Nevada Senate2018
RACE AT A GLANCE
RACE TYPE
Incumbent running
Dean Heller (R)
Key Dates
Filing Deadline: Mar 16, 2018
Primary Election: Jun 12, 2018
INCUMBENT
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INCUMBENT
Full Bio:
HELLER, Dean, a Senator and a Representative from Nevada; born in Castro Valley,
Alameda County, Calif., May 10, 1960; graduated from Carson High School, Carson
City, Nev.; B.S., University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1985;
member of the Nevada state assembly 1990-1994; Nevada secretary of state
1995-2007; elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Tenth and to the two
succeeding Congresses, and served from January 3, 2007, to May 9, 2011, when he
resigned to become a U.S. senator; appointed May 3, 2011, to the United States
Senate for the term ending January 3, 2013, to fill the vacancy caused by the
resignation of John E. Ensign; took the oath of office on May 9, 2011;
subsequently elected in 2012 for the term ending January 3, 2019.
Source: Bioguide
CANDIDATES
Democrats
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Independents / Other Parties
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STATE DATA
Nevada
Population Breakdown
Source: American Community Survey
Past Presidential Results from this State
2016 Election Results
Source: The Cook Political Report/POLIDATA
2012 Election Results
Source: The Cook Political Report/POLIDATA
RACE ANALYSIS
The Bottom Line
Updated: Jun 15, 2018
U.S. Sen. Dean Heller has the unfortunate distinction of occupying the most vulnerable of the nine Republicans seats up this cycle. His vulnerability stems largely from the fact that he is the only Republican incumbent facing voters next year who is sits in a state that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton carried in 2016. This means that Democrats have put a very big target on him, and are throwing everything they have at him. Conservatives may not be happy with Heller, but they didn’t give him much of a primary fight. He won the nomination in the June 12 primary with 70 percent of the vote, while public works manager Tom Heck took 19 percent, and three minor candidates and “none of these candidates” combined for the remaining 11 percent. Heck didn’t run much of a campaign and it’s possible that some voters confused him with former U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016. The Democratic nominee is U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen, who won the primary with 77 percent. “None of these candidates” placed second with 7 percent, and five minor candidates combined for the remaining 16 percent. Heller is well acquainted with close races; he won this seat in 2012 by just over 10,000 votes, but this may prove to be a tougher race as he is under unrelenting attack from Democrats. The contest is in the Toss Up column.
Race Analysis
Updated: Jun 27, 2026
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