Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and Democrat Aaron Ford have won their primaries, NBC News projects, officially setting up what\u2019s expected to be one of the most competitive gubernatorial contests in the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lombardo, the former Clark County sheriff, easily secured his party\u2019s nomination over several low-profile challengers as he seeks a second term. Ford defeated Washoe County commissioner in the Democratic contest, taking roughly two-thirds of the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since Lombardo won his first gubernatorial election in Nevada, a perennial swing state, by less than 2 percentage points in 2022, he has emerged as a top Democratic target for defeat. Of the five governor\u2019s races the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rated as \u201ctoss-ups,\u201d Nevada\u2019s is the only one with a Republican running for re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ford, who previously was the top Democrat in the state Senate, is vying to become the first Black governor of Nevada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The race, which had long been anticipated to be a Lombardo-Ford matchup, has already featured national overtones. Ford and Democrats have sought to tie Lombardo to President Donald Trump, arguing that his policies on tariffs, immigration, the Iran war and more have harmed Nevada and its economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lombardo and his allies, meanwhile, have cast him as a pragmatic Republican who has worked with a Democratic-controlled Legislature on jobs, education and housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In many ways, Democrats hope to capitalize this year on some of the dynamics that contributed to their narrow defeat in 2022. That year, like now, the party had an unpopular president in the White House with high inflation and consumer prices. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak was unable to outrun those factors, among others, and lost by just over 15,000 votes. (He was the only Democratic governor to lose a re-election in 2022.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But underscoring how closely divided Nevada is politically, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto narrowly won re-election the same year, defeating Republican Adam Laxalt by 7,900 votes. The same split occurred two years later, when Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris lost the state, while Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen defeated her Republican challenger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to be relentless there, and you have to talk about these pocketbook issues,\u201d said Joshua Marcus-Blank, a Democratic strategist who worked on Cortez Masto\u2019s 2022 campaign and on the Harris campaign\u2019s Nevada operation. \u201cYou just have to be relentless on the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevada Democrats have tried to link Lombardo to Trump on economic issues. They include the \u201cone big, beautiful bill\u201d Trump signed into law last year, which will cut Medicaid in a state where about 1 in 3 people are on the program. The law also features tax provisions about gambling that will have a big effect on a state whose economy relies almost exclusively on casinos and hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats have also argued that Trump\u2019s tariffs, which the Supreme Court struck down, have had a detrimental impact on Las Vegas tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while gasoline prices have risen nationwide because of Trump\u2019s war with Iran, Nevada\u2019s in particular are among the highest in the U.S., according to AAA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement after Ford won his primary Tuesday night, campaign manager Zo\u00eb Kleinfeld called Lombardo \u201cTrump\u2019s human doormat\u201d who \u201ctold working Nevadans breaking their backs to get by that we need to \u2018feel a little pain\u2019 while his biggest donors saw increased profits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris Sloan, political director of the Democratic Governors Association, said on a recent call with reporters that Nevada was a \u201ctop pickup opportunity\u201d this cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe feel confident about this race for a number of reasons. First and foremost, Joe Lombardo is the most vulnerable governor up for re-election in the country, thanks to his failed record and his support for Trump\u2019s cost-raising agenda,\u201d Sloan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Democrats pitch their message to Latinos, who make up about 1 in 5 voters in Nevada, is likely to weigh heavily on their chances of victory in November. Latino voters shifted toward Trump in Nevada in 2024, helping power the first Republican presidential election win in the state in 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of its re-election case, Lombardo\u2019s campaign has pointed to job creation on his watch and to a law he enacted that will fund at least $130 million in what his administration has dubbed \u201cattainable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats note that despite the job growth under Lombardo, the state\u2019s unemployment rate has ticked up during his four years and that he vetoed several other housing bills the Democratic-controlled Legislature had supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 continued economic pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur work isn\u2019t finished. There are still families feeling the pressure of rising costs, students who need greater opportunities, and communities that deserve even more economic growth and investment,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m running for another term \u2014 to build on the progress we\u2019ve made, finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the governor of a swing state, Lombardo has also walked a fine line between offering praise for and pushing back against Trump and his policies. For example, when it came to Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill,\u201d Lombardo lauded many of its tax provisions but also warned Congress not to make changes to Medicaid funding ahead of its passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump endorsed Lombardo back in November, and Lombardo has praised him in public appearances in recent months. But notably, Lombardo did not appear with Trump in April at an event in Las Vegas where he touted the \u201cno tax on tips\u201d provision of the \u201cbig, beautiful bill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Better Nevada state PAC, which supports Lombardo, has attacked Ford over missing work as attorney general \u2014 one ad it is running statewide alleges Ford missed 420 days \u2014 and taking out-of-state trips paid for by nonprofit groups. Ford is the subject of an ethics complaint investigation by the state Ethics Commission because of some of those trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ford campaign spokesperson Tai Sims told NBC News that the travel in question was due to Ford\u2019s leadership role at the Attorney General Alliance and accused Lombardo and his allies of pushing a \u201cfalse political narrative\u201d about the travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Better Nevada spokesperson John Burke told NBC News: \u201cWith Joe Lombardo as governor, graduation rates are rising in schools, job growth is leading the nation, and housing is more attainable for working families. He\u2019s been solely focused on moving the ball forward for Nevada families from all walks of life. That\u2019s a clear contrast to part-time state employee Aaron Ford.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, the chair of the Republican Governors Association, said in a statement: \u201cIn November, Nevadans will choose to build on this momentum and re-elect Governor Lombardo, rejecting the absent Aaron Ford.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lombardo also enters the general election campaign with advantages in fundraising and ad spending. From Jan. 1 through Tuesday, the Lombardo campaign and allied groups had already spent about $8.5 million on ads, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, while the Ford campaign had spent $67,000 during the same stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Democrats are optimistic an economic-focused message will be their ticket to success in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou look at a lot of these economic challenges. A lot of them may have helped Trump win the state in 2024, when he said he was going to be able to fix them. But now they\u2019re exactly the same ones that are hanging around the governor\u2019s record,\u201d said Marcus-Blank, the Democratic strategist. \u201cBut not only has nothing changed from when Donald Trump came in and said he would fix everything, but also, things just aren\u2019t looking much better from when the governor was elected himself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n