Republican Joe Lombardo has won the race for governor in Nevada, defeating Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak - NBC News

Republican Joe Lombardo has won the race for politician successful Nevada, NBC News projects, narrowly defeating Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak.

The triumph for Lombardo, who was endorsed by erstwhile President Donald Trump, puts a Republican backmost successful the apical occupation successful the pivotal statesmanlike battleground authorities and could person large implications connected the aboriginal of education and transgression justness successful the plaything state.

His projected triumph comes aft days of delays successful the processing of ballots successful Clark County, the largest region successful the authorities and the 1 that includes Las Vegas.

Sisolak conceded the contention connected Friday night.

"While votes are inactive coming successful — and we request each ballot tallied and each dependable heard — it appears we volition autumn a percent constituent oregon truthful abbreviated of winning," helium said successful a statement.

"Obviously that is not the result I want, but I judge successful our predetermination system, successful ideology and honoring the volition of Nevada voters. So whether you voted for maine oregon Sheriff Lombardo, it is important that we present travel unneurotic to proceed moving the authorities forward. That is wherefore I reached retired to the Sheriff to privation him success," Sisolak added.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and his wife, Kathy Sisolak, get Tuesday astatine a polling halfway successful Las Vegas. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

Officials successful Nevada said connected predetermination nighttime that ballots received successful driblet boxes oregon postmarked connected Election Day would not beryllium instantly counted. (Nevada authorities instrumentality allows mailed ballots to get days later, arsenic agelong arsenic they are postmarked by Election Day and get earlier Saturday evening).

Subsequently, officials spent the adjacent 4 days counting those ballots — a play that saw Lombardo’s pb shrink slightly, arsenic votes came successful from the solidly bluish county, but yet hold.

During the campaign, Lombardo hammered Sisolak with a connection focused astir a trio of kitchen-table issues — the economy, crime and acquisition — though helium often struggled to explicate to voters his presumption connected abortion. Lombardo has said his “personal content is pro-life,” but has acknowledged termination is ineligible nether Nevada instrumentality until the 24th week of pregnancy, portion besides having said that helium would enactment a elector referendum that would suggest changing the instrumentality to prohibition termination aft the 13th week of pregnancy. He has besides astatine times stumbled successful however to negociate his affiliation with Trump.

His victory, however, suggests that voters successful the authorities were not turned disconnected by those struggles and that helium was capable to leverage concerns implicit rising prices and transgression and an uptick successful unit successful the state’s nationalist schools into a constrictive victory.

In the weeks starring up to the election, Nevada had emerged arsenic a anemic spot for Democratic incumbents, including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, successful portion due to the fact that economical issues person deed its residents peculiarly hard.

Gas prices successful the state, for example, person remained acold higher than the nationalist mean (a gallon of regular gasoline was lone much costly successful California and Hawaii, according to the AAA’s latest survey of prices), and rents successful Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, person risen faster compared to different major metropolitan areas successful the U.S.

In addition, Las Vegas’ hotels and casinos were ravaged by the pandemic, though the tourism manufacture made a robust betterment nether Sisolak.

And contempt rising transgression rates that immoderate governmental watchers successful the authorities had said could marque the contented a vulnerability for Lombardo, the sheriff of the state’s largest county, helium alternatively tied his transgression messaging to issues of schoolhouse information and education.

He often attacked Sisolak implicit the summation successful nationalist schoolhouse unit successful the state, a arguable determination to change backing for a fashionable speechmaking program, pandemic schoolhouse closings and what Lombardo claims is simply a pervasiveness of “social-reform curriculum” — a operation helium and his run said equates to “teaching kids what to deliberation alternatively of however to think.”

The attack — portion of a broader effort by GOP candidates to marque acquisition argumentation a run spot — evidently connected with voters.

Lombardo’s way to triumph appears to person besides revolved astir his quality to entreaty to the state’s ample chunk of independent voters. Lombardo, dissimilar galore different candidates for bureau endorsed by Trump, remained steadfast successful his content and nationalist rhetoric that Joe Biden was legitimately elected president and that the 2020 contention was successful nary mode stolen from Trump.

While Lombardo had claimed that elector fraud had occurred successful the authorities during the 2020 race, helium besides often noted that it would person ne'er been capable to alteration the outcome.

At his lone statement with Sisolak, Lombardo adjacent said, “it bothers me” erstwhile asked astir Trump’s repeated mendacious claims astir the 2020 election, which helium agreed undermined assurance successful the electoral system.

“I’m not shying distant from that,” Lombardo said. “I don’t basal by him successful that aspect.”

Asked whether helium thought Trump was a “great president,” Lombardo said, “I wouldn’t usage that adjective.

Days later, however, Lombardo stood alongside Trump astatine a rally extracurricular Reno for him and different Republican candidates, arsenic the erstwhile president boasted of the size of the assemblage of protesters connected Jan. 6 soon earlier they stormed the Capitol.