A Republican serving on a commission that oversees elections in a key Nevada swing county fended off a far-right challenge and secured her party’s nomination in a race that could have had implications for national elections.
Heading into the Nevada primary on Tuesday, incumbent Clara Andriola was facing a far-right challenge for her seat on the Washoe County Board of Commissioners, part of an ongoing effort by election conspiracy theorists who want to create a majority on the board that has some important oversight of the county elections office.
Washoe includes Reno and is the second-largest county by population in the key presidential and Senate battleground state.
Andriola did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday, but recently told The Associated Press that administering elections should not be a partisan issue.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “this has become a very partisan issue.”
Andriola is likely the favorite to be re-elected in her district, which covers a reliably Republican-leaning part of the county.
The commission’s authority over its electoral department includes the appointment of the registrar of voters, certifying the vote count, identifying polling locations and providing ballots in Spanish in a county where the population is about one-quarter Latino. The state and courts provide a safeguard against any local manipulation of the elections.
The effort to remove Andriola was supported by a wealthy far-right political activist Robert Beadleswho has been trying for years to tip the commission’s balance of power even further to the right: he has publicly spread rumors about the family lives of officials he opposes, unsuccessfully prosecuted expel county officials and roll back protections for election workers, and led a local movement that encouraged authorities to avoid certifying election results and to reform the electoral department.
Beadles did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
In this context, Washoe County commission meetings are regularly filled with heated rhetoric about “puppet masters” rigging elections, false accusations of stolen votes, and conspiracy theories about voting machines. The claims arise from the repeated lies promoted by former president Donald Trump.
Through his political action committee, Beadles endorsed Mark Lawson, a former fire chief from nearby Sparks, for Andriola’s seat. Lawson said he is skeptical of the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Lawson conceded the race to Andriola, but in a text message Wednesday to the AP, he said he hopes she recognizes “her lack of support with so many voters” because of her bipartisan votes that created a familiar divide on the committee. five members, which currently includes Andriola, two Democrats and two Republicans financially supported by Beadles.
Before the Nevada primary, Andriola campaigned on relaxing business restrictions and supporting voter ID, but his bipartisan votes earned him a censure from the county Republican Party, which rejected the 2020 election results.
The dynamics unfolding in the politically mixed region of northern Nevada are similar to dramas unfolding elsewhere, including in neighboring Arizona, another swing state where conspiracy theorists have targeted local councils and electoral offices in recent years.
Multiple assessments, recounts It is audits in the states where Trump contested his defeat in 2020 they affirmed President Joe Biden’s victory, and there have been no evidence of widespread fraud.
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Associated Press writer Gabe Stern in Reno contributed to this report.
