‘Startling’: GOP Early-Voting Turnout In Nevada Amazes Veteran Observer, Alarms Dems

Warning lights have been flashing all over the Democrats’ 2024 dashboard, and now a new one is pointing to big trouble for Kamala Harris in the battleground state of Nevada, where early voting results show that GOP voters are actually outnumbering Democrats. 

Across the country, Democrats typically account for a majority of early votes, and Nevada has been no exception — until now. “The numbers look pretty GOP so far, and that never happens in a presidential year,” wrote veteran Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston in a Tuesday afternoon blog post at the Nevada Independent. 

🚨 BREAKING: Nevada experiences a dramatic +25 point swing towards Republicans on the first day of Early Voting! 🇺🇸 #ElectionUpdate

In Clark County, NV, a whopping 22,000 in-person voters cast their ballots on day one of early voting.

Early Voting Stats:
2020:
🔵 44% (+7)
🔴… pic.twitter.com/ooJb2YVBio

— Tony Lane 🇺🇸 (@TonyLaneNV) October 20, 2024

Democrats lead statewide mail-in voting by 17,298, but Republicans lead in-person voting by a whopping 25,173 — even beating Dems in Clark County and Washoe County, homes of Las Vegas and Reno, respectively. Statewide, Republicans account for 52% of in-person early voting, Democrats are just 28%, and “other” is 20%. “Those in-person numbers are startling,” wrote Ralston, who’s been covering Silver State politics for three decades. “A few more days like this…and the Democratic bedwetting will reach epic proportions.”

Another dynamic of Americans politics is the big distinction between urban and rural voting patterns, with cities reliably delivering large volumes of Democratic votes. In Nevada, the dynamic is perhaps even more pronounced, with Democrats’ statewide fortunes largely tied to the so-called “Clark firewall.” However, so far in 2024, that barrier is looking mighty short. “The Clark firewall is only 6,500, about a seventh of what it was in 2020,” wrote Ralston.

The bigger picture is even worse for the Democrats: “The [Republican voter-turnout] lead in rural Nevada is more than double the [Democrat] lead in urban Nevada,” he wrote. The sea change prompted Ralston to declare that we’re witnessing a new dynamic in the 2024 cycle: “The [GOP] rural firewall. It’s a thing.”

The early voting blog is updated!

Out: Clark D firewall

In: Rural R firewall.

It’s real: 16,500 votes because of massive landslides so far and higher than urban turnout percentage.

Dems need more mail, lots of indies, or big trouble in NV.https://t.co/Pl43XBMcPA

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) October 23, 2024

The departure from norms could also have implications for what we see on Election Day: “It’s clear there are more Republicans voting early and by mail, which raises the possibility that Election Day may not be as robust for the GOP.” 

Extrapolating the results, Ralston concludes that “it means Kamala Harris has to win indies by close to double digits if this turnout scenario holds.” He cautioned that we’ve only three days into 14 days of early voting, and that results could shift. However, he continued, “If this becomes a trend and not an anomaly, it will be over.” 

I’m at Galleria Mall in Henderson Nevada. The voting line is 2000 people deep. So far all the folks in front of & behind are voting TRUMP! We are at record early voting in Nevada! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/7Ikwlnff04

— David Benjamin (@thetoyman1) October 21, 2024

There’s also a Senate race in Nevada this year, pitting Republican challenger Sam Brown against incumbent Democrat Jacky Rosen. The Cook Political Report rates the race as “Lean D,” while Polymarket bettors collectively have Democrat Rosen at an 80% chance of winning. That’s a big variance from the presidential race, where Polymarket gives Trump a 65% chance of taking the state’s six electoral votes.

No Republican presidential candidate has won the state since George W. Bush beat John Kerry by a 50.5% to 47.9% margin in 2004… but it looks like the table is being set for an end to that decades-long losing streak.