RENO (AP) — A state official calls Nevada a "renegade state," but when it comes to voting in presidential elections, Nevada is as mainstream as it gets.
After Missouri voters favored John McCain in November, Nevada now has the best record of any state since 1912 for siding with winners — including Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The Silver State voted for the victor in 24 of the past 25 presidential elections. The lone exception was when Republican Gerald Ford won Nevada over Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976 by a margin of fewer than 8,000 votes out of more than 200,000 ballots cast.
Missouri, Ohio and New Mexico closely follow, siding with the winners 23 times over the same period.
"Everybody is looking to the heartland for the bellwether state," said Guy Rocha, Nevada's state archivist, who will retire Feb. 2. "But it's the renegade state of Nevada that has the best track record over nearly a century. We're a lot more mainstream than people are giving us credit for."
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