Since 2011, just 15 percent of legislators were more likely to vote toward the middle of the ideological spectrum in a given session than toward the farthest left or right.

La Rue Hatch is a fourth generation Nevadan. She grew up on a ranch near Pyramid Lake, drove an hour to school every morning and spent weekends rounding up cattle.

With the primary election dust starting to settle, legislative race results began to shed light on which candidates will be in the spotlight come November.

Even with more than half of their members not returning to the Legislature, Assembly Republicans are feeling confident heading toward the 2023 session that they can capture more seats.

Nevada’s congressional incumbents led their respective fields in fundraising during the first quarter of a contentious midterm election year, even as several Republican challengers made major strides.

The governor’s office announced on Thursday the launch of a $30 million community grant program using American Rescue Plan funds that will deliver money directly to Nevada nonprofits to be used for relief services as early as February.

Of the 63 newly drawn districts, only four place incumbents against one another. Almost half of those eight incumbents, however, are either termed out or not planning on running for reelection.

On Monday, a spokesperson for Sisolak confirmed that the governor plans to sign the bill into law, calling them “fair maps that represent Nevada’s diversity and reflect public feedback.”

Opposition to the proposed maps came from Republican lawmakers, upset at the prospect of a decade-long stay in the political wilderness, and advocates who said the maps divide many communities of interest.

The new boundaries would give 14 of the 21 state Senate districts and 27 of the 42 Assembly districts a voter registration advantage for Democrats over Republicans of more than 4.5 percent.

Assemblywoman Jill Tolles (R-Reno) will not run for re-election to her Northern Nevada seat in 2022, making her the ninth of 16 Republican Assembly members who have announced or are mulling not returning to their positions for the 2023 session.

Nevada students said they felt the need to lobby for more inclusive instructional materials after discovering a slew of events they had not learned about in their U.S. History classes. 

Democrats controlled both houses of the Legislature during the 2021 session, and hundreds of high-profile Democratic measures sailed through the Assembly and Senate while a vast majority of Republican-backed measures failed to make much headway in the legislative process.

From permanent expanded mail voting to the state public health option, the 2021 Legislature saw no shortage of headline-grabbing partisan disagreements — but a look at actual vote totals reveals that the vast majority of bills were passed with at least some bipartisan buy-in.

The final deal was sealed up in a Sunday morning meeting in the state Capitol — all four legislative leaders, budget committee chairs and top Republicans on those committees (Sen. Ben Kieckhefer and Assemblywoman Jill Tolles) met with Gov. Steve Sisolak and his staff, agreeing to the rough contours of the “deal” to pass the mining tax with enough Republican votes in tow.

“At a time when State legislatures across the country are attempting to roll back access to the polls, I am so proud that Nevada continues to push forward with proven strategies that make voting more accessible and secure,” Sisolak said in a statement.

Lawmakers ended the 81st session of the Legislature on Monday night passing dozens of high-profile measures but many others, including an effort to license midwives and a bill allowing casinos to prohibit firearms, failed to advance.

The deal involved a complicated trade of bills — including commitments to kill certain bills and pass others — and some challenges reining in the multiplying requests of lawmakers being courted for votes.

During the final week of the legislative session, budget committees have introduced several bills aimed at providing more financial flexibility for legislative priorities — measures sometimes derided as budget “gimmicks” aimed at freeing up tens of millions of dollars to help balance the budget.

Nevada lawmakers stand poised to vote out dozens of bills banning ghost guns, changing criminal justice procedures including bail and a host of other measures affecting education, cannabis and health care heading into one of the final major bill passage deadlines of the session.