In spite of Laxalt’s head start on the airwaves, and in spite of warnings that commissioners like Sisolak are unelectable because they deal daily in a world of contracts and campaign donations that can look unseemly, Sisolak defeated Laxalt by four points, or almost 40,000 votes. How?

Female candidates were historically successful at the ballot box once the dust settled on a long Election Night, with a possible female majority in the Legislature on the horizon and women faring better than male candidates in key races.

Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak defeated Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt in an intensely hard-fought race to replace Gov. Brian Sandoval, ushering a Democrat into the Nevada governor’s mansion for the first time in 20 years.

On the eve of the election, a lineup of Republican candidates had crowded into a Las Vegas campaign office to fire up staff and volunteers as TV cameras rolled. Their chants of “Adam! Adam!” and predictions that they’d be turning Nevada red on Tuesday came as early voting returns show about 22,000 more Democrats than Republicans statewide have cast ballots early.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Sisolak has reported receiving $10,000 in campaign contributions from companies and people affiliated with incarcerated sports bettor and Las Vegas developer Billy Walters. According to a campaign finance report filed by Sisolak on Friday, the Clark County Commission chairman received nine separate $10,000 contributions from entities that all listed the same address as The Walters Group, which is run by Billy Walters, as well as a separate $10,000 contribution from his wife Susan Walters. The contributions made up about 7 percent of the $1.4 million Sisolak reported raising over the pre-election contributions report, which covers Oct. 13 to Nov. 1.

Laxalt did not issue a press release announcing his involvement in the Washington case, and it has not been previously reported. Laxalt’s campaign did not answer an inquiry Monday about whether he would propose or support a law enshrining conscience protections in Nevada if elected governor.

An Eastern European businessman who made headlines for his links to a large contribution to a pro-Donald Trump Super PAC has contributed maximum donations to Republican candidates for governor and attorney general.

The two men seeking to hold the highest elected office in Nevada are a study in contrasts, and their race for the open seat held by termed-out Gov. Brian Sandoval is rated the closest governor’s contest in the nation. “I wouldn't even say we're guardedly optimistic. I would say we're very guarded,” said the AFL-CIO’s Rusty McAllister, whose groups are supporting Sisolak. “These races are extremely close.”

Independent gubernatorial candidate Ryan Bundy is running a radio ad slamming Republican gubernatorial hopeful Adam Laxalt for supporting “red flag” gun laws

The ad is a collection of previous attacks made on Sisolak regarding his stances on taxes. In particular, the ad targets a statement Sisolak made to supporters earlier this year where he said, “one of the ways we’re going to have to pay for it, and people don’t want to hear it, is property taxes.”

Deciding whether to protect or dismantle the Affordable Care Act is increasingly being left up to individual states as Congress appears unlikely to take action on the health-care law in the near future and the federal government has refused to defend it in court, meaning that Nevada’s next governor is likely to play a critical role in shaping the future of health-care policy. Republicans who have long opposed the Affordable Care Act — including some who actually voted against it or backed repealing it — have suddenly advocated for the law’s protections for pre-existing conditions this election cycle.

Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt has largely stayed out of a fray about whether to give students more recourse if they’re subject to a predatory lender, even as hundreds of Nevada students who attended shuttered for-profit colleges have unresolved claims for debt relief and as attorneys general in other states have filed several lawsuits trying to boost borrower protections.

This new 30-second ad features Laxalt’s wife, Jaime, who says, “I’m sure glad this race is almost over.” She lists some of her husband’s accomplishments as attorney general, including working “with both parties to fix the rape kit problem that others had ignored.”

Nevada candidates in statewide races were boosted by more than $27.2 million in reported spending by outside political action committees over the last four months, according to campaign finance records reviewed by The Nevada Independent. More than two dozen political action committees registered with the Nevada secretary of state’s office reported raising just over $34 million and spending $33.9 million over the past 10 months primarily in the state’s gubernatorial race between Republican Adam Laxalt and Democrat Steve Sisolak.

“It’s really a choice between tax cuts and tax hikes. It’s a choice between stronger borders and open borders,” Pence said. “It’s a choice between a stronger military and greater respect in the world and more military cuts. It’s a choice between independence and dependence."

The 30-second spot attacks Sisolak’s support of a single-payer health-care system, or systems where taxes fund essential health-care services such as in Canada or the U.K. It first calls the proposal a “massive federal takeover of our health-care system” before showing footage of Sisolak telling supporters “yeah” when asked if he backed single-payer.

The 15-second ad features Washoe County Sheriff Deputies Association President Cameron Wagner accusing Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt of “using his office to help contributors,” and of running “outright lies” in campaign ads that have accused Sisolak of being investigated by the FBI.

The ad features Deisy Castro, a DREAMer who was able to get a teaching license because of a law Gov. Brian Sandoval signed. She tells how she arrived in the U.S. at age 4 and now teaches children with autism.

During his campaign for governor, Democratic candidate Steve Sisolak has sought to tie himself closely to the Las Vegas Golden Knights, releasing at least two ads featuring the team including one featuring a padded-up Clark County Commission chairman taking to the ice and driving a Zamboni. But behind the scenes, Golden Knights owner Bill Foley has quietly become a major donor to Republican causes and candidates in Nevada — including a substantial amount to Sisolak’s general election opponent, Adam Laxalt.

The poll, which was heavily weighted towards registered voters over the age of 50 who are likely to vote in the upcoming election, found 44 percent of voters were likely to support Republican Sen. Dean Heller compared to 43 percent supporting Democratic challenger Jacky Rosen, with 10 percent undecided. The poll found a similar narrow margin in the state’s gubernatorial race, with 44 percent of voters supporting Republican Adam Laxalt and 41 percent backing Democrat Steve Sisolak, with 10 percent undecided and 5 percent supporting another choice or neither candidate.