Results in Nevada's 2022 election were closely divided between the Democratic and Republican Governor and Senate candidates.
A new Nevada law effective in 202 allows new residents automatically get registered to vote when they register their vehicles at the DMV. More than 140,000 new voters were registered in the program's first year.
Nevada's population is not evenly distributed across the state. 71% of the state's voters live in Clark County (metropolitan Las Vegas). 17% live in Washoe County (metropolitan Reno). The remaining 12% live in Nevada's 15 rural counties (including Carson City, the state capital).
Statewide, Democrats are in the lead at 32.5%, with Republicans at 29.8%. There is a stark divide in party registration between the urban and rural areas. In Clark County, Democrats have a nearly 10-point advantage over Republicans. Washoe County, the state's "swing" county, Republicans have a less than 2-point advantage over Democrats. However, in the Rural counties, collectively, Republicans have a 30-point advantage over Democrats, with Carson City being the most urbanized and "purple". Third party voters are relatively even across the state at 7.6%. The real story in recent years is the growth of registered voters not affiliated with any political party: 30.1% statewide, in second place to Democrats and leading Republicans. This has led to the major parties agressively courting independent voters during election cycles and creating tossup elections because of the great unknown.
Nonpartisan voters can't vote in primary elections in Nevada, so primary candidates only need to appeal to their own party bases. This leads to general election candidates that are extremely partisan and don't appeal to a wide range of voters, and therefore results in low voter turnout. A state constitutional amendment to allow nonpartisan voters to participate in primary elections passed an initial vote in 2022.
In the Governor's race, Governor Sisolak (DEM) was unpopular because of the state's COVID-19 restrictions, high unemployment (especially in Las Vegas), and high gas prices. Despite winning both urban counties by narrow margins, he wasn't able to overcome the "rural Republican firewall", and he lost to his Republican opponent, Clark County Sherriff Joe Lombardo by just 15,386 votes, or 1.5%.
The Senate race was also highly competitive. The incumbent, first-term Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto (DEM) faced former Attorney General Adam Laxalt (REP). Unlike Lombardo, Laxalt didn't overcome the rural firewall and lost to Cortez-Masto by 7,928 votes (0.8%). The performance difference can probably be chalked up to Lombardo being overall a better candidate than Laxalt. Also, despite the uneven geographic distribution of party voters, overall Nevada is still a swing state and highly competitive.
Nevada's other senator, Jackie Rosen, is a Democrat and will be up for election in 2024.
Nevada has four Representatives to Congress: 3 Democrats (from the Las Vegas area and southern Rural counties) and 1 Republican (Reno and the northern Rural counties.)
Nevada's legislature is firmly in the hands of Democrats: Democrats control the Assembly 28 to 14 and the Senate 13 to 8. All the Democratic seats are in the state's urban areas.
Of the five statewide constitutional officers, two are Republican (Lieutenant Governor and Controller), and three are Democrat (Attorney General, Secretary of State, and Treasurer). Each of these offices had competitive races, with the most extreme Republican candidates losing to the Democrats.
Nevada Secretary of State, Silver State General Election Results 2022, Accessed March 19, 2023.
Nevada Secretary of State, Voter Registration Statistics (November 30, 2022), Accessed March 19, 2023.
Wikipedia
The Nevada Independent, 2022, 2022 Election Results Live Blog, November 8, 2022
The Nevada Independent, 2021, Automatic voter registration system adds thousands of new voters, despite security concerns from critics, Accessed April 11, 2023