NBC News, CNN and several other media outlets have declared Catherine Cortez Masto has been re-elected to her Senate seat in Nevada. Her win means Democrats keep control of the Senate.
However, Democrats might not want to celebrate too boisterously. There is the possibility that Republican Adam Laxalt could demand a recount. With 97% of the vote in, Cortez Masto leads Laxalt by fewer than 5,000 votes. A margin of 0.5% separates the two.
Nevada has no automatic recount trigger. However, Laxalt could formally request one. The two caveats are that his campaign must pay for the recount and that the request must be formally submitted within 72 hours of vote certification. That would be November 25th -the day after Thanksgiving.
Given how Laxalt has loudly trumpeted election denialism and how only yesterday South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham claimed, "There is no mathematical way Laxalt loses. If he does, then it’s a lie.”
Considering all the trouble Graham could find himself with the Fulton County DA for his phone calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election you would think Graham might want to zip it. However imprudent and inaccurate Graham's comments are it is a clear indication that we ought to expect a recount.
I don't believe it will change the outcome of the results, but it also won't change the perceptions of the MAGAverse about the results of elections their candidates don't win. Complicating matters is that Republican Joe Lombardo unseated Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak in Nevada's gubernatorial race after a single term in office. However, Lombardo nearly lost Trump's endorsement after he failed to call the defeated, former President "great". So perhaps some Nevada voters didn't see Lombardo in lockstep with Trump the way they did with Laxalt.
Whatever rebukes Trumpism has received in 2018, 2020 and now 2022, we know that neither Trump or Trumpism is going to go gentle into that good night. Not with the Georgia runoff between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker scheduled for December 6th. And not all bets are off in Nevada.
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