2018 Nevada Attorney General election

2018 Nevada Attorney General election

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Nominee Aaron Ford Wesley Duncan Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 456,225 451,692 Percentage 47.24% 46.77%

County results Congressional district results Ford:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70% Duncan:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%

Attorney General before election Adam Laxalt Republican Elected Attorney General Aaron Ford Democratic

The 2018 Nevada Attorney General election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the attorney general of Nevada. ^[1]

Incumbent Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt did not run for re-election to a second term and instead ran unsuccessfully for governor. ^[2] Nevada Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford won the Democratic nomination and defeated Republican nominee and former Nevada Assembly member Wesley Duncan in the general election. ^[3] With a margin of 0.47%, this was the closest attorney general race of the 2018 election cycle.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Wesley Duncan, assistant Nevada Attorney General ^[4]
• Craig Mueller, lawyer and former U.S. Naval officer ^[5]

Declined

• Mark Amodei, incumbent U.S. representative for Nevada's 2nd congressional district ^{[6] [7]}
• Adam Laxalt, incumbent Nevada attorney general ^[2]

Results

Republican primary results ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Wesley Duncan	82,453	59.78
	Republican	Craig Mueller	43,361	31.44
	None of These Candidates		12,106	8.78
Total votes			137,920	100.0

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Aaron Ford, majority leader of the Nevada Senate ^[9]
• Stuart MacKie ^[10]

Declined

• Steve Wolfson, Clark County District Attorney (ran for re-election and won) ^{[11] [12]}

Results

Democratic primary results ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Aaron Ford	94,699	68.01
	Democratic	Stuart MacKie	26,619	19.12
	None of These Candidates		17,931	12.88
Total votes			139,249	100.0

General election

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [a]	Margin of error	Wesley Duncan (R)	Aaron Ford (D)	Other	Undecided
Suffolk University/Reno Gazette Journal [13]	September 5–10, 2018	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	28%	30%	13% [b]	29%
The Mellman Group (D) [14] [A]	April 12–19, 2018	600 (V)	± 4.0%	27%	36%	–	37%

Results

Ford won the election by a 0.47% margin. ^{[15] [16]}

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Aaron Ford	456,225	47.24	+1.92
	Republican	Wesley Duncan	451,692	46.77	+0.55
	Independent American	Joel Hansen	32,259	3.34	–2.27
	None of These Candidates		25,577	2.65	–0.22
Total votes			965,753	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing

By congressional district

Ford won two of four congressional districts, with the remaining two going to Duncan, including one that elected a Democrat. ^[17]

District	Duncan	Ford	Representative
1st	33%	61%	Dina Titus
2nd	54%	38%	Mark Amodei
3rd	48%	47%	Susie Lee
4th	45%	49%	Steven Horsford

See also

• 2018 United States attorney general elections
• 2018 Nevada elections

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. Joel Hansen (IAPN) with 10%; None of these candidates with 2%; Refused with 1%

Partisan clients

1. Poll sponsored by The Nevada Independent

References

1. "Nevada Attorney General election, 2018". Ballotpedia. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
2. Rindels, Michelle (November 1, 2017). "Attorney General Adam Laxalt, a rising Republican favorite, officially enters 2018 gubernatorial race". The Nevada Independent. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
3. "Nevada Election Results". The New York Times. May 15, 2019. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
4. Rindels, Michelle; Snyder, Riley (November 2, 2017). "Republican Wes Duncan, former Laxalt deputy, jumps into attorney general's race". The Nevada Independent. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
5. "Home - Craig Mueller for Nevada". Craig Mueller for Nevada. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
6. Hagar, Ray (August 5, 2015). "Hagar: Amodei wants to be Nevada governor - if Heller doesn't". Reno Gazette-Journal . Retrieved August 6, 2015.
7. Pathe, Simone (April 27, 2017). ".@MarkAmodeiNV2 says he's not interested in NV AG but hasn't decided if he's running for re-election. @SharronAngle is primarying him". Twitter. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
8. "Silver State 2018 Primary Election Results - Statewide". Nevada Secretary of State.
9. Snyder, Riley (September 12, 2017). "Democratic Senate Leader Aaron Ford announces attorney general bid, setting up likely race to replace Laxalt". The Nevada Independent. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
10. Rindels, Michelle; Valley, Jackie (June 12, 2018). "Sisolak defeats Giunchigliani in Democratic primary; Adam Laxalt wins Republican nomination for governor". The Nevada Independent.
11. Snyder, Riley (April 24, 2017). "If Laxalt runs for governor, Wes Duncan says he's running for attorney general". The Nevada Independent. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
12. Lochhead, Colton (August 16, 2017). "Clark County DA Steve Wolfson announces re-election bid". Las Vegas Review-Journal . Retrieved August 16, 2017.
13. "SUPRC / Reno Gazette Nevada Statewide September 2018" (PDF). Suffolk University. September 11, 2018.
14. Ralston, Jon (April 28, 2018). "All the poll information fit to publish". The Nevada Independent.
15. "NV Attorney General". Our Campaigns. November 27, 2018. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
16. "2018 Attorney General General Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections. January 15, 2018. Archived from the original on June 25, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
17. "Dra 2020".