Nevada 2016 elections Presidential • U.S. Senate • U.S. House • State Senate • State Assembly • State judges • Local judges • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Candidate ballot access

2018→ ←2014
2016 Nevada Senate Elections
Primary	June 14, 2016
General	November 8, 2016

Democrats won control of both theNevada State Senate and theNevada State Assembly in the2016 general election. This broke the Republicantrifecta previously held in the state. Democrats were able to flip one Senate seat, which was all that they needed to gain control of the chamber. Assembly Democrats were also able to win a majority, picking up 10 seats and moving to a 12-seat majority.

State SenatorPatricia Farley said shortly after the election that she would change her party affiliation from Republican to nonpartisan with the intention of caucusing with Democrats.^[1] The change in Farley's party affiliation gave the Democratic Caucus a three-seat majority.

A total of11 seats out of the 21 seats in theNevada State Senate were up for election in 2016. Nevada state senators serve staggered,four-year terms, such that every two years half of the Senate is up for election. Originally, 10 seats were up for election, butDistrict 13 was added after the death of Sen.Debbie Smith (D) on February 21, 2016. The District 13 race filled the remainder of Smith's term, which would have been up for re-election in November 2018.^[2]

Heading into the general election, Nevada was one of 23 Republicanstate government trifectas. All three areas of the Nevada state government—the state Assembly, the state Senate, and the office of the governor—were controlled by the Republican Party.

Both the state Senate and state Assembly were considered at risk of flipping to Democratic control.Democrats indeed proceeded to flip both chambers, breaking up the state's Republican trifecta. Republicans held a one-seat majority in the Senate and a seven-seat majority in the Assembly prior to the election.

A Ballotpedia analysis identified theNevada State Senate asone of 20 battleground chambers in the November 2016 election. These were the chambers where one party might have, realistically, toppled the other party from its position of majority control.

This election was one of Ballotpedia's top 10 state-level races in 2016.
Click here to read the full list.

Introduction

Elections for theNevada State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 14, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 18, 2016.

Majority control

See also:Partisan composition of state senates

Heading into the election, the Republican Party held the majority in the Nevada State Senate:

Retired incumbents

One incumbent senator did not run for re-election in 2016. The incumbent was:

Name	Party	Current Office
Mark Lipparelli	Republican	Senate District 6

Note:District 13 andDistrict 15 were vacant untilJulia Ratti (D) andJesse Haw (R) were appointed to the seats on September 27, 2016. The two seats were previously held by the lateDebbie Smith (D) andGreg Brower (R).

Context of the 2016 elections

TheNevada State Senate was identified by the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (RLCC) as a defensive target.^[4] TheRepublican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) and Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (RLCC) planned to spend $40 million on legislative races for the 2015-2016 election cycle.

The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) namedAssembly District 25 in their "16 in '16: Races to Watch."^[5]

TheDemocratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) namedSenate District 15 in their "2016 Essential Races."^[6][7]

As of June 10, 2016, the Senate Democratic Caucus raised $249,207, while the Republican Caucus raised $99,500.^[8][9]

The $1.4 billion tax package and education initiatives passed by the Republican-led legislature in the last legislative session were among the top issues for Nevada voters.^[10]

In 2016, voter turnout was expected to be high not only because of the presidential election, but also due to the open seat left by outgoingU.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D).^[11]

In 2014, the Senate was identified by Ballotpedia as a battleground chamber, ultimately flipping to Republican control. Even with eight overall retirements due to term limits, the state Assembly unexpectedly showed a much larger flip, changing from a 27-15 Democratic majority to a 27-15 Republican majority. This prompted the Assembly Democratic Caucus to raise nearly $350,000 in 2015; in comparison, the Assembly Republican Caucus raised nearly $24,000. In the Senate, the Democratic Caucus raised over $270,000; the Republican Caucus raised about $84,000.Assembly Majority Leader Paul Anderson (R) told theNevada Appeal that he anticipated being outraised due to ideological differences between incumbents and donors as well as a lack of contributions to the caucus fund by outgoing or defeated Republicans; he said that the numbers do not foreshadow the outcome of the elections.^[12]

Sen.Aaron Ford (D), leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said on the 2014 election that "[t]he turnout in 2014 was less of a red wave and more of a blue boycott. I think there has been a lot of introspection that has taken place since then. We plan to capitalize on the enthusiasm we already see out there in the Democratic arena to ensure we regain the majority."^[13] Ford went on to explain that Democrats were targeting District 6, District 15, and District 18 in the state Senate. The Republican caucus was focusing on District 5 and District 6. Sen.Ben Kieckhefer (R) believed that Republicans would be able to hold on to the state Senate. Kieckhefer said, "We need to win one of them to hold the majority and we’re pretty confident we are going to be able to do that."^[13]

Races we watched

Ballotpedia identified seven notable Nevada state legislative races in 2016, four of which were state Senate contests.

Click here to read more about Ballotpedia's coverage of notable Nevada races »

General election contests

State Senate District 5

District 5 featured a closely divided race between Republicans and Democrats.

☑Joyce Woodhouse(Inc.) (D)     ☐Carrie Buck (R)      ☐Tim Hagan (Lib.)     

State Senate District 6

A Republican representative and a Democrat faced off for an open seat left by the GOP incumbent.

☑Nicole Cannizzaro (D)     ☐Victoria Seaman (R)      

State Senate District 15

A Republican, a Democrat, and a Libertarian competed for an open seat left by the GOP incumbent.

☐Devon Reese (D)     ☑Heidi Gansert (R)      ☐David Colborne (Lib.)     

State Senate District 18

A Democratic candidate challenged the GOP incumbent.

☐Alexander Marks (D)     ☑Scott Hammond(Inc.) (R)      

2016 election competitiveness

Nevada saw more incumbents facing primary opponents.

Ballotpedia conducts a yearly study of electoral competitiveness in state legislative elections. Details on how well Nevada performed in the study are provided in the image below.Click here for the full 2016 Competitiveness Analysis »

• In theNevada State Senate, there were 10 Democratic incumbents and 11 Republican incumbents. Three incumbents faced primary challengers in the Democratic Party. There were no incumbents facing primary challenges in the Republican primary.

• In theAssembly, there were 17 Democratic incumbents, 24 Republican incumbents, and one Libertarian incumbent. Three state representatives faced primary opposition in the Democratic Party. There were 11 incumbents that faced primary challenges in the Republican primary.

• Overall, 18.6 percent of Democratic incumbents and 21.4 percent of GOP incumbents faced primary opposition in all of the state legislatures with elections in 2016.

• The cumulative figure for how many state legislative candidates faced no major party opposition in November in these states was 41.8 percent. This compares to 32.7 percent in 2010, 38.3 percent in 2012, and 43.0 percent in 2014.

• More details on electoral competitiveness in Nevada can be foundbelow.

List of candidates

General election

2016 Nevada Senate general election candidates
District	Democrat	Republican	Other
1	Patricia Spearman: 33,688(I)a	Arsen Ter-Petrosyan: 17,800
3	Richard "Tick" Segerblom: 21,195(I)a	Dennis Palmerston: 11,057	Jonathan Friedrich: 2,889 (L)
4	Kelvin Atkinson: 29,912(I)a
5	Joyce Woodhouse: 26,208(I)a	Carrie Buck: 25,739	Tim Hagan: 2,784 (L)
6	Nicole Cannizzaro: 28,733a	Victoria Seaman: 27,697
7	David Parks: 28,431(I)a		Kimberly Schjang: 12,454 (L)
11	Aaron Ford: 22,439(I)a	Jon Frazier: 14,221	Lesley Chan: 2,229 (L)
13	Julia Ratti: 27,280(I)a	Kent Bailey: 15,811	Brandon Jacobs: 2,406 (L)
15	Devon Reese: 26,773	Heidi Gansert: 33,822a	David Colborne: 3,266 (L)
18	Alexander Marks: 26,864	Scott Hammond: 34,805(I)a
19		Peter Goicoechea: 36,877(I)a	Janine Hansen: 13,664 (Independent American)
Notes: An(I) denotes an incumbent. Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email ourState Legislature Project.

Primary election

2016 Nevada Senate primary candidates
District	Democrat	Republican	Other
1	Patricia Spearman(I)a	Arsen Ter-Petrosyana
3	Richard "Tick" Segerblom(I)a	Dennis Palmerstona	Jonathan Friedrich (L)a
4	Kelvin Atkinson(I): 3,926a Stephen Harvey Munford: 1,966
5	Joyce Woodhouse(I): 4,145a Nicholas Lash: 704	Carrie Bucka	Tim Hagan (L)a
6	Nicole Cannizzaroa	Erv Nelson: 2,308 Victoria Seaman: 3,894a
7	David Parks(I): 3,222a Anthony Wernicke: 950		Kimberly Schjang (L)a
11	Aaron Ford(I)a	Jon Fraziera	Lesley Chan (L)a
13[14]	Julia Rattia	Kent Bailey: 2,499a Samantha Brockelsby: 1,074	Brandon Jacobs (L)a
15	Devon Reesea	Heidi Gansert: 5,105a Eugene Hoover: 3,866	David Colborne (L)a
18	Alexander Marksa	Scott Hammond(I)a
19		Peter Goicoechea(I)a	Janine Hansen (Independent American)a
Notes: An(I) denotes an incumbent. Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email ourState Legislature Project.

Margins of victory

The average margin of victory for contested races in the Nevada State Senate in 2016 was lower than the national average. Out of 11 races in the Nevada State Senate in 2016, 10 were contested, meaning at least two candidates competed for that seat in the general election. The average margin of victory across these races was 21.8 percent. Across contested single-winner state legislative elections in 2016, the average margin of victory was 29.01 percent.^[15]

Nevada State Senate: 2016 Margins of Victory Less than 10 Percent
District	Winning Party	Margin of Victory
District 5	D	0.9 percent
District 6	D	1.8 percent

Nevada State Senate: 2016 Margin of Victory Analysis
Party	Elections won	Average margin of victory[16]	Races with incumbent victories	Average margin of victory for incumbents[16]	Unopposed incumbents	Unopposed races	Percent unopposed
Democratic	8	21.1 percent	7	24.3 percent	1	1	12.5 percent
Republican	3	23.3 percent	2	29.4 percent	0	0	0.0 percent
Total	11	21.8 percent	9	25.6 percent	1	1	9.1 percent

Click[show] on the tables below to see the margin of victory in Nevada State Senate districts in 2016.

Important dates and deadlines

See also:Nevada elections, 2016

The calendar below lists important dates for political candidates in Nevada in 2016.

Competitiveness

Candidates unopposed by a major party

In three (27.27 percent) of the 11 seats up for election, there was only one major party candidate running for election. A total of two Democrats and one Republican were guaranteed election in November barring unforeseen circumstances.

Two major party candidates faced off in the general election in 8 (72.7 percent) of the 11 seats up for election.

Primary challenges

A total of three incumbents faced primary competition on June 14. One incumbent did not seek re-election, two seats were vacant, and another five incumbents advanced past the primary without opposition.

Retired incumbents

One incumbent senator,Mark Lipparelli (R) of District 6, did not run for re-election, and eight other incumbents ran for re-election. Two members were appointed to the chamber on September 27, 2016, to fill two vacancies.

Impact of term limits

See also:State legislatures with term limits

Nevada voters approvedQuestion 9A in 1996. Question 9A was a second vote on aterm limits amendment first approved in 1994. Alone among the states withballot initiatives, Nevada voters must approve a proposed constitutional amendment twice before it goes into theNevada Constitution. The 1994 and 1996 votes cumulatively led toParagraph 2 of Section 4 of Article 4 of theNevada Constitution, which says, "No person may be elected or appointed as a Senator who has served in that Office, or at the expiration of his current term if he is so serving will have served, 12 years or more, from any district of this State."

Altogether, there are 21Nevada State Senators. In the 2016 state senate elections, there were no senators who were termed out.

Results from 2014

See also:2014 state legislative elections analyzed using a Competitiveness Index

There were 6,057 seats in 87 chambers with elections in 2014. All three aspects of Ballotpedia'sCompetitiveness Index—the number ofopen seats,incumbents facing primary opposition, andgeneral elections between partisan candidates—showed poor results compared to the prior election cycle. States with elections in 2014 held fewer general elections between partisan candidates. Additionally, fewer incumbents faced primary opposition and more incumbents ran for re-election than inrecent years.

Since 2010, when the Competitiveness Index was established, there had not been an even-year election cycle to do statistically worse in any of the three categories. See the following chart for a breakdown of those scores between each year.

The following table details Nevada's rates foropen seats, incumbents that facedprimary challenges, andmajor party competition in the 2014 general election.

Historical context

See also:Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections: 1972-2014

Uncontested elections: In 2014, 32.8 percent of Americans lived in states with an uncontested state senate election. Similarly, 40.4 percent of Americans lived in states with uncontested house elections. Primary elections were uncontested even more frequently, with 61 percent of people living in states with no contested primaries. Uncontested elections often occur in locations that are so politically one-sided that the result of an election would be a foregone conclusion regardless of whether it was contested or not.

Open seats: In most cases, an incumbent will run for re-election, which decreases the number of open seats available. In 2014, 83 percent of the 6,057 seats up for election saw the incumbent running for re-election. The states that impose term limits on their legislatures typically see a higher percentage of open seats in a given year because a portion of incumbents in each election are forced to leave office. Overall, the number of open seats decreased from 2012 to 2014, dropping from 21.2 percent in 2012 to 17.0 percent in 2014.

Incumbent win rates: Ballotpedia'scompetitiveness analysis of elections between 1972 and 2014 documented the high propensity for incumbents to win re-election in state legislative elections. In fact, since 1972, the win rate for incumbents had not dropped below 90 percent—with the exception of 1974, when 88 percent of incumbents were re-elected to their seats. Perhaps most importantly, the win rate for incumbents generally increased over time. In 2014, 96.5 percent of incumbents were able to retain their seats. Common convention holds that incumbents are able to leverage their office to maintain their seat. However, the high incumbent win rate may actually be a result of incumbents being more likely to hold seats in districts that are considered safe for their party.

Marginal primaries: Often, competitiveness is measured by examining the rate of elections that have been won by amounts that are considered marginal (5 percent or less). During the 2014 election, 90.1 percent of primary and general election races were won by margins higher than 5 percent. Interestingly, it is usually the case that only one of the two races—primary or general—will be competitive at a time. This means that if a district's general election is competitive, typically one or more of the district's primaries were won by more than 5 percent. The reverse is also true: If a district sees a competitive primary, it is unlikely that the general election for that district will be won by less than 5 percent. Primaries often see very low voter turnout in comparison to general elections. In 2014, there were only 27 million voters for state legislative primaries, but approximately 107 million voters for the state legislative general elections.

Campaign contributions

The following chart shows how many candidates ran for State Senate in Nevada in past years and the cumulative amount of campaign contributions in State Senate races, including contributions in both primary and general election contests.^[17]

State comparison

The map below shows the average contributions to 2014 candidates for state senates. The average contributions raised by state senate candidates in 2014 was $148,144. Nevada, at $214,140 per candidate, is ranked ten of 42 for state senate chambers with the highest average contributions. Hover your mouse over a state to see the average campaign contributions for that state’s senate candidates in 2014.^[17][18]

Qualifications

To be eligible to serve in the Nevada State Senate, a candidate must be:^[19]

• A U.S. citizen;
• At least 21 years old by the filing deadline;
• A one-year resident of Nevada before the election;
• A resident for at least 30 days of the electing Senate district at the filing deadline time; and
• A qualified voter. A qualified voter is someone who is:
  • A U.S. citizen;
  • A resident of Nevada for at least 6 months prior to the next election;
  • A resident in the district or county for at least 30 days; and
  • At least 18 years old by the next election.

See also

• Nevada State Senate
• Nevada State Legislature
• State legislative elections, 2016

External links

Suggest a link

• Nevada Secretary of State - Primary candidate list
• Clark County - Primary candidate list
• Washoe County - Primary candidate list
• Nevada Secretary of State - Certified general election candidate list

Footnotes

v • e 2016 Elections toState legislatures State Senate elections Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Maine •Massachusetts •Minnesota •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming State House elections Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Maine •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Missouri •Montana •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming