Democrats are gearing up for another hard-fought Senate race in Nevada next cycle after the state narrowly decided who would control the upper chamber in the midterms. 

Last year, Democrats were able to retain Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-Nev.) seat by less than a point but lost the governor’s mansion after former Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo ousted incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak (D). 

With Democrat Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Mark Kelly of Arizona projected by Decision Desk HQ to keep their seats, the Democrats are poised to retain control of the Senate.

Democrats are now better positioned to pass a slew of policies, including potentially codifying Roe v. Wade, or getting rid of the filibuster.

“(This is) absolutely huge news because of the overall effect,” The Hill’s Niall Stanage said on NewsNation Saturday night. “Democrats hold the Senate. That was not anticipated before Tuesday.”

Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto will win reelection in Nevada, CNN projects, clinching a critical victory that will allow Democrats to keep control of the US Senate.

Cortez Masto had long been viewed as one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents as she fended off a challenge from former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt in a state whose economy had been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation.

Democrats kept control of the Senate on Saturday after Catherine Cortez Masto won re-election in Nevada, repelling Republican efforts to retake the chamber.

The Associated Press called Nevada for Cortez Masto on Saturday, projecting that Republican opponent Adam Laxalt—backed by former president Donald Trump—could not make enough gains to win in one of the most competitive races of the midterm elections.

Democrats will keep control of the Senate due to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-NV) narrow election victory against Republican Adam Laxalt, the Associated Press projected on Saturday evening. 

The race results come after several days of delayed mail-in ballot counting — Cortez Masto secured a win with just under 5,000 votes by the time the Associated Press called the race, with 48.7 percent for Cortez Masto and 48.2 percent for former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt. 

Nevada’s Clark County on Thursday hit back at former President Trump’s claims that the local voting system was “corrupt” amid the tense wait for results on the state’s Senate seat.

Trump’s favored Republican nominee Adam Laxalt is slightly ahead of Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada as of Thursday, but Clark County election officials say the ballot counting process in the state’s largest county could drag into next week. 

The slow pace of counting mail ballots in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin was a key source of election disinformation in 2020. The delays provided President Trump and his allies with a pretext to claim that the election was being stolen from them as mail ballots, which overwhelmingly went for Biden, were counted and added to vote totals. “We were winning everything, and all of a sudden it was just called off,” Trump complained. “This is a fraud on the American public.” 

Election officials in the largest county in Nevada said Wednesday that ballot counting will continue through next week, though the majority of 2022 ballots could be counted by Friday, as the nation anxiously awaits election results for the state’s Senate seat.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said in a news conference that Tuesday, Nov. 15, is the deadline to verify mail-in ballots and Thursday, Nov. 17, is the latest date for releasing the final, unofficial election results.

Where were you when the great Bush v. Gore controversy began?