In Nevada, election night has been extended until late Friday. And that started on Tuesday the 5th at sunset. Finally, with 96% counted, the Associated Press agency, the canon on the matter, has awarded the Republican candidate Donald Trump the six electoral votes corresponding to that State. Of course, given that the former president
Trump has achieved 724,000 votes (50.7%) in Nevada, compared to 678,000 for Kamala Harris (47.4%), according to provisional counting data. It is the first time that the Democrats have been defeated since 2004. Even Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in 2016. This time, however, the Republican is on track to win all the territories that polls indicated were disputed.
Of the seven decisive states to determine who would win the White House, Nevada was the one that, due to its schedule, voted later and, therefore, closed the polls later. Hence, starting at four or five in the afternoon on election Tuesday, the calls began. At the Democratic Party headquarters, the evening also started early, although it definitely got lively when the bars opened. At that time, the map was still turning inexorably red, but everyone seemed to pay more attention to the contents of their glasses than to the screens in the immense room.
At first, the room seemed more like a wedding than a tense electoral wait. On the tables with champagne tablecloths, men in suits and ties, women in long dresses and sequins, they sipped their cocktails and greeted each other politely. No one seemed to know how Trump took over, first, North Carolina and, later, Georgia; about how the Democrats were losing the Senate, about how all the options were falling. “Right now, we have to wait,” said calmly state senator Fabián Doñate, 28, who two years ago became the youngest to be elected in Nevada. Born to parents from Zacatecas and who are part of the powerful and multitudinous Culinary Union of Las Vegas, which brings together 300,000 hospitality workers, he felt hopeful. “We have to wait for Nevada and Arizona, the Latinos here are going to support our president,” he told EL PAÍS, still calm. Time took away his reason. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto took the stand to thank “all those who have gone door to door, made calls, and encouraged their families to vote” for their support. “I wouldn’t be here without all of you. We know it’s going to be a long race, and Nevada voters are voting, they keep voting. But the most important thing is that each and every one of the votes are counted,” he stated in his speech around nine thirty at night.
It is true that many assumed that on Tuesday night the results of the State elections would not be known, at least not those from the White House. Nevada started its vote count slowly; in fact, it was the last continental State to be uprooted. Furthermore, despite the fact that around 53% of the census had voted by mail, many of its citizens stood in lines of two and three hours after the polls closed, which caused everything to be delayed even more. Whoever was in line at seven in the afternoon had the right to vote, and they waited to do so. As the Secretary of State of Nevada, Francisco Aguilar, explained in a statement, the lines stretched until 9:45 p.m., and that was not when the counting began.
Initially, the accounting was quick and in less than half an hour it was already known where 70% of the votes were going, although it soon got stuck at 80%, growing slowly for days and days. Despite all expectations, they opted for Trump. Nevada has two faces: the rural one, majority in territory but not in population, which usually votes Republican; and that of casinos, big cities and neon lights, with an urban population that tends to vote Democratic. In this case, not even the entire city voted blue, since the Democrats lost in the second most populated city, Reno, and its county, by just over 600 votes out of 235,000. Harris only won Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, but by a narrow two-point margin: 28,000 votes out of nearly a million.
In addition to Harris or Trump, Nevadans decided an important position in the Senate (which Democrat Jacky Rosen confirmed, although by just 21,000 ballots out of 1.4 million, 1.2%, against retired military man Sam Brown) and also to its new mayor, Shelley Berkley, who succeeds Carolyn Goodman after 13 years at the helm.
Jacky Rosen, a senator seeking reelection, left at 12:10 a.m. on the first election night to thank “everyone present, those who supported the campaign, those who have gone door to door.” There she was very close in votes, but while they shouted at her: “You’re going to win!”, she said: “We’re going to win, we’re going to win.” “We are stronger when we are together. We know that we are stronger when we protect our fundamental rights and that is left out of the negotiation. We are going to win this race. Democracy takes time and I have confidence, because of you, because of what you have done.”
Rosen asked for patience, explaining that there were many ballots left to count and that “they deserve to be counted,” especially in the mail, because they can arrive until November 9. “We will not be in the White House, but here, in Nevada, you will have me in your homes. I put my home and community first, like all of you. So this is what you have to do: go home, rest and put on comfortable socks, because later we will need all our hands.”
A resounding yes to abortion
Additionally, the ballot included a question about the right to abortion, specifically whether Nevada’s constitution should be amended to make it a fundamental right without government interference as long as it is performed by professionals. : 63% approved it. “We voted en masse to approve question six,” said Lindsay Harmon, director of Planned Parenthood. “We are seeing the devastating effects of the abortion ban throughout the country,” he said, congratulating himself that from now on Nevada will be a safe place for women who need to undergo this medical procedure. “Make no mistake: this war is not over,” he stated. A question that shows that the vote for Trump leaned, especially, towards the economic issue. He was the instigator of a key move in Las Vegas:; something so popular that Harris later adopted it.
On Tuesday, the event room with the champagne-colored tablecloths became emptier and emptier as the night progressed. But we didn’t have to say goodbye to the gala dresses to see that it was over. By the time the huge screens had turned off. A couple of hours later, and there was no need for Nevada to decide anything, he was proclaimed president.
