The 2010 Nevada gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, to elect the
governor of Nevada
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
, who would serve a four-year term to begin on January 3, 2011. Despite speculation that incumbent
Republican governor
Jim Gibbons would not run for a second term due to low approval ratings, he ran for re-election. He struggled in the polls, and ultimately federal judge and former
attorney general of Nevada Brian Sandoval
Brian Edward Sandoval ( ; born August 5, 1963) is an American politician, academic administrator, and former federal judge who served as the 29th Governor of Nevada from 2011 to 2019.
A graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, Sandoval began ...
secured the nomination. Sandoval defeated Democrat
Rory Reid, son of then-current U.S. Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2 ...
, who
won his fifth term in the Senate on the same ballot.
Republican primary
Candidates
A total of five Republican candidates filed with the
Secretary of State of Nevada and qualified for the ballot.
Declared
* Tony Atwood
*
Jim Gibbons, incumbent governor
* Stan Lusak,
perennial candidate
A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...
*
Mike Montandon, Mayor of
North Las Vegas
North Las Vegas is a suburban city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, in the Las Vegas Valley. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 262,527, with an estimated population of 280,543 in 2022. The city was incorporated on May 1, 1946 ...
*
Brian Sandoval
Brian Edward Sandoval ( ; born August 5, 1963) is an American politician, academic administrator, and former federal judge who served as the 29th Governor of Nevada from 2011 to 2019.
A graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, Sandoval began ...
, former judge of the
United States District Court for the District of Nevada
The United States District Court for the District of Nevada (in case citations, D. Nev.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Nevada. The court has locations in Las Vegas and Reno.
Cases from the District of Nevada ...
and former
Nevada Attorney General
Withdrew
*
Joe Heck
Joseph John Heck (born October 30, 1961) is an American politician, physician, and retired United States Army Major general who served as the United States representative for Nevada's 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2017. Heck is a boa ...
, former state senator (
ran for NV-03 and won)
Polling
Results
Democratic primary
Candidates
Two Democratic candidates filed with the
Secretary of State of Nevada and qualified for the ballot.
Declared
* Frederick Conquest, anthropology professor
*
Rory Reid,
Clark County Clark County may refer to:
*Clark County, Arkansas
*Clark County, Idaho
*Clark County, Illinois
*Clark County, Indiana
*Clark County, Kansas
*Clark County, Kentucky
*Clark County, Missouri
*Clark County, Nevada, containing Las Vegas
*Clark County, ...
Commissioner and son of
Senate Majority Leader
The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and people of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as chief spokespersons for their respective political parties, holding the ...
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2 ...
Declined
*
Barbara Buckley, Speaker of the
Nevada Assembly
The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member distri ...
Polling
Results
Other candidates
Independents
Declared
* Eugene "Gino" DiSimone
* Aaron Y. Honig
Declined
*
Oscar Goodman,
Mayor of Las Vegas
Green
* David Scott Curtis
Independent American
* Floyd Fitzgibbons
Libertarian
* Arthur Forest Lampitt
General election
Predictions
Polling
With Gibbons
With Montandon
Results
By county
;Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
*
Clark (largest municipality:
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
)
See also
*
2010 United States gubernatorial elections
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 2, 2010, in 37 states (with a special election in Utah) and two territories. These elections coincided with the elections for the 2010 United States Senate elections, United States Senat ...
Notes
References
External links
Nevada Secretary of State – Election CenterNevada Governor Candidatesat
Project Vote Smart
Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...
Campaign contributions for 2010 Nevada Governorfrom ''Follow the Money''
from OurCampaigns.com
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Nevada Governorfrom ''
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...
''
2010 Nevada Governor Racefrom ''
Real Clear Politics
RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator. It was founded in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. It features selected politi ...
''
2010 Nevada Governor's Racefrom ''
CQ Politics
''Congressional Quarterly'', or ''CQ'', is an American publication that is part of the privately owned publishing company CQ Roll Call, which covers the United States Congress. ''CQ'' was formerly acquired by the U.K.-based The Economist Group, ...
''
Race Profilein ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''
Election 2010from ''
Vegas PBS''
Debate
Nevada Governor Debate ''
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
'', August 29, 2010 (57:49)
Nevada Governor Debate ''
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
'', October 7, 2010 (58:42)
{{United States elections, 2010
Gubernatorial
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
November 2010 in the United States