Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and Democrat Aaron Ford won their primary elections, officially setting up one of the most competitive gubernatorial races of the fall, according to an NBC News project.
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Lombardo, a former Clark County sheriff, easily won his party’s nomination over several low-profile challengers as he seeks reelection to a second term. Mr. Ford defeated Washoe County Commissioner in the Democratic race, receiving about two-thirds of the vote.
Lombardo has emerged as a top Democratic target for defeat since winning his first gubernatorial race in the battleground state of Nevada in 2022 by less than 2 percentage points. Of the five gubernatorial races, Nevada is the only one where a Republican is running for re-election, which the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which includes Amy Walter, rated as “unexpected.”
Ford, previously the top Democrat in the state Senate, is vying to become Nevada’s first black governor.
The race, long expected to be a matchup between Lombardo and Ford, already has a national element. Ford and Democrats are trying to link Lombardo to President Donald Trump, arguing that his policies on tariffs, immigration, the war on Iran and more are hurting Nevada and its economy.
Lombardo and his allies, meanwhile, cast him as a pragmatic Republican who has worked with the Democratic-controlled Congress on employment, education and housing issues.
In many ways, Democrats hope to capitalize on some of the dynamics this year that contributed to their narrow defeat in 2022. That year, as now, Democrats had high inflation and consumer prices and an unpopular president in the White House. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak was unable to overcome these factors and lost by just over 15,000 votes. (He was the only Democratic governor to lose reelection in 2022.)
However, underscoring how deeply politically divided Nevada is, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto narrowly won reelection that year, defeating Republican Adam Laxalt by 7,900 votes. Two years later, the same division occurred when Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris lost the state, while Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen defeated her Republican challenger.
“You have to be relentless there and you have to have conversations about these pocketbook issues,” said Joshua Marcus-Blank, a Democratic strategist who worked on Cortez Masto’s 2022 campaign and the Harris campaign’s Nevada operations. “We need to be ruthless about the economy.”
Nevada Democrats are trying to unite Mr. Lombardo and Mr. Trump on economic issues. That includes the “big, beautiful bill” President Trump signed last year that would cut Medicaid in states where about 1 in 3 people participate in the system. The law also includes gambling tax provisions that have a major impact on states whose economies rely almost exclusively on casinos and hospitality.
Democrats also argue that President Trump’s tariffs, which the Supreme Court rejected, are hurting Las Vegas’ tourism industry.
According to AAA, gasoline prices are rising nationwide as a result of President Trump’s war with Iran, but Nevada in particular is among the highest in the United States.
In a statement Tuesday night after Ford’s primary win, campaign manager Zoe Kleinfeld called Lombardo “Trump’s human doormat” and told Nevadans who “work on their knees to make a living that we have to ‘feel some pain’ while his big donors reap the benefits.”
Chris Sloan, political director for the Democratic Governors Association, said in a recent call with reporters that Nevada is the state’s “biggest economic opportunity” this season.
“We are confident in this race for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, Joe Lombardo is the most vulnerable governor in the country seeking re-election due to his history of failure and support for Trump’s cost-raising policies,” Sloan said.
How Democrats send their message to Latinos, who make up about one in five Nevada voters, will likely determine their chances of victory in November. In 2024, Latino voters in Nevada shifted to Trump, contributing to the state’s first Republican presidential victory in 20 years.
As part of its re-election lawsuit, Lombardo’s campaign points to the job creation he oversees and legislation he enacted that provides at least $130 million in funding for what the administration calls “achievable housing.”
Democrats point to the state’s unemployment rate, which rose during his four years despite job gains under Mr. Lombardo, and his vetoes of several other housing bills supported by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
In a statement after his primary victory, Lombardo walked a fine line between taking credit for job growth and private investment in the state, while also acknowledging the reality of continuing economic pressures.
“Our work is not done yet. There are still families who are feeling the pressure of rising costs, students who need greater opportunities, and communities who deserve further economic growth and investment,” he said. “That’s why I’m running for another term — to build on the progress we’ve made and get the job done.”
As governor of a battleground state, Lombardo has walked a fine line between praising and opposing Trump and his policies. For example, regarding President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” Lombardo praised many of its tax provisions, but warned Congress against making changes to Medicaid funding before it passes.
Trump endorsed Lombardo in November, and Lombardo has praised him publicly in recent months. But notably, Lombardo did not appear with Trump at an April event in Las Vegas where Trump touted the “tip tax exemption” provision of the “big, beautiful bill.”
The Better Nevada PAC, which supports Lombardo, has attacked Ford for missing work as attorney general (one ad running across the state claims he missed 420 days) and for traveling out of state at the nonprofit’s expense. Ford is the subject of an ethics complaint investigation by the state Ethics Commission as a result of some of these trips.
Ford campaign spokesman Ty Sims told NBC News that the trip in question was due to Ford’s leadership role in the Attorney General’s Alliance and accused Lombardo and his allies of pushing a “false political narrative” about the trip.
Better Nevada spokesperson John Burke told NBC News, “Since Joe Lombardo became governor, school graduation rates have increased, employment growth has led the nation, and housing has become more affordable for working families. He has been focused on moving the ball forward for Nevada families from all walks of life, in stark contrast to part-time state official Aaron Ford.”
“In November, Nevada will build on this momentum and choose to re-elect Governor Lombardo over absentee Aaron Ford,” Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, president of the Republican Governors Association, said in a statement.
Lombardo will enter the general election campaign with an advantage in fundraising and advertising. From Jan. 1 to Tuesday, Lombardo’s campaign and its allies have already spent about $8.5 million on advertising, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact, while Ford’s campaign spent $67,000 during the same period.
Still, Democrats are optimistic that an economy-focused message will be their ticket to success in November.
“Look at a lot of these economic challenges, many of which may have helped President Trump win states in 2024. President Trump said he could solve them, but now they’re exactly the same ones that are hanging on the governor’s record,” said Marcus Blank, a Democratic strategist. “But not only has nothing changed since Donald Trump took office and said he was going to fix everything, things haven’t gotten much better since the governor himself was elected.”
