On the Republican presidential primary calendar, Iowa’s caucuses and New Hampshire come first. Now it’s onto Nevada for the Republican party.
The presidential process operates differently depending on the state. As we’ll see in Nevada, a previous governor and the GOP in the state have created a unique structure. This is vital to take into account when looking at betting markets at the top sportsbooks for politics.
In Nevada, there is both a primary and a caucus. The meaningfulness of the primary and the caucus is also something that Nevada’s GOP has had an influence in shaping in response to previous actions of the state’s governor.
As for the Democratic party, it began its primary election calendar in New Hampshire with a presidential primary. South Carolina is next on the DNC’s calendar with a presidential primary on February 3.
Whereas Nevada has both a primary and a caucus for the Republican side, Democrats in the state only rely on a primary, which takes place for both parties on February 6.
Here is your political guide to the primary and caucus in Nevada. Don’t forget to check out our 5 tips for betting on politics.
The Nevada Republican presidential primary has long been fraught with conflict over the prospect of holding two contests in one week, two days apart, with different outcomes.
Now, many voters are signaling that they’re confused — and angry. https://t.co/lZelSFCeY3
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 2, 2024
Origin of the November 6 Primary
Nevada’s state law requires there to be a primary. This is a consequence of a series of measures passed in 2021 by Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, who was the state’s governor that year.
His party was particularly keen on issues of voter participation and voting access. Democrats, unlike Republicans, are inclined to expand both. Fittingly, Republicans in Nevada objected to the conception of the state’s primary.
Whenever Democrats talk about expanding voter participation and voting access, Republicans raise concerns about election security and election fraud, and that is exactly what happened.
They couldn’t do anything, however, to stop the governor of the state from establishing the measures that he did.
And so we have the state-run primary, which takes place on November 6 for both parties.
Nevada Primary Details
Nevada is a closed primary state. This means that Democrats will vote in the Democratic party’s primary and Republicans will vote in the Republican party’s primary.
Nevadans’ voter registration forms establish which party they belong to. Note that this rules out independents.
This exclusion of independents is not unique to Nevada. It touches upon concerns with crossover voting, which is where Democrats vote in Republican primaries or Republicans vote in Democratic primaries.
Who’s On the Democratic Primary Ballot?
On the Democratic primary ballot, you’ll find current president Joe Biden‘s name. But then you’ll find a list of rather unknown challengers.
Dean Phillips, who has been Biden’s most vocal challenger within the Democratic party, will not appear on the ballot.
If you’re an Independent or unaffiliated voter in Nevada, you can still vote for me in the primary next Tuesday by becoming a Democrat for a day! Register online or at any polling place. Spread the word… pic.twitter.com/hSm9svKDgM
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) February 1, 2024
Varying Levels of Significance
The primary election is Nevada means everything to the Democratic party because Democrats decided, especially after reporting issues in the 2020 Nevada caucuses, to have the primary in the state decide which candidate gets the delegates.
In this state, for the Democrats only, 49 delegates will be awarded to the winner of the primary, which is the candidate that has received the greatest number of votes. While the Republicans have to conform to the state’s establishment of a primary, they do not have to attach significance to the primary results.
The Republican Party in Nevada maintains control over how it rewards its delegates to the victorious candidate. Republicans in the state have decided, in a kind of protest, to attach zero significance to the Nevada primary results.
The primary in Nevada has merely symbolic significance if you could even call it that, for Republicans.
The Caucus
Republicans in the state determined to use a caucus to award delegates. A caucus in a state is run by a specific political party, as opposed to the primary, which is run by the state.
The state’s caucus takes place on February 8, two days after the primary. It is harder to vote in a caucus in that there are greater restrictions placed on voters. For example, voters will have a much more limited window, time-wise, in which they must be physically present.
However, the security of the caucus in Nevada is solid. Ballots will be paper only, and voter ID will be required. We see here the response to Republicans’ concerns surrounding the security of the 2020 presidential election.
Who’s On the Ballots?
In Nevada, a presidential candidate can appear on a primary ballot or on a caucus ballot, but not on both.
Not knowing this, many Republican voters in the state will be confused as to why Biden’s primary challenger, Donald Trump, is not on the primary ballot.
Only Nikki Haley, Trump’s only remaining challenger of note, is on Nevada’s primary ballot.
Trump’s name will appear on the caucus ballot. He told his supporters in the state to worry only about the caucus.
Here, he is considered a shoe-in to sweep the state’s 26 delegates. Only Ryan Binkley is joining Trump on the caucus ballot.
Registered Republicans can vote, though, in both the primary and the caucus. Regarding the former, they are able to select “none of these candidates,” which is a formidable contestant for Haley, given her unpopularity among Trump supporters.
