The 2010 United States Senate election in Nevada took place on November 2, 2010. Incumbent Democratic

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

and

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

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 ...

won re-election to a fifth and final term.

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary took place on June 8, 2010. Reid won by a large margin over a field of political unknowns.

Candidates

, incumbent U.S. Senator * Alex Miller * Eduardo Hamilton * Carlo Poliak

Polling

Results

Republican primary

The Republican primary also took place on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.

Candidates

Sharron Angle Sharron Elaine Angle (née Ott; born July 26, 1949) is an American far-right politician 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. Senate seat in ...

, former state assemblywoman and candidate for NV-02 in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

* John Chachas, businessman * Chad Christensen, state assemblyman * Greg Dagani, former member of the Nevada Board of Education * Chuck Flume, businessman * Sue Lowden, former state senator * Mark Noonan,

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

veteran * Bill Parson, Marine veteran and businessman *

Danny Tarkanian Daniel George John Tarkanian (born December 18, 1961) is an American attorney, businessman and perennial candidate for elective office. A Republican, he has mounted unsuccessful campaigns for the Nevada Senate (2004), Nevada Secretary of State (2 ...

, real estate owner

Endorsements

Lowden

Tarkanian

Angle

Polling

''Includes current candidates who have polled at least 2% in at least one poll.''

Results

General election

Candidates

(D), incumbent U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader *

(R), former member 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 ...

Scott Ashjian Jon Scott Ashjian (born 1964), commonly known as Scott Ashjian, was the candidate of the Tea Party of Nevada in the race for United States Senate in the United States Senate election in Nevada, 2010, 2010 Nevada general election. Ashjian was born ...

(

Tea Party A tea party is a social gathering event held in the afternoon. For centuries, many societies have cherished drinking tea with a company at noon. Tea parties are considered for formal business meetings, social celebrations or just as an afternoon ...

)
campaign sitePVS
* Tim Fasano ( Independent American)
campaign sitePVS
* Michael Haines (Independent)
campaign sitePVS
* Jesse Holland (Independent)
campaign sitePVS
* Jeffrey Reeves (Independent)
campaign sitePVS
* Wil Stand (Independent)
PVS

Campaign

In January 2009, the GOP began running an advertisement attacking Reid for his support of the legislation and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's proposed stimulus plan. Since becoming Minority Leader (in 2004), his approval ratings have dropped below 50%. A November 2007 poll showed Reid's approval rating at 39%, with 49% of voters disapproving. After the primaries, the first poll showed Angle leading by a double-digit margin.

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 combined ...

changed their analysis of the race from leaning Republican to a toss-up because of Angle's sharply conservative views and tendency to commit verbal gaffes; however, CQ added that if the voters treat the election as a referendum on Reid, then Angle will likely win. In 2009, Reid had been endorsed by some prominent Nevada Republicans. Immediately after the primary, the Republican mayor of

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

Bob Cashell Robert Alan Cashell (April 22, 1938 – February 11, 2020) was an American businessman and politician. He served as the mayor of Reno, Nevada from 2002 to 2014. He served as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Nevada from 1983 to 1987 and on the Nev ...

, who had backed Lowden in the Republican primary, endorsed Reid for the general election, calling Angle an "ultra-right winger." Other Republicans expressed doubt about supporting Angle, citing her reputation for ideological rigidity from her years in the state legislature. One of the first general election ads attacked Angle for her stance on

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

and Medicare. In response, Angle explained that "the government must continue to keep its contract with seniors, who entered into the system on good faith and now are depending on that contract." In response to accusations that she was not mainstream enough for Nevada voters, Angle explained on a KXNT radio show that she was "more mainstream than the fellow that said tourists stink, this war is lost, and light-skinned no-Negro dialect", in reference to comments that had been made by Senator Reid. In September, Tibi Ellis, the chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Hispanic Caucus, who had been a spokesperson for Angle, criticized an Angle ad related to immigration. Ellis said, "I condemned this type of propaganda, no matter who is running them, where they blame Mexicans as the only problem and where they attack them as the only source of illegal immigration." Angle was endorsed by Nevada's largest newspaper, the

Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal'' ...

. Reid had the endorsement from Nevada's second largest newspaper, the

Las Vegas Sun The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily Subscription business model, subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays ...

. and the largest newspaper outside of Las Vegas, the

Reno Gazette-Journal The ''Reno Gazette Journal'' is the main daily newspaper for Reno, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Gannett Company. It came into being when the ''Nevada State Journal'' (founded on November 23, 1870) and the ''Reno Evening Gazette'' (fou ...

. On October 7, 2010, Republican

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

and Minority Leader

William Raggio William Raggio (October 30, 1926 – February 23, 2012) was an American politician and a former Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the Nevada Senate. He represented Washoe County's 3rd district from 1972 until his retire ...

endorsed Reid. Dema Guinn, the widow of the late Republican Nevada Governor

Kenny Guinn Kenneth Carroll Guinn (August 24, 1936 – July 22, 2010), was an American academic administrator, businessman and politician who served as the 27th Governor of Nevada from 1999 to 2007 and interim president of the University of Nevada, Las Vega ...

, endorsed Reid on October 8.

Debate

Angle and Reid only agreed to one debate, in which no other candidate would participate. It was held on October 14. Junior Senator

John Ensign John Eric Ensign (born March 25, 1958) is an American veterinarian and former politician from Nevada. A member of the Republican Party, Ensign was a Congressman and United States Senator from Nevada; he served in the latter seat from January 200 ...

played Reid during one day of debate preparation at the Trump Plaza in Las Vegas for Angle.

Predictions

Reid was initially considered vulnerable, with the non-partisan

Cook Political Report ''The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter'' is an American online newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the U.S. Presidency, the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and U.S. governors' offices. Sel ...

rating the election as a tossup and the

Rothenberg Political Report Stuart Rothenberg is an American editor, publisher, and political analyst. He is best known for his biweekly political newsletter ''The Rothenberg Political Report'', now known as ''Inside Elections''. He was also a regular columnist at ''Roll Ca ...

rating the state as tossup. A June 9, 2010,

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, ...

post-primary poll showed Angle leading incumbent Senator Harry Reid by a margin of 50% to 39%. However, a July 2010 poll showed Senator Reid leading Angle by 7 points, following nationwide attention to some of Angle's positions, as well as the endorsement of Reid by prominent Republicans. The change of margin, 18% in less than a month, is the largest in Senate elections history. On July 28, 2010,

moved the race from tossup to leans Democratic. Later, it moved back to tossup. Polls generally had Angle up, and thus Reid seemed like the underdog. Journalist

Jon Ralston Jonathan Mark Ralston (born July 13, 1959) is an American journalist, political commentator, and former talk show host. His show, ''Ralston Live'', was seen each weekday on the two Nevada PBS stations in Las Vegas and Reno until his show was dis ...

correctly predicted Reid would win based on early voting numbers and Reid running a strong campaign.

Polling

Graphical summary

Fundraising

Results

Despite Angle leading by three points in the polls the days leading up to the election, Reid defeated Angle by 5.74%, even defeating Angle in her own county, Washoe County. Reid also secured huge numbers out of the Democratic stronghold of Clark County, which covers the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area.

References

External links

Election Center
at the Nevada Secretary of State
U.S. Congress candidates for Nevada
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 ...

Nevada U.S. Senate 2010
from OurCampaigns.com
Campaign contributions
from

Open Secrets ''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short story, short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994 in literature, 1994. It was nominated for the 1994 Governor General's Awards, 1994 Governor General's Award for English Fiction ...

2010 Nevada Senate General Election: All Head-to-Head Matchups
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Nevada Senate
from

2010 Nevada Senate 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 Senate Race
from

Race profile
from

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 ;Debates
Nevada Primary Senate Candidates 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 ...

, May 18, 2010 ;Official campaign sites
Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate

Scott Ashjian for U.S. Senate

John Chachas for U.S. Senate

Chad Christensen for U.S. Senate

Jim Duensing for U.S. Senate

Tim Fasano for U.S. Senate

Chuck Flume for U.S. Senate

Michael Haines for U.S. Senate

Jesse Holland for U.S. Senate

Sue Lowden for U.S. Senate

Alex Miller for U.S. Senate

Jeffrey C. Reeves for U.S. Senate

Harry Reid for U.S. Senate
incumbent
Danny Tarkanian for U.S. Senate
{{United States elections, 2010 2010 Nevada elections

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 ...

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 ...