Feature image by Trevor Bexon
Washoe County, notoriously a swing county in a swing state, has officially gone from having a Republican voter registration advantage to a Democratic advantage for the first time since 2010.
Statistics from the Washoe County Registrar of Voter’s office show voters registered as Democrats now top registered Republicans in the county. It was something that many Nevada Democrats, Democratic candidates and local Democratic activists have been waiting a long time to see.
The surge included a number of Democratic and voter registration additions along with registered party switches that have occurred in conjunction with the Nevada caucus in February. Nevada Democrats have seen major gains in Clark County as well.
“Following a successful First in the West Caucus in which nearly 17,000 Nevadans registered as Democrats across early voting and Caucus Day, Democrats are now on track to outnumber Republicans among registered voters in swing Washoe County adding to the already embarrassing relegation of Republicans to a third party equivalent in Clark County,” said the Nevada Democratic Party in a statement earlier this month.
Their prediction that the county would turn politically blue was confirmed by numbers on the Washoe County registrar of voters website.
“From their weak bench of candidates to watching their opposition expand across the state, the GOP is facing an uphill battle in Nevada,” said Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Molly Forgey. “With eight months to go until the election, it’s clear Democrats are energized and ready to defeat Donald Trump and [Nevada] Dems are doing the work to win up and down the ballot.”
CORRECTION: This article originally reported Democrats outnumbered Republicans for the first time in the 21st Century. Democrats in fact were dominant from 2008-2010.
