By Nolan D. McCaskill
June 9 (Reuters) - Marty O'Donnell, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, won the Republican primary on Tuesday for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, a Las Vegas-area battleground that could help decide control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November, U.S. media projected.
The seat, held by Democrat Susie Lee, is among a handful across the country expected to be decisive in determining the balance of power in Congress, with Republicans currently holding a narrow House
majority.
The Republican primary featured a competitive, largely self-funded field, including Trump-endorsed video game composer Marty O'Donnell, neurosurgeon Aury Nagy and former U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter. A fourth candidate is businesswoman Tera Anderson.
O'Donnell, who loaned his campaign $3 million, is also backed by House Republicans' campaign arm as a member of its "MAGA Majority" program, which supports candidates in battleground districts. Nagy and Gunter have loaned their campaigns $1 million and $750,000, respectively.
The Republican nominee will now challenge Lee, who won her renomination bid, in a race expected to draw national attention and significant campaign spending ahead of November’s elections.
Lee won reelection in 2024 by nearly 3 percentage points even as Trump narrowly carried the district, underscoring its status as a closely divided electorate.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Additional reporting by Angela Christy in Bengaluru. Editing by Howard Goller, Tom Hogue and Mark Potter)
