Adam Laxalt and Catherine Cortez Nevada Senate race

RENO, Nev. — On a gusty, gray afternoon last weekend, Laura Picanco dispensed gas into her SUV, then firmly returned the nozzle to the pump. 

“This is ridiculous!” she fumed, tilting her head around the pump to talk to the person on the other side. “I don’t know how people do it.” At $5.61 a gallon, she filled only three-fourths of her tank, shelling out $108. 

It was the first day of early voting in Nevada, and Picanco, angered with Democrats and President Joe Biden for the rising gas costs, vowed to make a trip to the ballot box and vote Republican.

“Gas prices were steady until — I hate to say it — Biden took office,” she said. 

Here in Washoe County, it’s difficult to find someone who isn’t complaining about the cost of groceries or gas. Residents of this northwestern Nevada swing county, the home of Reno and the second-largest county in the state, with a population of about 500,000, have seen some of the highest gas prices in the country at the same time they’re battling rising inflation and a dearth of affordable housing. 

Voters tend to take their anger out on the party and the politicians in power. In that sense, as well as in Washoe’s geographical, political and demographic makeup, the county is a microcosm of a national political landscape that favors Republicans heading into next month’s midterm elections. The question here, and across the country, is just how much painful economic conditions will work against Democratic candidates, especially incumbents like Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, whose close contest against Republican Adam Laxalt could decide the balance of power in the Senate.

In a hyperpolarized state, in a hyperpolarized country, Washoe is a rarity in being neither red nor blue. There are similar numbers of active registered Republicans (100,000) and Democrats (95,000), according to the county registrar. 

About 82,000 more Washoe residents are registered as nonpartisan, making them a coveted prize for campaigns clawing it out for the county with the second-largest pot of votes outside of reliably blue Clark County. 

All of those factors make Washoe County the ultimate battleground for Cortez Masto and Laxalt. A decisive Washoe win would almost certainly mean a decisive statewide win. 

“They’re fighting for every inch,” said Greg Ferraro, a veteran Reno-based GOP consultant. “How Washoe goes is how Nevada goes.” 

The candidates are well aware of the stakes. Both campaigns say that in the final…