LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada Democrats will retain their power in the state House but have failed to secure a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers, which would have stripped the Republican governor of his veto power when they meet early next year come.
Democrats lost their razor-thin 28-seat supermajority in the State Assembly after Republicans successfully flipped a competitive district on the southern edge of Las Vegas. This year, all 42 seats in the Chamber were up for grabs. The Democrats won 27 seats and the Republicans 15.
In the Senate, Democrats will retain at least 12 of the 21 seats, enough to maintain their majority in the House. A race for a district in Las Vegas was still too early to call on Tuesday, but its outcome cannot tip the balance of power to the Republicans. Ten seats in the Senate became available for elections this year.
First-term Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo was not present for the Nov. 5 vote, but legislative control was given to voters in a state where Democrats have controlled all but one house of the Legislature since 2009. A supermajority in both houses would have allowed Democrats to override any vetoes from Lombardo and pass tax and revenue increases without a vote from Republican lawmakers.
Lombardo, who was elected in 2022, vetoed a record 75 bills during the 2023 legislative session, including one that would have made the Western swing state the first in the nation to make it a crime to issue certificates to sign falsely declaring that a losing candidate had done so. won. He also scrapped a series of gun control bills, including one that sought to raise the qualifying age for ownership of semiautomatic shotguns and assault weapons from 18 to 21, and another that would ban ownership of firearms within 10 years of would have prohibited a gross misdemeanor or hate crime. -conviction for crime.
The legislature meets every two years. The next 120-day session begins on February 3.
