Politico: One of America’s most at-risk GOP governors gets a Democratic challenger

Yesterday, after receiving the endorsements of Nevada’s entire Democratic Congressional Delegation, Attorney General Aaron Ford launched his campaign for Governor to a crowd of more than 250 alongside Congresswoman Dina Titus, Congressman Steven Horsford, Assemblywoman Cecelia González, and labor leaders. Ford started his morning with a prayer breakfast at his home church followed by a small business stop at Gritz Cafe. He ended his day in rural Nye County talking with Pahrump voters.

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Nevada Independent: Aaron Ford, Nevada’s Democratic attorney general, officially jumps into governor’s race

• Ford has previously described his role as attorney general as focused on justice in all its forms — environmental, racial, housing, social — and on Monday, he touted suing both the Trump and Biden administrations, saying if someone hurts Nevada families, he’s “not backing down.” 
  
  

• However, Geoff Garin, the president of Hart Research, who has conducted extensive polling for Democrats, told The Nevada Independent in a July interview that the polling reveals vulnerabilities and “there’s no real depth” to Lombardo’s support.
  
  

• During the 2023 legislative session, Ford’s office proposed laws addressing organized retail crime, making it easier for law enforcement to respond to domestic violence incidents and increasing penalties for fentanyl possession. 
  
  

• In the 2025 legislative session, Ford spearheaded legislation banning price manipulation of essential goods and services. Lombardo vetoed it. 
  

New York Times: Nevada Democrats Spot an Opportunity in a Vulnerable G.O.P. Governor

• After months of anticipation, the 2026 race for Nevada governor came into focus on Monday, with the favorite for the Democratic nomination making his campaign official as he seeks to take down the Republican incumbent.
  
  

• The flurry of activity is all part of a growing effort among Democrats to take down one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents: Gov. Joe Lombardo, who is running for re-election in a swing state that has not hesitated to oust its sitting officeholders in recent years.
  
  

• Democrats’ best shot is likely to be Aaron Ford, the state attorney general who announced his entrance into the Democratic primary on Monday after signaling his intention to run for months. Mr. Ford is widely viewed as the favorite to win the nomination, though he will have company in the primary next June.
  
  

• Mr. Ford pointed to Mr. Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill, which could cause more than 100,000 people in Nevada to lose Medicaid coverage, and Mr. Lombardo’s veto of bills like one that would have provided meals to students.
  

Politico: One of America’s most at-risk GOP governors gets a Democratic challenger

• Once a recipient of food stamps and Medicaid benefits, Ford now plans to run against Republicans’ cuts to those same programs, which he says will deeply impact Nevadans.
  
  

• “It was Medicaid that enabled my son and me to have the health care we needed in order to be able to survive. It was food stamps that kept us fed,” Ford said in an interview, explaining that he and his son used these programs for a year and a half when he was a single father attending college. “It hits me … particularly hard to know that people are about to be hit in those areas.”
  
  

• Medicaid has become a major campaign point for Democrats across the country, and Ford is already framing his race through that lens. In a conversation with POLITICO the week before announcing his campaign, Ford talked about the negative effects the megabill will have on Nevadans and criticized Lombardo’s response to the legislation — accusing him of being silent on cuts that would harm Nevadans.
  

Las Vegas Review Journal: AG Ford launches bid for Nevada governor

• “If you’re tired of the status quo, and you’re tired of people who won’t stand up for you, you want someone who’s going to fight for a Nevada that works for everyone, join us,” Ford said to a crowd of over 250 at the East Las Vegas Community Center.
  
  

• At his campaign launch, Nevada Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford and Dina Titus introduced Ford and commended his work as attorney general, such as clearing a backlog of rape kits, delivering settlements for Nevada and suing the Trump administration over what Titus described as an “executive overreach.”
  
  

• Ford went to college and in his junior year became a father, then a single father, needing Medicaid and food stamps to care for his son, he said. He later met his wife, Berna Rhodes-Ford, graduated from college, earned two master’s degrees and his law degree and became a public school math teacher.
  
  

• Ford said it is time to “stop sliding backwards” and to start “moving forward” — a slogan highlighted in his campaign video, with emphasis on the first and last two letters of ‘forward’. If elected, he promised to bring down prescription drug prices, stop corporations from buying up homes, guarantee breakfast and lunch for public school students and fund summer school.
  

The Hill: Nevada attorney general launches bid to unseat Lombardo

• “I’m running for Governor because Nevadans need a fighter in their corner,” Ford said in a statement released Monday. “I will work to lower the crushing cost of housing and prescription drugs, strengthen our public schools, and ensure every community in Nevada is safe.”
  
  

• Ford touted his background as a former math teacher who also served as majority leader of the state Senate. He argued that under the GOP governor, “Nevadans are suffering in an economy that is rigged against those trying their hardest to stay afloat” and hit him over issues such as the state’s high unemployment rate and homelessness.
  
  

• The Silver State, along with Georgia, are seen as Democrats’ best opportunities to flip governors’ mansions next year. The nonpartisan election analyst Cook Political Report rates the governor’s seat in Nevada and Georgia both as toss-ups.
  

Nevada Current: Ford promises ‘you matter’ state government if elected to top spot

• “I know what it’s like to feel like you’re pushing a rock up a hill in the fight for a better life. And families all across Nevada are feeling it, too,” he said. “It feels like the deck is stacked against them. And you know what? It is. I’m fighting for the kind of government that sees people like I was and says, ‘you matter.’” 
  
  

• Ford noted that Lombardo, when asked by a reporter about the impact of Trump’s tariffs, said Nevadans “‘may have to feel a little pain.’ Can you believe that our governor wants families to feel pain while he caters to the powerful? Well, thanks to Joe Lombardo and Donald Trump, there’s plenty of pain to go around.”
  
  

• Ford criticized Lombardo for enlisting a Republican lawmaker to kill legislation that would have limited home buying by out-of-state corporations, whose purchases jack up the prices in Nevada neighborhoods. Under Lombardo’s watch, he added, Nevada has had the highest unemployment rate in the nation while job growth lags other states.   
  
  

• NBC News has labeled Lombardo as the most vulnerable Republican governor seeking reelection next year. The governor’s support for Trump’s deportation policies could erode his support among Latino voters, an essential voting bloc in the state.
  

NBC: Nevada's Democratic attorney general launches campaign for governor

• Nevada state Attorney General Aaron Ford announced a run for governor today, challenging Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo — seen as the most vulnerable Republican governor up for re-election next year.
  
  

• “The bottom line is, I think the Nevadans deserve a governor who’s going to solve problems, not one who blocks progress,” Ford said in an interview with NBC News.
  
  

• “When I’m governor, I’ll invest in strong public schools and creating good paying jobs, including in the clean energy and tech sectors, and I’ll work to ensure that every family can afford to live and to thrive here,  which is the opposite what we see Joe Lombardo doing,” Ford said.
  
  

• Nevada Democrats have already sought to tie Lombardo to the law, though the Republican has walked a fine line between offering praise for certain aspects of the megabill while pushing back against others.
  

Washington Post: The one state that could determine House control next year

• Aaron Ford, Nevada’s Democratic attorney general, formally announced his campaign for governor today, setting up his expected, but closely watched, 2026 campaign.
  
  

• “Nevadans have a history of holding their elected officials accountable, as they did when Senator Jacky Rosen defeated Dean Heller. Voters are looking for a leader who understands their challenges, has lived through them, and is ready to fight for real results,” Ford told us in a statement, before referring to his likely opponent, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo as “the most vulnerable Republican governor up for reelection next year.”
  
  

• Ford has a unique personal story — growing up in poverty, surviving on many of the same programs cut in Trump’s recently signed mega-bill and eventually earning five degrees and rising to become the top law enforcement official in his state.
  

Las Vegas Sun: Democrats rally around Ford’s bid to become Nevada governor

• Monday’s event offered a better idea of Ford’s line of attack against current Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo: tying the former sheriff to President Donald Trump’s policies such as the One Big Beautiful Bill and a growing list of executive orders reshaping the federal government.
  
  

• He connected those policies to his upbringing, telling the story of once eating stale candy bars his father found next to a dumpster for dinner. It was food stamps that prevented him from going hungry and Medicaid that ensured he could see a doctor, Ford said.
  
  

• Despite the attacks on Lombardo and Trump, Ford emphasized his commitment to bipartisanship. The attorney general noted that he had also sued President Joe Biden’s administration while it was in office.
  
  

• “Finally, a candidate for governor in Nevada who speaks our language, understands our struggles, and will fight for our families,” Doñate wrote in Spanish.
  

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