Democrat Cisco Aguilar is seen on Election Day.
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John Locher / AP
Democrat Cisco Aguilar is seen on Election Day.
John Locher / AP
Democrat Cisco Aguilar has been elected Nevada secretary of state, according to an Associated Press run, dealing a blow to one of former President Donald Trump’s loyalists in the process.
Aguilar, an attorney who spent many years on the state Sports Commission, defeated Republican Jim Marchant, who has long argued that the 2020 election was unfounded.
Aguilar — and election experts across the country — painted the race for Nevada’s top voting official as existential for the future of democracy in the swing state.
“Everything is based on facts, honesty and trust. And if I’m elected secretary of state, it’s my responsibility to build that trust from the ground up,” Aguilar told NPR on Tuesday, before quitting. vote ends. “My opponent built everything he had on a foundation of lies and misinformation.”
The Nevada election, which took place on Saturday night, meant that every person who turned down to run for secretary of state in a competitive state was defeated, following defeat by Republican candidates in the state. arizona, Michigan and Minnesota, among others.
Marchant lost the race for a seat in the US House of Representatives in 2020 and he later claimed that the election was rigged, although he never provided evidence to support that claim. He got Trump’s endorsement, and the former president rallied with him in October.
“We have something in common: President Trump and I lost an election in 2020 because of a rigged election,” Marchant told the crowd. “I’ve been working since November 4, 2020, to expose what happened and what I discovered was horrifying.”
Jim Marchant is seen on September 10.
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Jim Rassol/AP
Jim Marchant is seen on September 10.
Jim Rassol / AP
Marchant is one of the most radical candidates running for secretary of state this midterm. The League he began saying that eliminating early voting was one of its main goals, and on Tuesday Aguilar told NPR Marchant was “the most dangerous candidate in America.”
In addition to saying he wants to severely restrict voting rights in Nevada, Marchant has also lead a push in the state for counties to count ballots by hand instead of using a machine, although research has shown that method is less accurate.
Aguilar said before the election that his first priority as incumbent would be legislation to protect election workers and volunteers.
