Nevada Republican Party

The Nevada Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in Nevada. The organization has a history that goes back to 1864. The party currently controls Nevada's governorship, controllership, and lieutenant governorship, which are currently held by Joe Lombardo, Andy Matthews, and Stavros Anthony respectively.

Nevada was founded as a state on October 31, 1864. When the state was first formed it was a Republican state. Some speculate that this was because of Nevadans' loyalty to the president who brought them into the Union, Abraham Lincoln. In the first two general elections all the constitutionally elected positions went to the Republicans. This changed starting in 1871 when four out of the six constitutional positions were won by the Democrats.

In the general elections of 1894 and 1898 the Silver Party, a party created to go against European and Eastern American bankers, swept the election. Nevada first held a primary election in 1910. In 1929 the offices were split evenly between the Democratic and Republican Parties. This was the turning point though. Once the Great Depression hit the elections from 1932 to the 1990s the Democratic Party held the majority throughout the state.

In 1994 and in 1998 the Republicans were the majority in the state. In 2002 Republicans swept all of the offices in Nevada. In the 2004 election Nevada was considered a battleground state because the difference between the two parties that year was 4,431. Throughout much of Nevada's political history it has been seen as a battleground state. Since 1992 the state has gone back and forth between Republican and Democratic candidates for the presidency. In the elections of 1992 and 1996 the state voted for the Democratic candidate, in 2000 and 2004 they voted for the Republican candidate, and finally in the 2008 election the state voted for the Democrats. This is primarily because of the rise of the Latino population. Nevada was expected to be a battleground state in the presidential election in 2012 as well.

On June 23, 2018, President Donald Trump addressed the 2018 Nevada Republican Party State Convention in Las Vegas.

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, the Nevada GOP supported Donald Trump's false claims of fraud and attempts to overturn the election results in the state after Joe Biden was declared the victor. On November 3, 2020, the state GOP and the Trump campaign attempted to slow down the processing of mail-in ballots in Clark County, claiming that the county wasn't abiding by state law in allowing people to observe the processing of ballots. Soon after, Nevada Republicans made false claims surrounding the results in the county.

On November 5, the Nevada Republican Party alleged "at least 3,062 instances of voter fraud". Republican lawyers released a list of over 3,000 people who allegedly did not live in Clark County, Nevada, when they voted. However, these were not proven to be illegal votes, because Nevada (a) allows for people who moved states 30 days before the election to vote in Nevada's election, and (b) allows people studying in colleges in another state to vote in Nevada's election. Additionally, the list featured military members who were overseas and voted by mail.

On November 17, 2020, Nevada Republican representatives of the Trump campaign asked a judge to nullify Biden's 33,596-vote margin, and simply declare Trump the winner and his electors elected, citing unsubstantiated claims of fraud. However, on November 24, the Nevada Supreme Court certified Biden as the winner of the state. On December 4, 2020, the Nevada GOP vowed to appeal the certification of Biden's victory and overturn his win in the state. On December 14, hours after Nevada's six electors cast the state's electoral votes for Biden, Nevada Republican electors unofficially cast their symbolic votes for Trump. The Nevada GOP expressed support for the unofficial electors and alleged that there was fraud in the Nevada election.