The political world’s attention is on the western United States on Saturday as officials work another day to tally votes in key races.
The very slim elections for the Nevada Senate seat and the Arizona governorship have yet to be called. Large counties in both states are working to reduce the tens of thousands of ballots that still need to be counted.
The races we watch
In Nevada: Republican Adam Laxalt maintains a slim lead of about 860 votes over Democratic incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto.
If Cortez Masto wins, the Democrats should take control of the Senate. If she loses, the fate of the upper house will be decided in Georgia’s runoff in December.
In Arizona: Democrat Katie Hobbs leads Republican Kari Lake by about 31,000 votes in the gubernatorial race.
It was a fiery campaign marked by Lake’s unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election and Hobbs’ role as Arizona’s secretary of state.
Where we expect results tonight
In the two states that take center stage tonight, major counties will release a significant number of results.
Clark County, Nevada: Clark County, which is Nevada’s most populous and encompasses Las Vegas, will release the results of its remaining 22,000 mail-in ballots tonight, according to County Registrar Joe Gloria.
That batch of results will be released “sometime in the afternoon or early evening,” he said, and he estimated it could be around 7 p.m. ET at the earliest.
Washoe County, Nevada: Washoe County plans to release its next batch of results Saturday evening around 11 p.m. ET, according to election officials.
About 12,000 ballots remain to be counted there, officials said, although it is unclear how many there will be in Saturday night’s batch of results.
Washoe County, which encompasses Reno, is Nevada’s second largest in population and is considered a vibrant county.
Maricopa County, Arizona: More results are expected around 10 p.m. ET Saturday from Maricopa County, which is Arizona’s most populous.
Elections Supervisor Bill Gates told CNN he expects a drop in votes similar to last night, when the county reported about 80,000 more votes.
Gates said Friday there were about 275,000 ballots left to be counted in the county, which includes Phoenix.
