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The battle for control of the Senate was being fought in Nevada on Friday night, as the Republican challenger’s lead narrowed to just 826 votes – with more votes expected to arrive at counting centers on Saturday.
Under Nevada law, votes postmarked on Election Day – Tuesday – can still be counted if they arrive four days later, on Saturday.
With 94 percent of the ballots counted in Nevada, Adam Laxalt, a former co-chair of Donald Trump‘s Nevada campaign, had 48.5 percent of the vote.
His rival, incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto, had 48.4 percent – a difference of 826 votes.
Despite publicly projecting confidence, the former Nevada attorney general’s campaign is ‘bracing for a loss,’ a person currently advising the campaign who is familiar with internal deliberations told DailyMail.com.
‘There is an internal discussion right now on whether or not to ask for a statewide recount,’ the person said.
‘And that would obviously entail fundraising. So they are working at identifying fundraisers.’
Most of the outstanding votes to count are in Nevada are in Clark County – the largest and most populous county; home to Las Vegas; and generally seen as a Democrat-leaning area.
Ballots are still pouring in. And an estimated 165,000 votes have yet to be tallied.
Officials have until November 17 to finish the counting and submit a report to the Nevada secretary of state’s office, according to state law.
GOP challenger Adam Laxalt (left) is fractionally ahead of Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (right) in the Nevada Senate race. If she wins, the Democrats retain control of the Senate
Only two seats in the Senate are left to be decided – Nevada and Georgia
On Friday morning, three states were yet to call their Senate race: that was reduced to two by the end of Friday, after Arizona was won by the Democrats.
The victory of Mark Kelly in Arizona means that control of the Senate hinges on Nevada and Georgia.
If Nevada is won by the Democrats, they will have control of the Senate because Vice-President Kamala Harris can cast a deciding vote in a 50:50 Senate.
If Nevada is won by the Republicans, they will also need to win Georgia to control the Senate.
Georgia’s result will be decided following a run-off vote on December 6.
Nevada does not have run-off votes.
Laxalt’s team were not optimistic, the source told DailyMail.com.
‘The mood is not great’ inside the campaign, they added, and staff are looking for someone to blame.
‘I’ll say this, internally, the knives are out,’ the person said.
The main discord within Laxalt’s campaign is reportedly the same one playing out within the broader GOP narrative across the country – between establishment factions led by the likes of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Trump.
Election workers process ballots at the Clark County Election Department on Thursday
Ballots are pictured being processed in North Las Vegas on Thursday
Laxalt on Friday night denied that he was considering demanding a recount, and that his team were dejected.
‘This is totally and completely false,’ he tweeted.
‘Absolutely nothing has changed since our Tucker interview or my tweet last night. We are waiting on results tonight and expect her percentages to continue to remain under what she needs. We still remain confident.’
The Republican’s campaign posted on Twitter on Thursday that ‘we remain very confident’ with its small lead, as votes from blue-leaning Clark County continue to be tallied.
But text messages obtained by DailyMail.com suggest a gloomy outlook.
The messages are from a member of Laxalt’s campaign staff, sent to someone linked to the campaign.
They have not yet been verified.
‘Clark and Washoe [counties] mail in votes will overwhelm [the Laxalt campaign’s] small lead,’ one message read.
‘They thought there were far fewer votes remaining.’
Another message said: ‘Trump world wants them to declare fraud before they keep ‘finding votes’.’
DailyMail.com’s source also claimed that ‘McConnell people’ were trying to steer Laxalt away from raising doubts about the vote count in Clark County.
Messages from campaign staff to an advisor obtained by DailyMail.com show that Laxalt’s staff are worried about what the last batch of votes will bring
The Nevada Senate race has become one of the most closely-watched in the country as the likelihood that it will decide which party controls the chamber increases by the day.
Laxalt had previously raised doubts about Nevada’s electoral count when Trump lost the presidential race in 2020.
‘Now some of the some of the team, they want him to,’ said DailyMail.com’s source.
‘Others, they don’t want him to go down that path…they’d rather him concede than raise questions about Clark County.’
They added: ‘That, to me, is not a winning team.’
In Arizona, meanwhile, Democrats were celebrating.
Kelly, a former NASA astronaut whose former-Congresswoman wife Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head and survived, defeated Republican venture capitalist Blake Masters.
With 83 percent of the vote counted, he led Masters, a MAGA candidate endorsed by Trump, by 5.7 percentage points.
‘Thank you, Arizona,’ Kelly tweeted on Friday night.
Mark Kelly has been re-elected to the Senate, representing Arizona. His win means that the Democrats are only one victory away – either Nevada or Georgia – from clinching control of the Senate for the rest of Joe Biden’s term
Kelly defeated the Trump-backed Republican venture capitalist Blake Masters
The Arizona race is one of a handful of contests that Republicans targeted in their bid to take control of the 50-50 Senate.
It was a test of the inroads that Kelly and other Democrats have made in a state once reliably dominated by the GOP.
Kelly’s victory suggests Democratic success in Arizona was not an aberration during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Other Arizona contests, including the closely watched race for governor between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake, were too early to call Friday night.
Kelly, who has flown in space four times, is married Giffords, who inspired the nation with her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head during an assassination attempt in 2011 that killed six people and injured 13.
Kelly and Giffords went on to co-found a gun safety advocacy group.
Kelly and Giffords are seen on Election Day in Tucson, Arizona. On Friday he won his hard-fought re-election battle
Kelly’s victory in a 2020 special election – spurred by the death of Republican Senator John McCain – gave Democrats both of Arizona’s Senate seats for the first time in 70 years.
The shift was propelled by the state’s fast-changing demographics and the unpopularity of Trump.
President Joe Biden, as he headed to Asia, said he is not giving up hope that Democrats may cling on to the Senate, and even the House.
Republicans, if they gain control of the House, have threatened investigations against him and his family.
He sounded an optimistic note to reporters as he headed off on a six-day trip to Egypt, Cambodia and Bali.
‘It’s still alive. It’s still alive. But it’s like drawing an inside straight,’ he said of the House contests.
He also took a slight shot at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is on track to be speaker if Republicans prevail.
Biden spoke to McCarthy on Wednesday night.
‘I said, If you win the majority, congratulations. But congratulations so far, you’ve made some gains,’ he said.
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