In Nevada Senate Race, Cortez Masto Fights to Hang On to the Senate
By
Dale Russakoff and
Daniel Strauss
Updated Nov. 15, 2016 7:04 a.m. ET
Voters across the country are choosing their political governors, senators and congressmen on the ballot in presidential elections this year, in races that are shaping up for a potentially close race on Election Day.
Nevada’s Senate race could be a key component of the race, though, because the only state in the country where a Senate race is on the ballot, Arizona is the only state without a Republican in the top two positions on the presidential ticket—and the Republican candidate in Arizona already holds a narrow lead in the polls.
The most recent Nevada polls show Democratic Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto ahead of her Republican opponent, Sharron Angle, by just 0.7 percentage points. Polls have been fairly close throughout the campaign.
In fact, it’s not at all clear that the presidential race is the only race where a Senate race is on the ballot. In North Carolina, Mitt Romney carried the state in 2012 when he was on the ballot for all 435 of the state’s Republican voters. In Virginia, Republicans have carried the state in every gubernatorial election since 1963 save for a failed Republican presidential candidate in 1977. And, in Nevada, President George W. Bush carried the state with an 8 percent margin in 2000.
In this era, it’s not just the presidential race that’s being waged by voters across the country.
So far, at least, there’s no sign that California’s Senate race, between incumbent Dianne Feinstein and incumbent Boxer, has turned out to be a dead heat. And, in Texas, where a race between incumbent Kevin avidly supported by the Tea Party and incumbent John Cornyn is very close, the two candidates have been virtually tied in polls.
But in Nevada, the race could be a key component in the final weeks
