With some mail-in ballots remaining to be processed, unofficial results posted Wednesday, Nov. 9 on the Nevada Secretary of State website showed Derek Foremaster with a significant lead over Sgt. Chase Dirks, 54.24% to 45.76%.
Each candidate has over 20 years of experience at the sheriff’s office, with Foremaster retiring in 2020 and Dirks still there.
Before the primaries, Foremaster received an endorsement from the Lincoln County Law Enforcement Association, a first in the union’s history.
In other contested races, Republican Janine Woodworth held 78.24% of the vote over Democrat Ron Hibble to represent District B on the County Commission.
Incumbent Ann Smith looked poised to win another two-year term on the Lincoln County School District Board of Trustees. Smith led Mary Jo Shearer 53.15% to 46.85%. District B incumbent Carol Hansen was behind in her re-election bid to Andy Free, who held 57.05% of the vote.
On the Caliente City Council, incumbents Tommy Rowe and Joe Livreri were holding off challenges from Keith Larson and Eve Whittle. Wednesday’s results showed Rowe with 185 votes, Livreri with 154, Larson with 145 and Whittle with 119. The top two finishers will be elected to seats on the council.
Meanwhile, many statewide results remained too close to call the day following the election, primarily due to the number of mail-in ballots remaining to be processed, particularly in Clark County. Any mailed ballot postmarked by Nov. 8 and received by Nov. 12 is to be counted.
With 77% of votes in, Republican Joe Lombardo led Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak 50.6% to 45.8% in the governor’s race. For the U.S. Senate, Republican Adam Laxalt led Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto 49.9% to 47.2%. Incumbent Democrat Steven Horsford held a 52% to 48% lead over Republican challenger Sam Peters for District 4 of the U.S. House. Whether those leads hold remains to be seen as election officials continue processing votes.
County commissioners are required to canvas the election returns by Nov. 18.
County voters heavily favored Republican candidates on the ballot, giving them between 75 and 85% of the local vote.
Local turnout was at around 72%.
Election results are updated routinely at https://silverstateelection.nv.gov/