NEVADA
Incumbent: Republican Dean Heller Inside Elections rating: Tossup 2016 presidential election results: Trump: 46%, Clinton: 48%
Nevada’s senior senator won his last election by just 1 percentage point, and his state is becoming less red. It was one of the only battleground states Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential race.
Heller has at least one Democratic challenger, Rep. Jacky Rosen, who was able to flip Nevada’s 3rd District to blue in 2016.
Before Heller faces off against Rosen or another Democrat, he must beat back a GOP primary challenge from Danny Tarkanian — a conservative who is closely aligned with Trump and has won multiple GOP primaries, though no general elections.
Heller has struggled to find a clear message in his campaign as he tries to convince Nevada’s conservative base to vote for him in the primary and the more moderate electorate to pick him in the general.
He slammed the GOP-crafted bill to repeal Obamacare before supporting a slightly narrower version. He voted to stop Medicaid reimbursements from going to Planned Parenthood, even though he promised to protect the women’s health care provider when asked about that issue during a town hall meeting.