2010 Nevada gubernatorial election

See also: 2010 United States gubernatorial elections

The 2010 Nevada gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, to elect the governor of Nevada, 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.^[1][2][3] He struggled in the polls, and ultimately federal judge and former attorney general of Nevada Brian Sandoval secured the nomination. Sandoval defeated Democrat Rory Reid, son of then-current U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who won his fifth term in the Senate on the same ballot.

2010 Nevada gubernatorial election

← 2006 November 2, 2010 2014 →

Nominee Brian Sandoval Rory Reid Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 382,350 298,170 Percentage 53.36% 41.61%

County results Congressional district results[a] Sandoval:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Reid:      50–60%

Governor before election Jim Gibbons Republican Elected Governor Brian Sandoval Republican

Republican primary

Candidates

A total of five Republican candidates filed with the Secretary of State of Nevada and qualified for the ballot.^[4]

Declared

• Tony Atwood^[4]
• Jim Gibbons, incumbent governor^[4][5]
• Stan Lusak, perennial candidate^[4]
• Mike Montandon, Mayor of North Las Vegas^[4][6]
• Brian Sandoval, former judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada and former Nevada Attorney General^[4][7]

Withdrew

• Joe Heck, former state senator (ran for NV-03 and won)

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Jim Gibbons	Mike Montandon	Brian Sandoval	Undecided
Research 2000[8]	June 2, 2010	—	—	27%	6%	48%	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[9]	May 10–11, 2010	—	—	27%	6%	45%	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[10]	April 10, 2010	—	—	25%	7%	39%	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[11]	February 22–24, 2010	—	—	30%	9%	37%	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[12]	January 10, 2010	—	—	23%	7%	39%	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[13]	December 2009	—	—	18%	6%	39%	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[14]	October 8, 2009	—	—	20%	4%	41%	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[15]	August 21, 2009	—	—	17%	3%	33%	—

Results

Republican primary results by county:

Sandoval

•   60–70%
•   50–60%
•   40–50%

Gibbons

•   <40%

Republican primary results^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Sandoval	97,201	55.53%
	Republican	Jim Gibbons (incumbent)	47,616	27.20%
	Republican	Mike Montandon	22,003	12.57%
		None of These Candidates	4,400	2.51%
	Republican	Tony Atwood	2,440	1.39%
	Republican	Stan Lusak	1,380	0.79%
Total votes			175,040	100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Two Democratic candidates filed with the Secretary of State of Nevada and qualified for the ballot.^[4]

Declared

• Frederick Conquest, anthropology professor^[4]
• Rory Reid, Clark County Commissioner and son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid^[4][17]

Declined

• Barbara Buckley, Speaker of the Nevada Assembly^[18]

Polling

Hypothetical polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Barbara Buckley	Oscar Goodman	Rory Reid	Undecided
Mason Dixon/LVJR[15]	August 21, 2009	—	—	25%	34%	13%	—
		—	—	43%	—	22%	—

Results

Democratic primary results by county:

Reid

•   Reid—70–80%
•   Reid—60–70%
•   Reid—50–60%
•   Reid—40–50%
•   Reid—<40%

Conquest

•   Conquest—<40%

Democratic primary results^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rory Reid	80,162	70.08%
		None of These Candidates	17,454	15.26%
	Democratic	Frederick Conquest	16,775	14.66%
Total votes			114,391	100.00%

Other candidates

Independents

Declared

• Eugene "Gino" DiSimone^[4]
• Aaron Y. Honig^[4]

Declined

• Oscar Goodman, Mayor of Las Vegas^[19]

Green

• David Scott Curtis^[4]

Independent American

• Floyd Fitzgibbons^[4]

Libertarian

• Arthur Forest Lampitt^[4]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Cook Political Report[20]	Likely R	October 14, 2010
Rothenberg[21]	Safe R	October 28, 2010
RealClearPolitics[22]	Likely R	November 1, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball[23]	Likely R	October 28, 2010
CQ Politics[24]	Tossup	October 28, 2010

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Brian Sandoval (R)	Rory Reid (D)	Other	Undecided
Rasmussen Reports[25]	October 5, 2010	—	—	59%	41%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[25]	September 28, 2010	—	—	49%	40%	—	—
Public Opinion Strategies[26]	September 21–23, 2010	—	—	45%	39%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[25]	September 21, 2010	—	—	49%	35%	—	—
CNN/Time Magazine[27]	September 10–14, 2010	—	—	58%	31%	—	—
Reuters/Ipsos[28]	September 10–12, 2010	—	—	60%	31%	—	—
Mason-Dixon[29]	September 9, 2010	—	—	52%	36%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[25]	September 1, 2010	750	± 4%	58%	33%	2%	7%
Mason-Dixon[30]	August 23–25, 2010	—	—	53%	31%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[31]	August 16, 2010	750	± 4%	52%	36%	3%	8%
Mason-Dixon[32]	August 11, 2010	—	—	52%	36%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[33]	July 27, 2010	750	± 4%	50%	40%	6%	4%
Public Policy Polling[34]	July 16–18, 2010	—	—	52%	38%	—	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[35]	July 12–14, 2010	—	—	47%	36%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[36]	July 12, 2010	750	± 4%	57%	36%	3%	4%
Rasmussen Reports[37]	June 22, 2010	500	± 4.5%	55%	33%	8%	4%
Rasmussen Reports[38]	June 9, 2010	500	± 4.5%	54%	31%	3%	13%
Research 2000[8]	June 2, 2010	—	—	51%	41%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[39]	April 27, 2010	500	± 4.5%	53%	35%	12%	3%
Mason Dixon/LVJR[11]	April 10, 2010	—	—	50%	35%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[33]	March 31, 2010	500	± 4.5%	55%	34%	6%	4%
Rasmussen Reports[33]	March 3, 2010	500	± 4.5%	53%	35%	7%	5%
Mason Dixon/LVJR[11]	February 22–24, 2010	—	—	51%	29%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[40]	February 3, 2010	500	± 4.5%	45%	33%	11%	12%
Mason Dixon/LVJR[41]	January 10, 2010	—	—	53%	31%	—	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[13]	December 4, 2009	—	—	49%	35%	—	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[14]	October 8, 2009	—	—	50%	33%	—	—

Hypothetical polling

With Gibbons

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Jim Gibbons (R)	Rory Reid (D)	Other	Undecided
Research 2000[8]	June 2, 2010	—	—	31%	52%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[39]	April 27, 2010	500	± 4.5%	37%	47%	12%	3%
Mason Dixon/LVJR[11]	April 10, 2010	—	—	40%	42%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[33]	March 31, 2010	500	± 4.5%	45%	43%	8%	4%
Rasmussen Reports[33]	March 3, 2010	500	± 4.5%	36%	44%	15%	4%
Mason Dixon/LVJR[11]	February 22–24, 2010	—	—	38%	42%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[40]	February 3, 2010	500	± 4.5%	35%	44%	13%	8%
Mason Dixon/LVJR[42]	December 2009	—	—	34%	48%	—	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[14]	October 8, 2009	—	—	37%	49%	—	—
Mason Dixon/LVJR[43]	August 21, 2009	—	—	35%	47%	—	—

With Montandon

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Mike Montandon (R)	Rory Reid (D)	Other	Undecided
Research 2000[8]	June 2, 2010	—	—	40%	43%	—	—
Rasmussen Reports[39]	April 27, 2010	500	± 4.5%	45%	39%	9%	8%
Rasmussen Reports[39]	March 31, 2010	500	± 4.5%	45%	38%	9%	8%
Rasmussen Reports[39]	March 3, 2010	500	± 4.5%	42%	37%	13%	8%
Rasmussen Reports[40]	February 3, 2010	500	± 4.5%	36%	40%	14%	10%

Results

Nevada gubernatorial election, 2010^[44]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Brian Sandoval	382,350	53.36%	+5.44%
	Democratic	Rory Reid	298,171	41.61%	−2.31%
		None of These Candidates	12,231	1.71%	−1.85%
	Independent	Eugene DiSimone	6,403	0.89%	+0.89%
	Independent American	Floyd Fitzgibbons	5,049	0.70%	−2.73%
	Libertarian	Arthur Forest Lampitt, Jr.	4,672	0.65%	+0.65%
	Green	David Scott Curtis	4,437	0.62%	−0.54%
	Independent	Aaron Y. Honig	3,216	0.45%	+0.45%
Majority			84,179	11.75%
Total votes			716,529	100.00%
	Republican hold		Swing	+7.74%

By county

County	Brian Sandoval Republican		Rory Reid Democratic		None of These Candidates		Eugene DiSimone Independent		Floyd Fitzgibbons Independent American		Arthur Forest Lampitt Jr. Libertarian		David Scott Curtis Green		Aaron Y. Honig Independent		Margin		Total votes cast[44]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Carson City	11,512	59.06%	6,676	34.25%	511	2.62%	267	1.37%	208	1.07%	115	0.59%	132	0.68%	71	0.36%	4,836	24.81%	19,492
Churchill	6,586	74.19%	1,697	19.12%	167	1.88%	117	1.32%	145	1.63%	60	0.68%	57	0.64%	48	0.54%	4,889	55.07%	8,877
Clark	224,751	48.61%	217,113	46.96%	7,008	1.52%	3,598	0.78%	2,347	0.51%	2,837	0.61%	2,547	0.55%	2,171	0.47%	7,638	1.65%	462,372
Douglas	15,001	69.10%	5,345	24.62%	396	1.82%	328	1.51%	231	1.06%	139	0.64%	192	0.88%	76	0.35%	9,656	44.48%	21,708
Elko	9,489	73.97%	2,194	17.10%	321	2.50%	159	1.24%	394	3.07%	102	0.80%	99	0.77%	71	0.55%	7,295	56.86%	12,829
Esmeralda	289	72.61%	48	12.06%	20	5.03%	6	1.51%	11	2.76%	12	3.02%	7	1.76%	5	1.26%	241	60.55%	398
Eureka	597	78.97%	76	10.05%	31	4.10%	9	1.19%	20	2.65%	12	1.59%	10	1.32%	1	0.13%	521	68.92%	756
Humboldt	3,564	71.61%	994	19.97%	120	2.41%	84	1.69%	116	2.33%	50	1.00%	23	0.46%	26	0.52%	2,570	51.64%	4,977
Lander	1,449	76.42%	277	14.61%	61	3.22%	28	1.48%	33	1.74%	16	0.84%	20	1.05%	12	0.63%	1,172	61.81%	1,896
Lincoln	1,381	70.93%	380	19.52%	72	3.70%	17	0.87%	48	2.47%	26	1.34%	12	0.62%	11	0.56%	1,001	51.41%	1,947
Lyon	11,937	68.46%	4,331	24.84%	340	1.95%	226	1.30%	266	1.53%	113	0.65%	139	0.80%	85	0.49%	7,606	43.62%	17,437
Mineral	1,136	59.88%	556	29.31%	89	4.69%	36	1.90%	43	2.27%	10	0.53%	18	0.95%	9	0.47%	580	30.57%	1,897
Nye	8,829	61.49%	4,224	29.42%	289	2.01%	221	1.54%	349	2.43%	206	1.43%	144	1.00%	97	0.68%	4,605	32.07%	14,359
Pershing	1,140	65.86%	396	22.88%	85	4.91%	32	1.85%	42	2.43%	10	0.58%	11	0.64%	15	0.87%	744	42.98%	1,731
Storey	1,355	63.70%	615	28.91%	53	2.49%	35	1.65%	26	1.22%	14	0.66%	22	1.03%	7	0.33%	740	34.79%	2,127
Washoe	81,073	57.72%	52,730	37.54%	2,555	1.82%	1,156	0.82%	685	0.49%	811	0.58%	970	0.69%	488	0.35%	28,343	20.18%	140,468
White Pine	2,261	69.40%	519	15.93%	113	3.47%	84	2.58%	85	2.61%	139	4.27%	34	1.04%	23	0.71%	1,742	53.47%	3,258
Totals	382,350	53.36%	298,171	41.61%	12,231	1.71%	6,403	0.89%	5,049	0.70%	4,672	0.65%	4,437	0.62%	3,216	0.45%	84,179	11.75%	716,529

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Clark (largest municipality: Las Vegas)

See also

• 2010 United States gubernatorial elections

Notes

1. Only top two candidates