Election Day? Already?! (Sorry, couldn't resist)

“These are the pipes.” That was Trump’s rousing closing message for campaign 2026 yesterday, which he delivered from the reflecting pool while nattering on (and on) about his most beloved and tippy-top priority and passion: remodeling and arts and crafts projects. 

Southern Nevada’s three Republican congressional challengers might have hoped the president would have instead made a compelling case for Republican candidates. Then again, it’s too late for that. It’s not that their ships have sailed. Rather, those ships suffered the same fate as many other Republican congressional candidates across the country, and were sunk by Trump before they left port.

Meanwhile, the marquee Nevada Republican candidates of 2026 — Joe Lombardo and David Flippo — are still afloat. 

From the start, Lombardo’s gubernatorial political career wasn’t about any identifiable policy agenda. Rather, it was a Republican attempt to solve a Southern Nevada voter registration arithmetic problem. Perhaps Lombardo’s vestigial presence in, as he’s so fond of calling it, the “law enforcement space” will prompt voter-rich Clark County to nostalgically slip him into a second term. Perhaps not.

Flippo is an atrocious candidate. But that’s not the most important thing about him. The most important thing about him is that Trump passed over what was a sure-thing candidate who would have easily won the second congressional district, and instead endorsed Flippo the Atrocious. Given the Republican registration edge in CD2, the race — as the national rating outfits literally say — “leans” toward Flippo winning. But if he loses, make no mistake: the extra Nevada Democrat in the new House majority would never, ever have happened if not for Trump.

Anyway, I can never remember what the rule is — no election results may be publicly released until the last tax-dodging California jillionaire with a new “residence” on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe helicopters in to cast his vote? Something like that. 

Which is to say polls close in Nevada at 7 p.m., but it always seems like we don’t see results until … an annoying amount of time later. In any case your friendly Nevada Current will be posting results and other news here. In fact, we’ve already started.

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Reminder: For those of you voting today, the Nevada Current’s voter guide can be a big help with those mysterious down-ballot nonpartisan races.

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Another reminder: As you will recall if you think a bit, every year there are a few races that are too close to call on Tuesday night and the results aren’t known until later Wednesday. Or Thursday. Or Saturday ha ha. It’s happened with federal, state and local races. It’ll almost certainly happen again this week. Mail ballots sent through the post office, you see, will be counted if they are postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the election department no later than 5 p.m. on the fourth day after Election Day. Sometimes a race or two (or more) might be so close that mail ballots received within that window could make the difference, so we can’t know who won until they are counted.

Trump’s customary ranting and raving to the contrary notwithstanding, it is simply the process working in a fair and orderly manner.

IN THE NEVADA CURRENT

Nevada probably shouldn’t be a regulatory model tbh. When industries declare their love for how they’re regulated, that’s a big red flag. The Trump administration, always eager to put industries above humans, is pointing to Nevada regulations as a model for national safety regulations with regard to overheated workplaces. That’s a pretty good sized red flag, seeing as how if you look closely, one could argue Nevada doesn’t actually have workplace heat regulations. Jeniffer Solis reports: Trump administration touts NV worker heat protections as national model, analysis suggests otherwise

Early voting turnout has been setting records in a lot of states. Most of those states have competitive elections that will decide which party controls the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. Nevada isn’t really one of those, at least not this year. April Corbin Girnus reports: NV turnout so far on pace with last midterm, but may lag this year’s national record-setting trend

Since most of the rest of the country lives in the future (when it’s 4 o’clock here it’s 7 o’clock on the east coast), we should get plenty of fascinating election results from elsewhere to keep us entertained (and hopefully not saddened) while we wait for the aforementioned helicoptering California tech bro to parachute into a polling place. And here’s an overview of what might be in store, via the D.C. bureau:  As Election Day arrives, Democrats poised to see gains and pump brakes on Trump agenda

Good Luck