The 2016 United States Senate election in Nevada was held November 8, 2016 to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Nevada, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The state primary election was held June 14, 2016.
Incumbent Democratic Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Minority Leader and former Senate Majority Leader, initially said he would seek re-election to a sixth term, but announced on March 26, 2015, that he would retire instead.
Former Democratic State Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto defeated Republican U.S. Representative Joe Heck in the general election on November 8, 2016. Heck won sixteen of the state's seventeen counties; however, since Cortez Masto won Clark County, which comprises nearly three-quarters of the state's population, she defeated Heck statewide by almost 27,000 votes, and became the first female and first Latina Senator in Nevada's history.
As of 2022, this would be the last time Washoe County voted for a Republican Senate candidate.
Democratic primary
Candidates
Declared
Catherine Cortez Masto, former Nevada Attorney General
Bobby Mahendra
Liddo Susan O'Briant, instructional assistant
Allen Rheinhart, Black Lives Matter activist and candidate for governor in 2014
Withdrew
Harry Reid, incumbent U.S. Senator
Declined
Shelley Berkley, former U.S. Representative and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2012 Lucy Flores, former state assemblywoman and nominee for lieutenant governor in 2014 (lost primary for NV-04) Steven Horsford, former U.S. Representative John Lee, Mayor of North Las Vegas, former state senator and candidate for NV-04 in 2012 Kate Marshall, former state treasurer of Nevada, nominee for Nevada's 2nd congressional district in 2011 and nominee for Secretary of State of Nevada in 2014 Ross Miller, former secretary of state of Nevada and nominee for Nevada Attorney General in 2014 Rory Reid, former Clark County Commissioner, nominee for governor in 2010 and son of U.S. Senator Harry Reid Steve Sisolak, chairman of the Clark County Commission Dina Titus, U.S. Representative and nominee for Governor of Nevada in 2006 (running for re-election)
Democratic endorsements
Results
Republican primary
Candidates
Declared
Sharron Angle, former state assemblywoman, nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2010 and candidate for NV-02 in 2006 D'Nese Davis, artist and teacher Eddie Hamilton, retired auto executive and perennial candidate Joe Heck, U.S. Representative Thomas "Sad Tom" Heck, retired air force officer Robert Leeds, author, retired Merchant Marine and perennial candidate Carlo "Mazunga" Poliak, retired sanitation worker and perennial candidate Juston Preble, sales consultant Bill Tarbell, retired minister and candidate for governor in 2014
Withdrawn
Bob Beers, Las Vegas City Councilman, former state senator and candidate for governor in 2006
Declined
Mark Amodei, U.S. Representative (running for re-election) Greg Brower, state senator and former United States Attorney for the District of Nevada Barbara Cegavske, Secretary of State of Nevada, former state senator and candidate for NV-04 in 2012 Heidi Gansert, former state assemblywoman and former chief of staff to Governor Brian Sandoval Cresent Hardy, U.S. Representative (lost re-election to NV-04) Steve Hill, executive director of the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development Mark Hutchison, Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and former state senator Ron Knecht, Nevada State Controller, former regent of the University of Nevada, Reno and former state assemblyman Brian Krolicki, former lieutenant governor of Nevada Adam Laxalt, Nevada Attorney General Michael Roberson, Majority Leader of the Nevada Senate (running for NV-03) Wayne Allyn Root, former member of the Libertarian National Committee and Libertarian Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in 2008 Brian Sandoval, Governor of Nevada Dan Schwartz, state treasurer and candidate for NV-04 in 2012
Endorsements
Polling
Results
Independent American primary
Candidates
Declared
Tom Jones, retired businessman and perennial candidate
Libertarian primary
Candidates
Declined
Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch (running for the State Senate)