U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen (D) defeated incumbent Sen. Dean Heller (R) and three others in the general election on November 6, 2018, to represent Nevada in the United States Senate.

Thirty-five of the 100 seats in the United States Senate were up for election in 2018, including two seats up for special election. Republicans gained four previously Democratic-held seats and Democrats gained two previously Republican-held seats, resulting in a net gain of two seats for the Republican Party and a 53-seat majority in the chamber. This race was identified as a 2018 battleground that might have affected partisan control of the chamber in the 116th Congress. At the time of the election, Republicans held a 51-seat Senate majority. Democrats held 47 seats, and the two independents caucused with them. Democrats faced greater partisan risk in 2018, as they were defending 26 seats while Republicans were only defending nine. Democrats had to defend seats in 10 states Donald Trump (R) won. The GOP defended one Senate seat in a state Hillary Clinton (D) won.

That one Senate seat was held by Dean Heller. He was appointed in 2011 and won in the 2012 election by 1.2 percentage points. Clinton won Nevada by 2.4 percentage points in 2016. The Senate race was rated as a Toss-up by ratings outlets. The Hill listed this among 10 U.S. Senate seats it considered most likely to flip in 2018.

Third-party and independent candidates included Kamau Bakari (Independent American Party), Libertarian Tim Hagan, and independent Barry Michaels.

Polls

Throughout September and October 2018, 10 polls found Heller and Rosen tied within the polls' margins of error.

U.S. Senate election in Nevada, Heller (R) v. Rosen (D) v. Hagan (L)

Poll	Poll sponsor	Dean Heller	Jacky Rosen	Tim Hagan	Undecided/None	Margin of error	Sample size
SSRS October 24-29, 2018	CNN	45%	48%	2%	4%	+/-4.8	622
NBC/Marist Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2018	N/A	44%	42%	8%	6%	+/-5.5	574
SSRS September 25-29, 2018	CNN	43%	47%	4%	5%	+/-4.6	693
AVERAGES		44%	45.67%	4.67%	5%	+/-4.97	629.67

U.S. Senate election in Nevada, Heller (R) v. Rosen (D) (with "Other" and "Don't know" options)

Poll	Poll sponsor	Dean Heller	Jacky Rosen	Other	Don't know	Margin of error	Sample size
Ipsos/Reuters/UVA October 12-19, 2018	N/A	47%	41%	8%	4%	+/-3.3	1,137

U.S. Senate election in Nevada, Heller (R) v. Rosen (D)

Poll	Poll sponsor	Dean Heller	Jacky Rosen	Undecided/None	Margin of error	Sample size
Emerson College November 1-4, 2018	N/A	45%	49%	4%	+/-3.0	1,197
Public Policy Polling October 15-16, 2018	Protect Our Care	46%	48%	7%	+/-3.9	648
Vox Populi (Democrat vs. Republican only, no undecided option) October 13-15, 2018	N/A	44%	44%	0%	+/-3.7	614
NYT Upshot/Siena College October 8-10, 2018	N/A	47%	45%	7%	+/-4.0	642
NBC/Marist Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2018	N/A	46%	44%	9%	+/-5.5	574
Ipsos September 7-17, 2018	N/A	46%	43%	8%	+/-3.7	1,039
Gravis September 11-12, 2018	N/A	45%	47%	8%	+/-3.7	700
Public Policy Polling August 20-21, 2018	Protect Our Care	43%	48%	9%	+/-4.3	500
Suffolk University July 24-29, 2018	N/A	41%	40%	9%	+/-4.4	500
AVERAGES		44.78%	45.33%	6.78%	+/-4.02	712.67

U.S. Senate election in Nevada, Heller (R) v. Rosen (D) v. Hagan (L) v. Bakari (Independent American) v. Michaels (Independent)

Poll	Dean Heller	Jacky Rosen	Tim Hagan	Kamau Bakari	Barry Michaels	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Suffolk University September 5-10, 2018	41%	42%	2%	2%	2%	9%	+/-4.4	500

U.S. Senate election in Nevada, Heller (R) v. Rosen (D)

Republican primary

U.S. Senate election in Nevada, Republican primary

Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Election history

2016

U.S. Senate, Nevada General Election, 2016

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Catherine Cortez Masto	47.1%	521,994
	Republican	Joe Heck	44.7%	495,079
	N/A	None of these candidates	3.8%	42,257
	Independent American	Tom Jones	1.5%	17,128
	Independent	Thomas Sawyer	1.3%	14,208
	Independent	Tony Gumina	1%	10,740
	Independent	Jarrod Williams	0.6%	6,888
Total Votes			1,108,294
Source: Nevada Secretary of State

2012

On November 6, 2012, incumbent Dean Heller (R) won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Shelley Berkley (D) and David Lory VanderBeek (Independent American Party) in the general election.

U.S. Senate, Nevada, General Election, 2012

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Shelley Berkley	44.7%	446,080
	Republican	Dean Heller Incumbent	45.9%	457,656
	Independent American Party of Nevada	David Lory VanderBeek	4.9%	48,792
	N/A	None of these candidates	4.5%	45,277
Total Votes			997,805
Source: Nevada Secretary of State "U.S. Senate Results"

2010

On November 2, 2010, Reid won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Sharron Angle (R), None of the Above, Scott Ashjian (Tea Party), Timothy Fasano (Independent American), and independent candidates Michael L. Haines, Jesse Holland, Jeffery C. Reeves, and Wil Stand.

U.S. Senate, Nevada General Election, 2010

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Harry Reid Incumbent	50.3%	362,785
	Republican	Sharron Angle	44.5%	321,361
	None of the Above	-	2.2%	16,174
	Tea Party	Scott Ashjian	0.8%	5,811
	Independent	Michael L. Haines	0.6%	4,261
	Independent American	Timothy Fasano	0.4%	3,185
	Independent	Jesse Holland	0.4%	3,175
	Independent	Jeffery C. Reeves	0.3%	2,510
	Independent	Wil Stand	0.3%	2,119
Total Votes			721,381

Demographics

Demographic data for Nevada

As of July 2016, Nevada' three largest cities were Las Vegas (pop. est. 640,000), Henderson (pop. est. 300,000), and Reno (pop. est. 250,000).