Joe Biden and Steven Horsford early this year. (Photo: Horsford campaign FB page)
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s lead over President Donald Trump is expanding in Nevada as Clark County continues to count and report votes.
Updated totals released Friday bumped Biden’s lead to 22,657 votes — or 1.8 percent. When ballot reporting ended Thursday the gap between the two candidates sat at less than 1 percent.
Friday’s tranche of approximately 30,000 votes came from Clark County, the state’s most populous and bluest county.
That heavy blue lean is expected to continue as additional votes are counted and reported from Clark County, which would make it all but impossible for the president to close the gap and secure the Silver State’s six electoral votes. According to the Nevada Secretary of State, 90 percent of outstanding ballots on Thursday were from Clark.
Major news outlets have yet to project a winner, citing too close a margin.
Biden currently leads 49.8 percent to Trump’s 48 percent statewide.
Nevada is one of a handful of swing states whose outcomes could provide Biden the electoral college majority needed to secure the presidency. Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona are the others. Biden now has leads in all four.
Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria told reporters Friday morning the county has approximately 63,000 mail ballots to process and count. Additionally, there are 44,000 identification-required ballots and 60,000 provisional ballots that need to be worked through. He said his staff has begun processing provisional ballots “in earnest.” The majority of outstanding ballots are expected to be processed, counted and reported by Sunday.
Gloria also praised the region’s United States Postal Service, saying they were doing numerous internal sweeps for ballots and delivering them within three to four hours.
Horsford declares victory
Biden wasn’t the only Democrat to benefit from the newly reported vote totals on Friday.
Rep. Steven Horsford was projected by the Associated Press as winner in Congressional District 4. Horsford is currently leading Republican challenger Jim Marchant by 11,558 votes — 50 percent to 46 percent.
In a victory statement released by his campaign, Horsford thanked Nevadans for his re-election: ”Representing this district is an honor I continue to hold near and dear to my heart. This race has been about fighting for the shared values of Nevada’s 4th and the collective voice of the people in this election demonstrates that while we have come a long way, we have more work to do.”
Rep. Susie Lee also expanded her lead over Republican Dan Rodimer, a former wrestler, in Congressional District 3. Lee leads by 11,437 votes — or 3.1 percent.
The other two members of Nevada’s congressional delegation — Reps. Dina Titus and Mark Amodei — secured major leads early and were projected as winners of their respective races on Election Day.
[Editor’s Note: This story was updated Friday afternoon to include additional votes reported by the Secretary of State.]
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