Nevada Presidential Primary by the State, Caucus by the Republican Party

Re-posted from January 3

The State of Nevada will hold a Presidential Preference Primary on February 6, 2024. The Nevada Republican Party will hold a separate Presidential Caucus on February 8, 2024.

The State of Nevada will hold a Presidential Preference Primary on February 6, 2024. According to information on the Nevada Secretary of State website and the Churchill County Clerk, qualified candidates will be listed on the respective party ballot. Early voting will begin on Saturday, January 27, and run through Friday, February 2. 

The Nevada Republican Party will hold a separate Presidential Caucus on February 8, 2024.

To qualify for the Presidential Preference Primary election on February 6, both Democrat and Republican candidates had to file with the Secretary of State by October 16, 2023. The primary is non-binding, and only candidates participating in the Caucus can earn delegates and be nominated at the national convention to run against the Democrat candidate in the general election.

Candidates could only file to run in the primary or the caucus, not both. Republican candidates who chose to appear on the state-run primary ballot did so knowing that their decision meant they could not earn delegates by appearing on the caucus ballot. The Democrats are not holding a Caucus.

The filing deadline for the Nevada primary was on October 16, 2023, and the Secretary of State published the list of qualified candidates on October 20.

Democrat candidates who filed for the Presidential Primary

• Joe Biden
• Gabriel Cornejo
• Superpayaseria Crystalroc
• Brent Foutz
• John Haywood
• Stephen Alan Leon
• Frankie Lozada
• Stephen Lyons
• Jason Michael Palmer
• Armando Perez-Serrato
• Donald Picard
• Mark R. Prascak
• Marianne Williamson

Republican candidates who filed for the Presidential Primary

• John Castro
• Heath Fulkerson
• Nikki Haley
• Donald Kjornes
• Michael PenceTimothy Scott
• Hirsh Singh

Both Mike Pence and Tim Scott have suspended their campaigns but will still appear on the ballot. 
 

Candidates who have chosen to participate in the Republican Caucus on February 8

• Ryan Binkley
• Former Governor Chris Christie
• Governor Ron DeSantis
• Vivek Ramaswamy
• Former President Donald J. Trump
   

The Caucus will be held at the Rafter 3C on Sheckler Road, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Voters wishing to participate must be registered Republicans in one of the 19 local, Churchill County precincts by January 9, 2024, and must present their government-issued ID. Electors are welcome to cast a secret paper ballot and leave, or they may choose to stay for the whole meeting and participate in the nominating of delegates to the local Republican County Convention. 

It is allowable for Republican voters to participate in both the Primary and the Caucus.

Nevada has a long and varied history of vacillating between the Presidential Preference Primary and the party caucuses. From 1864 to 1948, Nevada elected presidential electors through a direct vote of the people, except in 1912 when the Democrat Party opted to hold a presidential preference vote. The 1949 legislature eliminated the practice of directly electing presidential electors, creating a procedure where selection of electors happened during each party’s State convention. 

During the 1953 and ’55 legislatures, the presidential preference primary was established and then repealed before the 1956 election took place. In 1973, the Legislature once again passed legislation, instituting a 'closed' presidential primary election where only registered Democrats could vote for Democratic candidates and only registered Republicans for Republican candidates. The primary was repealed again in 1981. However, in 1996, the Republican party deviated from the norm and held a presidential preference primary. Apart from that particular year, Nevada has consistently utilized a closed caucus system, akin to the one employed from 1952 to 1972, for determining delegates at the respective presidential nomination conventions.

Voters can check their registration status online and those who are not registered can register online at nvsos.gov/SOSVoterServices/start.aspx as well as update an existing registration.