Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
A gracious Gov. Jim Gibbons conceded defeat Tuesday night in his bid for a second term, promising to do everything possible to ensure a smooth transition for his successor.
He is the first sitting governor in Nevada history to be defeated in his primary bid for re-election.
Gibbons was handily beaten in the GOP primary election by Brian Sandoval, a former federal judge who left the bench at the urging of party leaders to seek the state's highest office. Sandoval's victory sets up an intriguing contest against Democrat Rory Reid, the son of the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"The next six months, we will continue working for the people of the state of Nevada and I will ensure that after the November election there will be a smooth transition," said Gibbons from the front steps of the governor's mansion.
He also said he would back Sandoval.
"We are going to go out there and support the Republican nominee of this state," he said, congratulating Sandoval on his victory.
Sandoval said he was humbled not only by the support he received from voters but by Gibbons' offer of support.
"I look forward to working with him in the upcoming general election," he said.
Sandoval had doubled Gibbons' vote totals, 55 percent to 27 percent.
Sandoval, with his wife, son and two daughters at his side, gathered with more than 100 supporters at a garden nursery in southwest Reno to wait for returns.
"Everybody, we did it. We did it," he told the crowd. "We know the real work lies ahead."
Among those in attendance was former two-term Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn, who had a strained relationship with Gibbons who had succeeded him.
"The people have spoken. It's time for a change," Guinn said.
Sandoval said his campaign against Reid will begin today as he heads to Las Vegas.
"I want this job," he said. "We're not taking anything for granted."
He said first up will be to press Reid to explain how he would balance the state budget if elected.
"Rory hasn't said how he would balance the budget and it's time he did so," he said.
Gibbons said he was "humbled and grateful for the four years the people of Nevada gave me to be governor of this state."
He said the job "has been one of the most rewarding jobs I've ever had."
And, he said, one of the toughest.
"No one told me at the beginning we were going to have an economic recession of the depth and breadth we had," he said.
Gibbons, a 65-year-old former congressman and combat pilot who served in Vietnam and the first Gulf War, was shunned by the state's political power brokers amid all his personal problems, including a nasty divorce and allegations of infidelity, and he struggled to raise money against the well-funded Sandoval. Gibbons is the first incumbent governor to go down in defeat in 2010, but the outcome had more to do with his own issues than the anti-incumbent rage spreading nationwide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.