The 2012 United States Senate election in Nevada was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, concurrently with

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

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 ...

in other states as well as

to the

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

and the

2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

. The primary election was held June 12, 2012. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator

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 his seat in May 2011 following the resignation of Senator

John Ensign John Eric Ensign (born March 25, 1958) is an American veterinarian and former politician who served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 2001 until his resignation in 2011 amid a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into his attempts to ...

, was narrowly elected to a full term over Representative

Shelley Berkley Shelley Berkley (née Rochelle Levine; born January 20, 1951) is an American businesswoman, politician and attorney who has served as Mayor of Las Vegas, mayor of Las Vegas since 2024. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ...

, despite President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

carrying the state by 6.7% in the concurrent presidential election. As a result, Heller became the only Republican Senate candidate in 2012 to win in a state that was lost by the Republican presidential candidate. With a margin of 1.2%, this election was the second-closest race of the 2012 Senate election cycle, behind only the election in North Dakota. As of 2024, this is the last time that Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in Nevada.

Background

Ensign was reelected to the United States Senate in 2006 against

Jack Carter Jack Carter may refer to: * Jack Carter (stage actor) (c. 1902–1967), American actor * Jack Carter (cricketer) (1907–1995), Australian cricketer * Jack Carter (footballer) (1910–1992), English footballer * Jack Carter (comedian) (1922–2015) ...

, son of former president

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, 55% to 41%. His reelection campaign was expected to be complicated after it was revealed in 2009 that he had been involved in an extramarital affair with the wife of one of his campaign staffers, allegedly made payments to the woman's family and arranged work for her husband to cover himself. The

Senate Ethics Committee The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics is a select committee of the United States Senate charged with dealing with matters related to senatorial ethics. It is also commonly referred to as the Senate Ethics Committee. Senate rules require ...

was to investigate Ensign, and his poll numbers declined significantly. There was speculation that he might resign before the election, but he initially said he would run for reelection. On March 7, 2011, Ensign announced that he would not seek reelection, and on April 22, he announced that he would resign effective May 3. Nevada Governor

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 ...

appointed U.S. Representative Dean Heller to fill the vacancy created by Ensign's resignation. Heller took office on May 9, 2011.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominated

, incumbent U.S. Senator, former U.S. Representative, former Nevada Secretary of State and former state assemblyman

Eliminated in primary

* Sherry Brooks, retired secretary * Richard Charles * Eddie Hamilton, retired auto executive and perennial candidate * Carlo Poliak, sanitation worker and perennial candidate *

David Lory Vanderbeek David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the Kings of Israel and Judah, third king of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stel ...

, marriage and family therapist

Declined

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. ...

, 2010 Republican Senate nominee and former state assemblywoman *

, former U.S. Senator *

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

Polling

Primary
Appointment preference
Primaries with Ensign

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominated

, U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary

* Steve Brown, businessman * Barry Ellsworth, renewable energy executive * Louis Macias, art dealer * Nancy Price, 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 Democratic nominee for the 2nd congressional 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 ...

Withdrew

* Byron Georgiou, businessman

Polling

Results

General election

Candidates

(D), U.S. Representative *

(R), incumbent U.S. Senator * David Lory VanDerBeek (

Independent American Party of Nevada The Independent American Party of Nevada (IAPN) is a far-right American political party and the Nevada affiliate of the Constitution Party. The party was founded in 1967 and affiliated with the Constitution Party after its forming in 1999. It was ...

), therapist

Debates

The first Berkley-Heller debate was on September 27, 2012. They met again in Las Vegas on October 11 and on Jon Ralston's "Face to Face" program on October 15. External links
Complete video of debate
September 27, 2012 -

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

Complete video of debate
October 11, 2012 -

Fundraising

Top contributors

Top industries

Predictions

Polling

Shelly Berkley vs. Dean Heller
with John Ensign

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Clark Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated ...

(largest municipality:

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

)

By congressional district

Heller won 2 of 4 congressional districts.

Notes

References

External links

Election Center
at the Nevada secretary of state
Campaign contributions
at

OpenSecrets.org OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector and ...

Outside spending
at

Sunlight Foundation The Sunlight Foundation was an American 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocated for open government. The organization was founded in April 2006 with the goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the United States ...

Candidate issue positions
at

On the Issues On the Issues or OnTheIssues is an American non-partisan, non-profit organization providing information to American voters on American candidates, primarily via their website. The organization was started in 1996, went non-profit in 2000, and is ...

Official campaign sites
Shelley Berkley for Senate

Dean Heller for Senate

David Lory Vanderbeek for Senate
{{United States general elections, 2012

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2012 Nevada elections

Background

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominated

Eliminated in primary

Declined

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominated

Eliminated in primary

Withdrew

Polling

Results

General election

Candidates

Debates

Fundraising

Top contributors

Top industries

Predictions

Polling

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

See also

Notes

References

External links