Nevadans go to bed on election night not knowing which presidential candidate won the state’s six electoral votes — even though the state’s final result won’t decide the presidency.

The race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is too close to call at midnight on Election Day, with nearly 1.1 million votes cast. Currently, Trump holds a 5 percentage point lead, with many Election Day votes and late mail-in ballots, including those cast today, yet to be counted.

(Click here to see the full results.)

Although several media outlets declared Trump the winner of the presidency Tuesday night, Nevada’s presidential results will determine whether he wins all seven battleground states, as he is expected to win the other six. When Trump won in 2016, he won every battleground that year except Nevada.

Meanwhile, Republicans have taken control of the U.S. Senate, but Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) is locked in a tight battle against Republican Sam Brown, who has so far underperformed Trump, particularly in Washoe County.

That means the only undecided federal chamber is the U.S. House of Representatives, where two of the three Democratic-held seats in Nevada remain too close to call, and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) won. hands down in the 4th District, which includes parts of Clark County and rural Nevada.

Since Harris first entered the race in July, polls between the two have remained neck and neck, with neither candidate able to establish a large enough lead to predict the winner. Both candidates have invested significant time and resources in the state.

Trump changed the political terrain in Las Vegas in June when he promised end the taxation of tips; Harris follow up with his own proposal to end tip taxes and raise the minimum wage in Las Vegas this August. Trump has appeared personally at panel discussions and rallies to build support among Latin Americans And Asian Americans and Pacific Islanderswhile Harris and his running mate, the governor of Minnesota. Tim Walzmade several visits to the state and high-profile surrogates, including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were present during early voting to highlight its importance.

The two candidates faced off on October 31 in Las Vegas and Reno, to present their final arguments to Nevada voters. Voters were inundated with ads from every campaign on every medium; the Harris campaign itself illuminated the Sphere.

Tuesday night’s results reinforce just how close the race is — at least in Nevada.

Participation currently stands at around 1.1 million. In 2020, Nevada saw a record turnout of more than 1.4 million votes. With figures on absentee ballots delivered on Election Day unavailable, turnout for this year is difficult to predict.

With the race too close to call, the winner will likely be decided based on mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. The Republicans sued in vain to block the counting of these absentee ballotswhich can be received until Saturday, as well as not canceled Mail-in ballots arrive Friday at 5 p.m.

In 2022, approximately 6% of Clark County’s votes and 3% of Washoe County’s votes were cast after Election Day, although it is unclear exactly how many votes are outstanding this year, given that presidential elections tend to have much higher turnout.

Trump is trying to be the first Republican to win a presidential race in Nevada since George W. Bush in 2004. Since then, Democrats have managed to win by building a large enough firewall in Clark County, where 70 percent live. of voters, to be able to counter Republican vote totals in vibrant Washoe County and ruby-red rural counties.

That formula has been threatened this cycle by a diminishing voter registration advantage. On Election Day 2020, Democrats had about a 5 percentage point advantage in voter registration; by 2024, this figure had fallen to 1 percent.

In Clark County, which President Joe Biden won by 9 percentage points, Democrats’ voter registration advantage on Election Day had fallen to less than 7 percentage points.

But rather than representing Republican gains, the most significant change in voter registration dynamics has been an explosion in nonpartisan registrations — bolstered by the state’s 2020 bill. implementation automatic voter registration.

Trump’s path to victory in the state is to ensure, as has happened in previous cycles, that Republicans turn out in higher proportions than Democrats, while Harris must win over independent voters with a margin large enough to overcome Clark County’s weakening Democratic firewall. .

Of the roughly 1 million votes included in the first batch of results, Trump maintained an advantage of about 4 percentage points over Harris — similar to the lead registered Republicans had over registered Democrats for those same votes. This indicates that nonpartisans have so far been evenly split between the two candidates.

In trying to win over nonpartisan voters, the Harris campaign relied on the traditional organizing strength of Nevada Democrats — the Reid Machine mix of union canvassers, state party officials, campaign organizers and interest groups whose impressive play on the ground has delivered the state to Democrats in the past. . To that end, the powerful Local 226 of the Culinary Workers Union knocked on more than 900,000 doors this cycle.

Trump, meanwhile, has banked on economic discontent in a state that has the nation’s highest unemployment rate and on gains among voters of color, particularly Latino men.

Both campaigns spent huge sums of money to get their message to voters – about $122 million in total. Democrats have far outpaced Republicans in the presidential race, between the Harris campaign itself and allied outside groups. Harris-aligned spending totaled about $85 million, while Trump and his affiliates invested nearly $36 million.

Although the election was still too close to call in Nevada, the state ultimately didn’t matter to either candidate who received 270 votes.

In the US Senate, however, it is he who will determine the size of the Republican majority. After flipping Democratic seats in Ohio and West Virginia, Republicans will now have control of the upper house.

Races in five swing states – including Nevada – are still too close to call. Republican Sam Brown has a lead of less than half a percentage point, meaning Rosen is ahead of Harris.