black woman to appear on a major party's ticket in the United States.[15]
PredictIt market in Nevada
Republican caucus
- See also: Republican presidential nomination, 2020
The Republican Party selected President Donald Trump as its presidential nominee at the 2020 Republican National Convention, which was held from August 24-27, 2020.[16]
Prior to the national convention, individual state caucuses and primaries were held to allocate convention delegates. These delegates vote at the convention to select the nominee. Trump crossed the delegate threshold necessary to win the nomination—1,276 delegates—on March 17, 2020.
George H.W. Bush (R) was the last incumbent to face a serious primary challenge, defeating political commentator Pat Buchanan in 1992. He was also the last president to lose his re-election campaign. Franklin Pierce (D) was the first and only elected president to lose his party's nomination in 1856.[17]
Sixteen U.S. presidents—approximately one-third—have won two consecutive elections.
Candidate filing requirements
The tables below detail filing requirements for presidential candidates in Nevada in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Nevada, click here.
Presidential primary candidates
Note that political parties in Nevada conduct caucuses instead of presidential preference primaries. As such, no filing requirements apply for partisan candidates.
Independent presidential candidates
| Filing requirements for independent candidates in Nevada, 2020 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Signatures required | Signature formula | Filing fee | Filing fee formula | Filing deadline | Source |
| Nevada | 9,608 | 1% of the total number of votes cast for all representatives in Congress in the last election | $250.00 | Fixed by statute | 8/14/2020[18] | Source |
Historical election results
2016
General election
| U.S. presidential election, Nevada, 2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic |  Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine |
47.9% | 539,260 | 6 | |
| Republican | Donald Trump/Mike Pence | 45.5% | 512,058 | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Gary Johnson/Bill Weld | 3.3% | 37,384 | 0 | |
| Independent American | Darrell Lane Castle/Scott Bradley | 0.5% | 5,268 | 0 | |
| Other | Rocky De La Fuente/Michael Steinberg | 0.2% | 2,552 | 0 | |
| - | "None of these candidates" | 2.6% | 28,863 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 1,125,385 | 6 | |||
| Election results via: Nevada Secretary of State | |||||
Primary election
| Nevada Democratic Caucus, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
|
Hillary Clinton |
52.6% | 6,316 | 20 | |
| Bernie Sanders | 47.3% | 5,678 | 15 | |
| Totals | 11,994 | 35 | ||
| Source: The New York Times | ||||
*Vote totals equal county delegates won.
| Nevada Republican Caucus, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
|
Donald Trump |
45.9% | 34,531 | 14 | |
| Marco Rubio | 23.9% | 17,940 | 7 | |
| Ted Cruz | 21.4% | 16,079 | 6 | |
| Ben Carson | 4.8% | 3,619 | 0 | |
| John Kasich | 3.6% | 2,709 | 1 | |
| Rand Paul | 0.2% | 170 | 0 | |
| Jeb Bush | 0.1% | 64 | 0 | |
| Chris Christie | 0.1% | 50 | 0 | |
| Totals | 75,162 | 28 | ||
| Source: Nevada GOP | ||||
2012
| U.S. presidential election, Nevada, 2012 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Barack Obama/Joe Biden Incumbent |
52.4% | 531,373 | 6 | |
| Republican | Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan | 45.7% | 463,567 | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Gary Johnson/Jim Gray | 1.1% | 10,968 | 0 | |
| N/A | None of these candidates | 0.6% | 5,770 | 0 | |
| Independent American Party of Nevada | Virgil Goode/Jim Clymer | 0.3% | 3,240 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 1,014,918 | 6 | |||
| Election results via: U.S. Election Atlas | |||||
2008
| U.S. presidential election, Nevada, 2008 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Barack Obama/Joe Biden |
55.1% | 533,736 | 5 | |
| Republican | John McCain/Sarah Palin | 42.7% | 412,827 | 0 | |
| N/A | None of these candidates | 0.6% | 6,267 | 0 | |
| Independent | Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez | 0.6% | 6,150 | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Bob Barr/Wayne Allyn Root | 0.4% | 4,263 | 0 | |
| Independent American Party of Nevada | Chuck Baldwin/Michael Peroutka | 0.3% | 3,194 | 0 | |
| Green | Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente | 0.1% | 1,411 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 967,848 | 5 | |||
| Election results via: U.S. Election Atlas | |||||
Presidential statewide margins of victory of 5 percentage points or fewer, 1948-2016
The following map shows the number of times, in presidential elections held between 1948 and 2016, that the margin of victory was 5 percentage points or fewer in each state.
- Wisconsin was the state with the most frequently narrow margins during this time period, appearing on the list in 10 presidential elections.
- Five states appeared eight times: Florida, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
- The state with the narrowest margin of victory was Florida in 2000 at 537 votes or one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Historical election trends
- See also: Presidential voting history by state
Nevada presidential election results (1900-2024)
- 17 Democratic wins
- 15 Republican wins
| Year | 1900 | 1904 | 1908 | 1912 | 1916 | 1920 | 1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1940 | 1944 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Party | D | R | D | D | D | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | R | R | D | D | D | D | R |
- See also: Presidential election accuracy
Below is an analysis of Nevada's voting record in presidential elections. The state's accuracy is based on the number of times a state has voted for a winning presidential candidate. The majority of statistical data is from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and was compiled, here, by Ballotpedia, unless otherwise noted.
Presidential election voting record in Nevada, 1900-2016
Between 1900 and 2016:
- Nevada participated in 30 presidential elections.
- Nevada voted for the winning presidential candidate 86.67 percent of the time. The average accuracy of voting for winning presidential candidates for all 50 states in this time frame was 72.31 percent.[19]
- Nevada voted Democratic 53.33 percent of the time and Republican 46.67 percent of the time.
Most accurate states
- See also: Presidential election accuracy data
Below is the list of the most accurate states when it comes to voting for the winning presidential candidate.
| Most accurate states, 1900-2016 | |
|---|---|
| State | Percentage of accuracy |
| Ohio | 93.33% (28 out of 30 elections) |
| New Mexico | 88.89% (24 out of 27 elections) |
| Nevada | 86.67% (26 out of 30 elections) |
| Missouri | 86.67% (26 out of 30 elections) |
| Illinois | 83.33% (25 out of 30 elections) |
Presidential election voting record in Nevada, 2000-2016
- Accuracy: 80 percent[20]
- 2000 state winner: George W. Bush (R)*
- 2004 state winner: George W. Bush (R)*
- 2008 state winner: Barack Obama (D)*
- 2012 state winner: Barack Obama (D)*
- 2016 state winner: Hillary Clinton (D)
*An asterisk indicates that that candidate also won the national electoral vote in that election.
State profile
- See also: Nevada and Nevada elections, 2019
Partisan data
The information in this section was current as of May 7, 2019
Presidential voting pattern
- Nevada voted for the Democratic candidate in four out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.
Congressional delegation
- Following the 2018 elections, both U.S. Senators from Nevada were Democrats.
- Nevada had three Democratic and one Republican U.S. Representatives.
State executives
- Democrats held six and Republicans held two of Nevada's 30 state executive offices. Elections for the other offices are nonpartisan.
- Nevada's governor was Democrat Steve Sisolak.
State legislature
- Democrats controlled the Nevada State Senate with a 13-8 majority.
- Democrats controlled the Nevada House of Representatives with a 29-13 majority.
Nevada Party Control: 1992-2025
Five years of Democratic trifectas • Two years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| House | D | D | D | S | S | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
|
|
| Demographic data for Nevada | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nevada | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 2,883,758 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 109,781 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White: | 69% | 73.6% |
| Black/African American: | 8.4% | 12.6% |
| Asian: | 7.7% | 5.1% |
| Native American: | 1.1% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0.6% | 0.2% |
| Two or more: | 4.4% | 3% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 27.5% | 17.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 85.1% | 86.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 23% | 29.8% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $51,847 | $53,889 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 17.8% | 11.3% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Nevada. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
Presidential election by state
- See also: Presidential election by state, 2020
Click on a state below to navigate to information about the presidential election in that jurisdiction.
See also
- Presidential candidates, 2020
- Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
- Republican presidential nomination, 2020
- Presidential election by state, 2020
Footnotes
- ↑ The Nevada Republican Central Committee bound the state's 25 delegates to Trump on February 22, 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 PBS NewsHour, "Nevada GOP awards all 25 delegates to Trump," February 22, 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Associated Press, "Nevada GOP scraps presidential nominating contests in 2020," September 7, 2019
- ↑ The Nevada Independent, "Republicans and Democrats in Nevada agree on one thing headed into the presidential race: We matter," January 25, 2019
- ↑ Supreme Court of Nevada, "Kraus v. Cegavske: Order," November 3, 2020
- ↑ Twitter, "Mark E. Elias: 9:47 PM, Nov. 10, 2020," accessed November 11, 2020
- ↑ Nature, "The power of prediction markets," October 18, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Meet the 'stock market' for politics," October 31, 2014
- ↑ U.S. Presidential General Election Results, "2008 Electoral Map Based on the Intrade Prediction Market," accessed January 25, 2018
- ↑ FairVote, "Where is Ranked Choice Voting Used?" accessed October 8, 2019
- ↑ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "2020 DNC in Milwaukee pushed back to week of August 17 in response to coronavirus pandemic," April 2, 2020
- ↑ The New York Times, "Milwaukee Picked as Site of 2020 Democratic National Convention," March 11, 2019
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, "Bernie Sanders Ends 2020 Bid, Making Biden Presumptive Dem Nominee," April 8, 2020
- ↑ AP, "Biden formally clinches Democratic presidential nomination," June 5, 2020
- ↑ CNBC, "Joe Biden picks Sen. Kamala Harris to be his vice presidential running mate, making her the first black woman on a major ticket," August 11, 2020
- ↑ Charlotte Observer, "Here’s when the 2020 Republican National Convention will be in Charlotte," October 1, 2018
- ↑ NPR, "When Has A President Been Denied His Party's Nomination?" July 22, 2009
- ↑ Deadline to file petitions with local officials for signature verification: 7/10/2020
- ↑ This average includes states like Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, which did not participate in all 30 presidential elections between 1900 and 2016. It does not include Washington, D.C., which cast votes for president for the first time in 1964, or Alaska and Hawaii, which cast votes for president for the first time in 1960.
- ↑ This number refers to the number of times that the state voted for the winning presidential candidate between 2000 and 2016.
