2016 United States presidential election in Nevada

The 2016 United States presidential election in Nevada, held on November 8, 2016 was part of the 2016 United States presidential election, and was won by Hillary Clinton with a 47.92% popular vote plurality over Donald Trump's 45.5%.[1] All of Nevada's 6 electoral votes were assigned to Clinton. Trump became the first Republican since William Howard Taft in 1908 to win the presidency without Nevada. This is also the first time since the 1976 election that the state has voted for the losing presidential candidate.

Main article: 2016 United States presidential election

2016 United States presidential election in Nevada

November 8, 2016
Turnout	76.83%
Nominee Hillary Clinton Donald Trump Party Democratic Republican Home state New York New York Running mate Tim Kaine Mike Pence Electoral vote 6 0 Popular vote 539,260 512,058 Percentage 47.92% 45.50%
County Results Clinton   40–50%   50–60% Trump   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Donald Trump Republican

Results by county with size showing number of votes

Treemap of the popular vote by county

Primary elections

Democratic caucuses

Democratic caucus results by county.

  Hillary Clinton

  Bernie Sanders

  Tie

The 2016 Nevada Democratic caucuses took place on February 20 in the U.S. state of Nevada, traditionally marking the Democratic Party's third nominating contest in their series of presidential primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

With all other candidates having dropped out of the race ahead of the Nevada caucuses, the two remaining candidates were Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.[2]

Process

Of the total number of 43 delegates the Nevada Democratic Party may send to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, 35 are pledged and 8 are unpledged.

The delegate selection process is a system with three levels:

1. The first step in the delegate selection process were the precinct caucuses on February 20, which elected about 12,000 delegates to the county conventions.
2. At the county conventions on April 2, the county delegates selected about 4,000 delegates to the state convention.
3. At the state convention on May 14–15, the final 35 pledged delegates to the National Convention will be selected. 23 of them are allocated proportionally based on congressional district results, whereas the remaining 12 are allocated based on the state convention as a whole.

A majority of participants at the February caucuses supported Hillary Clinton. However, the county conventions on April 2, 2016, resulted in more Sanders delegates than Clinton delegates being sent to the state convention in May.

Debates and forums

October 2015 debate in Las Vegas

On October 13, 2015, the Democratic Party's first debate was held at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Hosted by Anderson Cooper, it aired on CNN and was broadcast on radio by Westwood One. Participants were the candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley, and Lincoln Chafee. It was the only debate appearance of Chafee and Webb, who ended their campaigns on October 23 and October 20, respectively.

February 2016 forum in Las Vegas

See also: 2016 Democratic Party presidential debates and forums

On February 18, MSNBC and Telemundo hosted a forum in Las Vegas.

Caucus Results

Nevada Democratic caucuses, February 20, 2016
Candidate	County delegates		Estimated delegates
	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Hillary Clinton	6,440	52.64%	20	4	24
Bernie Sanders	5,785	47.29%	15	1	16
Uncommitted	8	0.07%	0	3	3
Total	12,233	100%	35	8	43
Source: The Green Papers

County Conventions

The County Conventions were marked by bickering between Clinton and Sanders supporters, most notably in Clark County,[3] which had been won by Clinton during the caucuses and led to the attempted arrest of the head of the credentials committee, Sanders supporter Christine Kramar, after the Clinton supporters on the Clark Country Democratic committee attempted to depose her from her position. Kramar had discovered that the Clark County Democratic Party had been having private correspondence with only Clinton's campaign, as opposed to both campaigns.

The results statewide goes as follows:[4] Sanders 3846 (55.23%) Clinton 2124 (44.77%)

Sanders won most of the northern counties in Nevada, including Washoe County, and Clinton won most of the southern counties, including Clark County.

State Convention

The state convention was held in May as the final stage of the delegate selection process. Supports of Senator Sanders were angered when Party officials declined to accept the credentials of close to 60 pro-Sanders delegates. Nevada Democratic Party Chairwoman, Roberta Lange, allegedly received numerous death threats and threats to the lives of her family and grandchildren; a criminal investigation has yet to confirm these claims or the identities of those allegedly involved. At the convention, Sanders supporters protested until the staff cancelled the event.[5][6] The event was later criticized as being violent, although there is no evidence that violence occurred.[7]

Despite charges by Sanders supporters that the Convention was rigged against their candidate, according to Jon Ralston,[6] "the facts reveal that the Sanders folks disregarded rules, then when shown the truth, attacked organizers and party officials as tools of a conspiracy to defraud the senator of what was never rightfully his in the first place."[6][8] After Sanders campaign Chair Jeff Weaver repeated assertions of process-rigging by Democratic Party officials, Politifact examined the evidence and concluded that, while the Party's selection process was "arcane" and "incredibly confusing", the fact is that "Clinton’s supporters simply turned out (attended the Convention) in larger numbers and helped her solidify her delegate lead." Moreover, according to Politifact: "There’s no clear evidence the state party 'hijacked' the process or ignored 'regular procedure.'"[9]

The Nevada Democratic Party wrote to the Democratic National Committee accusing Sanders supporters of having a "penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior — indeed, actual violence — in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting."[10] Sanders responded by denouncing the alleged use of violence while asserting that they were not treated with "fairness and respect" in a statement.[10]

In a TV segment, comedian Samantha Bee reported on the fracas,[11][12] as did Last Week Tonight with John Oliver[13] and Late Night with Seth Meyers in "A Closer Look" segment.[14]

Republican caucus

Republican caucus results by county.

  Donald Trump

  Ted Cruz

Delegates from Nevada to the Republican National Convention were allocated proportionally based on the caucus results.

Nevada Republican precinct caucuses, February 23, 2016
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Actual delegate count
			Bound	Unbound	Total
Donald Trump	34,531	45.75%	14	0	14
Marco Rubio	17,940	23.77%	7	0	7
Ted Cruz	16,079	21.30%	6	0	6
Ben Carson	3,619	4.79%	2	0	2
John Kasich	2,709	3.59%	1	0	1
Invalid	266	0.35%	0	0	0
Rand Paul (withdrawn)	170	0.23%	0	0	0
Jeb Bush (withdrawn)	64	0.08%	0	0	0
Chris Christie (withdrawn)	50	0.07%	0	0	0
Carly Fiorina (withdrawn)	22	0.03%	0	0	0
Mike Huckabee (withdrawn)	21	0.03%	0	0	0
Rick Santorum (withdrawn)	11	0.01%	0	0	0
Jim Gilmore (withdrawn)			0	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			0	0	0
Total:	75,482	100.00%	30	0	30
Source: The Green Papers

General election

Polling

Predictions

The following are final 2016 predictions from various organizations for Nevada as of Election Day.

1. Los Angeles Times: Leans Clinton[15]
2. CNN: Tossup[16]
3. Sabato's Crystal Ball: Leans Clinton[17]
4. NBC: Leans Clinton[18]
5. Electoral-vote.com: Tossup[19]
6. RealClearPolitics: Tossup[20]
7. Fox News: Leans Clinton[21]
8. ABC: Leans Clinton[22]

Results

Presidential general election, November 8, 2016[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Hillary Clinton	539,260	47.92%
	Republican	Donald Trump	512,058	45.5%
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	37,384	3.29%
		None of these candidates	28,863	2.54%
	Constitution	Darrell Castle	5,268	0.46%
	Reform	Rocky de la Fuente	2,552	0.23%
Total votes			1,125,385	100.00%

On the congressional district level, Hillary Clinton won the 1st district and the 4th district, and Donald Trump won the 2nd district and the 3rd district.[23]

By county

	Hillary Rodham Clinton Democratic		Donald John Trump Republican		Various candidates Various parties
County	%	#	%	#	%	#	Total
Carson City	38.42%	9,610	52.47%	13,125	9.12%	2,281	25,016
Churchill	20.20%	2,210	71.59%	7,830	8.21%	898	10,938
Clark	52.43%	402,227	41.72%	320,057	5.85%	44,872	767,156
Douglas	30.32%	8,454	62.45%	17,415	7.23%	2,016	27,885
Elko	18.33%	3,401	73.02%	13,551	8.66%	1,607	18,559
Esmeralda	15.37%	65	77.78%	329	6.86%	29	423
Eureka	8.67%	74	84.66%	723	6.67%	57	854
Humboldt	21.55%	1,386	70.28%	4,521	8.18%	526	6,433
Lander	16.70%	403	75.76%	1,828	7.54%	182	2,413
Lincoln	13.37%	285	78.38%	1,671	8.26%	176	2,132
Lyon	25.86%	6,146	67.36%	16,005	6.78%	1,611	23,762
Mineral	31.90%	637	59.04%	1,179	9.06%	181	1,997
Nye	26.00%	5,094	68.00%	13,324	6.01%	1,177	19,595
Pershing	21.70%	430	70.79%	1,403	7.52%	149	1,982
Storey	29.40%	752	63.17%	1,616	7.43%	190	2,558
Washoe	46.39%	97,379	45.14%	94,758	8.47%	17,772	209,909
White Pine	18.74%	707	72.17%	2,723	9.09%	343	3,773

By congressional district

Clinton and Trump each won 2 of the state's 4 congressional districts, with Trump carrying a district that elected a Democrat in the same cycle. [24]

District	Trump	Clinton	Representative
1st	33%	62%	Dina Titus
2nd	52%	40%	Mark Amodei
3rd	48%	47%	Joe Heck
			Jacky Rosen
4th	45%	50%	Cresent Hardy
			Ruben Kihuen

Analysis

Hillary Clinton won the state over nationwide winner Donald Trump, marking the third presidential election in a row that Nevada has voted Democratic. Most counties in the state of Nevada are rural, and voted heavily for Trump. As a whole, the rural counties outside of Las Vegas and Reno gave Donald Trump a 66-27 margin. However, Clinton won the state's two most populous counties, Clark County and Washoe County, which contain about 85% of the state's population, and thus won the state's electoral votes. Compared to 2012, Clinton's margin of victory was narrower in these two counties and statewide.

This is the second time since 1908, and first time since 1976, that Nevada voted for a candidate who did not win the general election. However, despite its streak ending, Nevada was actually the closest state in the nation to the national popular vote, as the state was 0.3% more Democratic than the nation as a whole.

References

1. US Presidential Race results, Nevada Secretary of State, November 22, 2016
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2016-05-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Bernie vs. Hillary boils over in Nevada before Clark convention". Ralston Reports. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
4. "Sanders likely flips two delegates after dominating Clark convention". Ralston Reports. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
5. Rappeport, Alen (17 May 2016). "Bernie Sanders Supporters Voice Ire at Nevada Democratic Party". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
6. Benen, Steve (17 May 2016). "The fallout from Nevada's Democratic unrest". MSNBC. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
7. LaCapria, Kim (19 May 2016). "The Chair Thrown 'Round the World". Snopes. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
8. Ralston, John (16 May 2016). "The sour grapes revolution that rocked the Paris Hotel". Ralston Reports. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
9. Snyder, Riley (18 May 2016). "Allegations of fraud and misconduct at Nevada Democratic convention unfounded". Politifact. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
10. Werner, Erica (17 May 2015). "Sanders Issues Defiant Statement Under Pressure Over Ruckus". ABC. AP. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
11. Luna, Jenny (24 May 2016). "Samantha Bee Smacks Down Angry Bernie Supporters; A night of bro-bashing". Mother Jones. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
12. Leeds, Sarene (24 May 2016). "Samantha Bee Takes Down Bernie Sanders Supporters Following the Nevada Democratic Convention". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
13. Primaries and Caucuses on YouTube Last Week Tonight with John Oliver May 22, 2016
14. Democrats Divided on Hillary and Bernie on YouTube Late Night with Seth Meyers May 19, 2016
15. "Our final map has Clinton winning with 352 electoral votes. Compare your picks with ours". Los Angeles Times. 2016-11-06. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
16. "Road to 270: CNN's general election map - CNNPolitics.com". Cnn.com. 2016-11-08. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
17. "Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2016 President". Centerforpolitics.org. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
18. Todd, Chuck. "NBC's Final Battleground Map Shows Clinton With a Significant Lead". NBC News. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
19. "ElectoralVote". ElectoralVote. 2000-12-31. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
20. "2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
21. "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
22. "The Final 15: The Latest Polls in the Swing States That Will Decide the Election". Abcnews.go.com. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
23. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/11/19/1163009/-Daily-Kos-Elections-presidential-results-by-congressional-district-for-the-2012-2008-elections
24. https://www.cookpolitical.com/introducing-2017-cook-political-report-partisan-voter-index

External links

• RNC 2016 Republican Nominating Process
• Green papers for 2016 primaries, caucuses, and conventions
• Green papers for the 2016 Nevada caucuses and convention