RENO, Nev. (AP) — A pair of well-financed Republican challengers were trying to unseat Democrats in key swing congressional districts in southern Nevada on Tuesday, while veteran incumbents from each party were reelected as expected in the other two districts covering northern Nevada and the Las Vegas Strip.

Republican Rep. Mark Amodei defeated Democratic challenger Patricia Ackerman to claim a sixth term in the sprawling, largely rural 2nd District where no Democrat has ever won.

Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, the dean of Nevada's congressional delegation, was reelected to a fifth term in a rematch with Republican Joyce Bentley in the 1st District, the most urban in the state.

The other House races were too early to call, with a large number of ballots yet to be counted.

Democratic Rep. Susie Lee was trying to fend off Republican Dan Rodimer, a former professional wrestler, in the 3rd District race that is Nevada’s closest and most expensive.

Lee, seeking her second term, has spent more than $4.2 million. Rodimer has countered with $2.2 million and in recent months has outraised Lee. President Donald Trump won the district in 2016 despite losing Nevada statewide to Hillary Clinton by 2.4 percentage points.

Lee said during the campaign that she had to think long and hard before voting to impeach Trump earlier this year and knew it would be used against her during the race. The 6-foot-7 Rodimer has said that he wants “to take a folding chair to the Washington D.C. establishment.”

That district stretches from California southwest of Las Vegas through Henderson and Boulder City to the Arizona line.

At a south Las Vegas polling place last week, 46-year-old Ian McMullin, a lifelong Republican and voice actor, cast an early vote for Rodimer.

“It’s as much as against Nancy Pelosi as it has anything to do with Dan Rodimer and Susie Lee. The impeachment, I thought was a joke," McMullin said.

He said even if Lee had voted against impeachment, he still wouldn't vote for her and cited deep disappointment with the way Democrats in Congress have handled negotiations for a latest round of coronavrius relief.

Joann Sulker-Hall, a 65-year-old lifelong Democrat who showed up at the same polling place soon after, said she decided to vote for Lee after seeing Democratic campaign ads highlighting 911 calls Rodimer’s now-wife made in 2018 alleging domestic violence and that Rodimer had stolen guns and jewelry belonging to her, according to police records. Police did not arrest or detain Rodimer in either case and no charges were filed in either incident.

His wife steadfastly defended him during the campaign and accused Democrats of being misleading.

Sulker-Hall said she would have considered crossing party lines to vote for Rodimer but said, "I saw all of the ads I guess regarding Rodimer and I was just concerned.”

Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford was up against former GOP state legislator Jim Marchant in the 4th District, a mix of urban and rural areas covering most of the rest of southern Nevada outside Las Vegas. It leans Democrat but has been competitive since the Legislature created it in 2011.

Horsford, a former longtime state senator, became the first African American to represent Nevada in Congress when he won the seat in 2012 but lost his re-election bid in 2014. He recaptured the seat two years ago.

Based on the final fundraising reports in late October, he had outspent Marchant $2.25 million to $1.2 million. But Horsford still had $1 million cash on hand for the final stretch drive, compared with Marchant’s $166,821.

Amodei has never faced a serious threat in the 2nd District that was created in 1982 and includes Reno, Carson City, Elko and the rural northern half of the rest of the state. It’s the only one of Nevada’s four congressional seats currently held by a Republican.

Amodei beat Democrat Clint Koble in the last election by more than 16 percentage points.

The final tally this time around won’t be official for a week because any mail-in ballot that is postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days in Nevada will be counted before results are formalized during canvass of the votes by individual counties on Nov. 11.

Amodei’s sprawling district includes Reno, Carson City, Elko and the rest of the northern half of the state. He outspent Democratic challenger Patricia Ackerman, a businesswoman and former actress, by a 2-to-1 margin — $820,542 to $348,070.

Ackerman told supporters during a Zoom appearance with other Democratic candidates Tuesday night before any results were released she knew she was in an uphill battle.

“CD-2 is a tough nut to crack,” Ackerman said. “No matter what happens tonight, I think we can all agree we truly kind of focused the trajectory on where we’re going. Every step we take we are getting closer and closer.”

Titus, a former Democratic state senator and university professor who has represented central Las Vegas in Congress since 2012, beat Bentley last time by 35 percentage points.

Like last time, Bentley didn’t report raising any money while Titus spent nearly a half-million dollars.

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Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas contributed to this report. Find AP’s full election coverage at APNews.com/Election2020.