Democrat Aaron Ford Draws Winning Hand in Nevada Governor’s Race, Flips It Blue
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford during an interview in Las Vegas, on Dec. 14, 2018. John Locher/AP Photo
Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford galvanized enough voter support to win Nevada’s governor’s seat and oust Republican Joe Lombardo after one term in office.
The Associated Press called the race at 4:46 a.m. ET.
Polls were mixed leading up to Election Day, with Lombardo or Ford ahead by just a few points depending on the survey.
The Cook Political Report ranked the contest as a “Toss Up.”
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Ford, who won his primary election in a massive lead against Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill, ran on a platform to make housing more affordable for renters and homebuyers, work to lower medical prices and crack down on fraudulent medical billing, prioritize clean energy, and make sure companies behind data centers don’t raise costs to Nevadans.
The attorney general was endorsed by dozens of organizations, including Planned Parenthood and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents 60,000 employees at hotels, resorts, and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, including the Mandalay Bay, the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, and Caesars Palace.
Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer for the culinary union, blames Trump’s immigration enforcement for causing some of Las Vegas’s “biggest customers” to retreat from making the trip to the Entertainment Capital of the World, causing a “Trump slump.”
In a Facebook post on Nov. 1, the union urged voters to bring in Ford for a “real course correction” in the state.
Lombardo, a former sheriff, ran on a platform to prioritize public safety, election integrity, education, lower expenses and housing costs, and boost government transparency and accountability.
The Republican, who defeated more than a handful of long-shot Republican candidates by a landslide to win the GOP primary in June, was endorsed by President Donald Trump in the primary and general election.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo delivers his State of the State address in Carson City, Nev., on Jan. 15, 2025. Madeline Carter /Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP
Trump won Nevada with 50.6 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election but lost to Joe Biden in 2020, taking 47.7 percent of the vote to the Democrat’s 50.1 percent.
The state has undergone a shift in voter registration in recent years, with Democrats losing tens of thousands of registered voters since 2021 and the GOP gaining ground.
Lombardo was elected Clark County sheriff in 2014, overseeing Las Vegas, and held that position until he was elected the 31st governor of Nevada in November 2022, unseating Democrat Steve Sisolak, who served one term from 2019 to 2023.
As of Nov. 1, the secretary of state’s office said it had recorded 308,025 in-person early votes statewide after early voting closed on Oct. 30, with Republicans accounting for 39.5 percent of those ballots compared with Democrats at 36.7 percent, and other voters at 23.8 percent.
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