A Republican seat on a committee that oversees elections in a major swing county in Nevada has fended off a far-right challenge and secured her party’s nomination in a race that could have had implications for the national election.
Heading into Nevada’s primary on Tuesday, the incumbent, Clara Andriola, faced a challenge from the far right for her seat on the Washoe County Board of Commissioners, part of an ongoing effort by election conspiracy theorists seeking to create a majority in the election. board that provides important oversight of the provincial elections office.
Washoe includes Reno and is the second-largest county by population in the key presidential and senate state.
Andriola did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, but recently told The Associated Press that organizing elections should not be a partisan issue.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “it has become a very partisan issue.”
Andriola is likely favored to win re-election from her district, which covers a reliably Republican-leaning part of the county.
The commission’s authority over its elections division includes appointing voter registrars, certifying vote counts, identifying polling places and providing ballots in Spanish in a county where the population is about a quarter Latino. The state and the courts provide protection against any local manipulation of elections.
The attempt to dethrone Andriola was supported by wealthy far-right political activist Robert Beadles, who has been trying for years to tilt the balance of power in the commission further to the right: he has publicly spread rumors about the family lives of officials he opposes. , unsuccessfully sued to oust county officials and roll back protections for election workers, and led a local movement that has encouraged officials to decertify election results and overhaul the elections department.
Beadles did not respond to email requests for comment.
Against this backdrop, Washoe County commission meetings are regularly filled with heated rhetoric about “puppet masters” manipulating elections, false accusations of stolen votes and conspiracy theories about voting machines. The claims stem from the repeated lies promoted by former President Donald Trump.
Through his political action committee, Beadles endorsed Mark Lawson, a former fire chief from nearby Sparks, for Andriola’s seat. Lawson has said he is skeptical of the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Lawson conceded the race to Andriola, but in a text message to the AP on Wednesday he said he hopes she recognizes “her lack of support among so many voters” because of her bipartisan votes that have created a familiar divide on the five-member commission. , which currently includes Andriola, two Democrats and two Republicans, financially backed by Beadles.
Ahead of the Nevada primary, Andriola had campaigned on easing business restrictions and supporting voter identification, but her bipartisan votes earned her a censure from the county Republican Party, which rejected the 2020 election results.
The dynamic unfolding in the politically mixed region of Northern Nevada is similar to dramas that have unfolded elsewhere, including in neighboring Arizona, another swing state where conspiracy theorists have targeted local governments and election offices in recent years.
Multiple reviews, recounts and audits in the states where Trump contested his 2020 loss have confirmed President Joe Biden’s victory, and there is no evidence of widespread fraud.
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Associated Press writer Gabe Stern in Reno contributed to this report.
