Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Governor signs bills redrawing Nevada voting boundaries

Nevada State Legislature Building

Ricardo Torres-Cortez

The Nevada legislative building is shown in Carson City Friday, April 2, 2021.

Updated Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021 | 4:23 p.m.

Gov. Steve Sisolak today signed bills redrawing voting boundaries for Nevada legislative, congressional and state Board of Education races.

“After a thoughtful, efficient and productive session, I am proud to sign these bills into law today,” Sisolak said. “These maps reflect Nevada’s diversity and reflect public feedback gathered throughout the legislative process."

The Democratic-majority Assembly today passed a bill 25-17 along party lines, except for Assemblyman Edgar Flores, D-Las Vegas, who voted against it. The vote wrapped up a five-day special session of the Legislature.

The state Senate, also controlled by Democrats, passed a bill Sunday, despite concerns from minority communities that it could weaken the minority vote with changes in the 1st Congressional District, which is heavily Latino.

The district, represented by Democrat Dina Titus, contains more than twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. The realignment is expected to favor Democrats by shifting some of those voters to the swingy 3rd and 4th districts.

The Assembly heard today from a number of Republican lawmakers who opposed the bill.

“These maps do not represent the increasingly diverse populations that have emerged over the past decade in Nevada, the need for unity in political subdivisions and communities of interest or the concerns of Republicans and the increasing number of nonpartisans across our state,” Republican Assemblywoman Jill Tolles said.

Democratic Assemblywoman Brittney Miller, chairwoman of the Assembly Select Committee on Redistricting and Elections, defended the bill, saying it keeps local communities together and maintains representation for rural and northern Nevada.

“These maps keep tribal communities together,” Miller said. “These maps reflect Nevada’s increasing racial and ethnic diversity. These maps strive to protect and expand the voting power of African American and Hispanic Nevadans, while increasing opportunity for representation for Nevada's emerging and growing (Asian American and Pacific Islander) population in the coming decades.”

The Princeton Gerrymandering Project, which publishes redistricting report cards for each state, said the new maps in Nevada lean in favor of Democrats. With the new congressional maps, for example, Democrats have and edge in three of the four seats, with none of them competitive, which means the Democratic and Republican voting percentages are between 46.5% and 53.5%. Only three of the 21 state Senate districts are labeled as competitive under the new redistricting, and of the 42 state Assembly districts, only five are competitive.

Despite the advantages that Democrats are expected to have with the new boundaries, Republicans are still hopeful of winning seats in the Legislature and Congress.

"Every House Democrat in Nevada is vulnerable," Torunn Sinclair, spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a email.

In Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin, for example, won the governor's race despite Biden having won the state in 2020 by 10 points. In Nevada, Biden won Nevada's new districts by 7 to 9 points, Sinclair said.

"Voters want nothing to do with Democrats’ massive tax hikes and reckless spending that has caused the price of goods to skyrocket," Sinclair said