Las Vegas (AP) — Former state lawmaker Jim Marchant won the Republican nomination for Nevada secretary of state on Monday, bringing one of the state’s most outspoken promoters of election conspiracy theories within reach of the office that oversees voting in a perennial presidential battleground.His win after Nevada’s June 9 primary sets up a rematch in November with Democratic Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, who prevailed in their race four years ago.The winner will oversee the 2028 presidential election in Nevada, a state that went for President Donald Trump in 2024 after voting for Democrat Joe Biden four years earlier.Marchant has long questioned Nevada’s voting security. He claimed both he and Trump were victims of election fraud in 2020 when Marchant lost his bid for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District against Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, despite officials finding no evidence of any widespread fraud.
He claimed that mail ballots were fraudulent, despite using that method to vote while he was a registered voter in Florida. In December 2020, he stood alongside the six Nevada Republicans who signed fake electoral certificates claiming Trump won the state — when in fact Biden won Nevada that year by more than 33,000 votes. Those six Republicans continue to face charges filed by the attorney general’s office.
