On September 13, 2011, a special election was held in

Nevada's 2nd congressional district Nevada's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district that includes the northern third of the state. It includes most of Lyon County, Nevada, Lyon County, a small portion of Lincoln County, Nevada, Lincoln County, all of Churchill Count ...

to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Republican

Dean Heller Dean Arthur Heller (born May 10, 1960) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator representing Nevada from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 15th secretary of state of Nevada ...

, who was appointed to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. The race was called for Mark Amodei by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

just after 10 p.m. local time with 44% of precincts reporting and Amodei leading Marshall 57% to 37%.Elections 2011
ap.org Amodei easily won the election by a margin of 58% to 36%.

Rules

On May 2, 2011,

Nevada Secretary of State The secretary of state of Nevada is a statewide elected office in the State of Nevada. The Secretary of state (U.S. state government), secretary of state post is common to many U.S. states. In Nevada, it is a constitutional office (i.e., it is man ...

Ross Miller Ross James Miller (born March 26, 1976) is an American attorney and politician. He is a Democrat, and served as the Clark County Commissioner for District C from 2021 thru 2025, the former Secretary of State of Nevada and 2012–2013 president ...

announced the election, held under an untested 2003 law for replacing House members, would be open to any and all qualified candidates, without

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

s or nominations made by parties' central committees. The Republican Party filed suit challenging Miller's plan, preferring instead that each party be required to nominate a single candidate. The party's complaint stated that "A fundamental principle of Nevada's electoral statutes is that, in a partisan election, there shall be only one nominee from each political party." On May 19,

District Judge District Judge may refer to: * A United States federal judge, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate * A judge in a state court (United States), where the state is divided into judicial districts * * A judge in the district courts ...

Todd Russell Todd Norman Dwayne Russell (born December 22, 1966) is a Canadian politician and was the Liberal member of Parliament for the riding of Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador from 2005 to 2011. Early life Russell was born in St. Anthony, Newf ...

sided with the Republican Party and ruling that the major parties would hold

conventions Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law ** Convention (political norm), uncodified legal or political tradition * Convention (meeting) ...

in order to each nominate a single candidate. Miller asked the office of the

Nevada Attorney General The Nevada Attorney General is the chief legal officer for the U.S. state of Nevada. The functions of the office are set forth in Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 228. The Attorney General represents the people of Nevada in civil and criminal mat ...

to appeal the case to the

Supreme Court of Nevada The Supreme Court of Nevada is the highest state court of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the head of the Nevada Judiciary. The main constitutional function of the Supreme Court is to review appeals made directly from the decisions of the distri ...

, which on May 31 issued an order instructing Miller and the state's political parties to address whether the election can be rescheduled due to concerns that the ongoing dispute over its rules may necessitate a delay.

Democratic nomination

Nominee

Kate Marshall Kathleen Marie Marshall (née Soltero; born July 22, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 35th lieutenant governor of Nevada from 2019 to 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party and was previously the Nevada state ...

Nevada State Treasurer The Nevada state treasurer is an independent constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Nevada. The State Treasurer's Office is based in Carson City, Nevada. Twenty-three individuals have occupied the off ...

Declared candidates

* George S. Bay * Chad Dehne,

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

* Blake Franzman * R. J. Gillum * Zach Jones *

* Jacques Maye *

Nancy Price Nancy Price, CBE (3 February 1880 – 31 March 1970) was an English actress on stage and screen, author, animal welfare activist and theatre director. Her acting career began in a repertory theatre company before progressing to the London stage, ...

, former regent of the

Nevada System of Higher Education The Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE, formerly the University and Community College System of Nevada or UCCSN) is a state government unit in Nevada that oversees its public system of colleges and universities. It was formed in 1968 to overs ...

and unsuccessful candidate for the 2nd district in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* Rex Ricks

Declined to run

* Jill Derby, former regent of the Nevada System of Higher Education and unsuccessful candidate for the 2nd district in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Republican nomination

The central committee of the

Nevada Republican Party The Nevada Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in Nevada. The organization has a history that goes back to 1864. The party currently controls Nevada's Governor of Nevada, governorship, Nevad ...

voted to decide the Republican nominee in June 2011. Any Republican who receives at least two votes from members of the central committee can compete in the nomination process, which will be held under a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

Nominee

Mark Amodei Mark Eugene Amodei ( ; born June 12, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Nevada's 2nd congressional district since 2011. The only Republican Party (United Stat ...

, state party chairman and former

State Senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Declared candidates

, state party chairman and former

Greg Brower Gregory Allen Brower (born February 8, 1964) is an American attorney in private practice, former state senator in the Nevada Senate, former United States Attorney in the state of Nevada and a former member of the Nevada Assembly. He is a member o ...

and former

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

* Hal Carmack * Guy Felton * William R. Graves * Edward Hamilton,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

* Ryan Henderson,

optician An optician is an individual who fits glasses or contact lenses by filling a refractive prescription from an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They are able to translate and adapt ophthalmic prescriptions, dispense products, and work with acces ...

* Greg Hudson * Robert X. Leeds * Kirk Lippold, former

USS Cole USS ''Cole'' is the name of two ships of the United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy ...

commander * Daniel Miller * Troy "Gunny" Orosco * Phillip D. Telander * Busch Voigts Jr. * Jonathan M. Yuspa * Sidney Zeller, U.S. Marine Corps veteran

Declined to run

Sharron Angle Sharron Elaine Angle (née Ott; born July 26, 1949) is an American politician and perennial candidate who served as a Republican member of the Nevada Assembly from 1999 to 2007. She ran unsuccessfully as the 2010 Republican nominee for the U.S. ...

, former member of the

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member distri ...

and 2010 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate *

Brian Krolicki Brian K. Krolicki (born December 31, 1960) is an American businessman and politician. He was the 33rd lieutenant governor of Nevada, from 2007 to 2015. As the Lieutenant Governor, he presided over the Nevada State Senate, chaired the Commission ...

, Lieutenant Governor of Nevada

Independent American Party nomination

Declared candidates

* Timothy Fasano

Independent candidates

* Earl Ammerman * Roland Lee * Helmuth Lehmann, businessman and author * Christopher Simon

General election

Polling

* Commissioned by

Daily Kos Daily Kos ( ) is a group blog and internet forum focused on the U.S. Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party and Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal American politics. The site publishes blog posts, polls, election and cam ...

and the SEIU

Rules

Democratic nomination

Nominee

Declared candidates

Declined to run

Republican nomination

Nominee

Declared candidates

Declined to run

Independent American Party nomination

Declared candidates

Independent candidates

General election

Polling

Results

See also

References

External links