The 2010 Nevada gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, to elect the

Governor of Nevada A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

, who would serve a four-year term to begin on January 3, 2011. Despite speculation that incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Governor Jim Gibbons would not run for a second term due to low approval ratings, he ran for re-election and was subsequently defeated in the Republican primary by former

Attorney General of Nevada 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 ...

and federal judge

Brian Sandoval Brian Edward Sandoval (; born August 5, 1963) is an American politician, academic administrator, and former federal judge who served as the 29th Governor of Nevada from 2011 to 2019. A graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, Sandoval began ...

. Sandoval defeated the Democratic nominee, Rory Reid, son of then-current U.S. Senate Majority Leader

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...

, who won his fifth term in the Senate on the same ballot.

Republican primary

Candidates

A total of five Republican candidates filed with the

Secretary of State of Nevada 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 ...

and qualified for the ballot.

Declared

* Tony Atwood * Jim Gibbons, incumbent Governor * Stan Lusak,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

* Mike Montandon, Mayor of

North Las Vegas North Las Vegas is a suburban city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, in the Las Vegas Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 216,961, with an estimated population of 251,974 in 2019. The city was incorporated on May 1, 19 ...

, former judge of the

United States District Court for the District of Nevada United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * United (2003 film), ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * United (2011 film) ...

and former Nevada Attorney General

Withdrew

Joe Heck Joseph John Heck (born October 30, 1961) is an American physician and politician who served as the United States representative for Nevada's 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2017. Heck is a United States Army major general and a board-cer ...

, former State Senator ( ran for NV-03 and won)

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Two Democratic candidates filed with the

and qualified for the ballot.

Declared

* Frederick Conquest, anthropology professor * Rory Reid, Clark County Commissioner and son of

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

Declined

Barbara Buckley Barbara Buckley (born November 23, 1960, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American attorney and Democratic Party politician who served as a member of the Nevada Assembly, representing Clark County District 8 from 1994 to 2011. She served a ...

, Speaker of the

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature (United States), 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 ...

Polling

Results

Other candidates

Independents

Declared

* Eugene "Gino" DiSimone * Aaron Y. Honig

Declined

Oscar Goodman Oscar Baylin Goodman (born July 26, 1939) is an American attorney and politician. A Democrat-turned-independent, Goodman was the mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada from 1999 to 2011. His wife, Carolyn Goodman, succeeded him as mayor in 2011. Early lif ...

Mayor of Las Vegas The following is a list of people who have served as mayors of the city of Las Vegas in the U.S state of Nevada . List of mayors of Las Vegas See also * Las Vegas History of Las Vegas, history and Timeline of Las Vegas, timeline References {{ ...

Green

* David Scott Curtis

Independent American

* Floyd Fitzgibbons

Libertarian

* Arthur Forest Lampitt

General election

Predictions

Polling

;With Gibbons ;With Montandon

Results

References

External links

Nevada Secretary of State – Election CenterNevada Governor Candidates
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

Campaign contributions for 2010 Nevada Governor
from ''Follow the Money''

from OurCampaigns.com

graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Nevada Governor
from ''

Rasmussen Reports Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...

''
2010 Nevada Governor Race
from ''

Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political ...

''
2010 Nevada Governor's Race
from ''

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combine ...

''
Race Profile
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''
Election 2010
from '' Vegas PBS'' ;Debate
Nevada Governor Debate
''

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

'', August 29, 2010 (57:49)
Nevada Governor Debate
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'', October 7, 2010 (58:42) {{United States elections, 2010

Gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...