Nevada could soon make history by electing the country’s first female-majority state legislature.

After winning a record number of primary contests last month, women could make up nearly two-thirds of the statehouse by 7 November, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.

“In the past, we’ve had to ask women five, six, seven times to run for office,” said Danna Lovell, director of Emerge Nevada, a Democrat-linked candidate-training non-profit based in Las Vegas. “Whereas now, they’re worried. They’re scared about what’s going on in their communities … I think there’s an extremely great possibility for a female majority.”

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Based on their party registration and the partisan makeup of their districts, women are favored to occupy 27 seats in the 2019 Nevada legislature – 19 in the assembly and eight in the senate, a Reno Gazette Journal analysis of voter registration data showed. They will have to add at least five seats – including four in highly competitive assembly districts – to secure a 32-seat majority.

Women are already close to getting a majority in the 42-member assembly. They are expected to hold 19 seats heading into 2019 – 11 assembly seats sought only by women, or by an unchallenged female incumbent, seven seats in politically friendly districts where voter registration figures suggest female hopefuls should win comfortably, and one seat won outright in June’s primary election by Reno newcomer Sarah Peters.

If female candidates can unseat incumbents in four less politically friendly districts, and defend a swing seat held by Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen, a Henderson Democrat, they would outnumber men in the 42-seat assembly and probably secure a bare majority in the whole legislature.

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Men are expected to capture at least 18 seats in the assembly. Women are likely to capture another 19. The remaining five seats – districts four, 21, 29, 31 and 37 – are key races for women if they are to take the majority this year. Men are expected to capture at least 12 seats in the senate. Women are likely to capture another eight. One seat – senate district 20 – is considered competitive between a female and male candidate.

Fred Lokken, a political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College, expects continued growth in Democratic voter registration will bode well for the state’s largely Democratic crop of female contenders.

Lokken, a registered Democrat, predicts they will also be aided by a much-discussed “blue wave” of anti-Trump voter sentiment.

“Donald Trump does something every day to encourage Democrats to vote this year, so that helps,” he said. “This has the potential be an absolutely devastating election to the Republican party.

“So I think, especially with the wave coming, we’ll see more women in state government after November.”

Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, thinks the blue wave will come in more like a blue ripple than a blue tsunami. Yet Herzik, a registered Republican, said he too would not be shocked if women emerged with a statehouse majority on 7 November.

“One thing research has shown us is that women are more likely to serve in states with part-time legislatures,” he said. “Nevada already has a relatively high share of women in the state legislature … so no, [a female majority] wouldn’t be a total surprise.”