PRESS RELEASE
Aaron Ford Slams Lombardo’s Weak Data Center Executive Order, Reaffirms His Commitment to Halting Tax Breaks And Prioritizing Community Input
Attorney General Aaron Ford released the following statement on Joe Lombardo’s sham of an executive order replicating a MAGA Republican strategy memo:
“Just last month, Joe Lombardo approved new tax breaks for data centers despite communities across Nevada voicing their concerns. Lombardo has given data center companies more than $240 million in taxpayer dollars that should have been used to help Nevadans struggling to live in his failed economy – and in return, his campaign has been bankrolled with $2 million from MAGA data center and AI billionaires. In his desperation to cling to power, Data Center Joe is trying to run away from his record with this last-ditch excuse for an executive order that maintains the status quo so many Nevadans are rightfully outraged by: massive giveaways for data center companies and no say for communities. Lombardo’s executive order is not a reflection of what Nevada communities are asking for — instead, it's nearly copied and pasted from a MAGA Republican strategy memo.
“When I’m Governor, Nevadans will have the final say on whether or not a data center is built in their community — if local governments don’t want them, they shouldn’t be forced to have them. I will pump the brakes on Lombardo’s data center gravy train, put communities in the driver’s seat, block data centers from raising Nevadans’ costs and depleting our resources, and hold the big data center companies accountable.”
BACKGROUND:
Joe Lombardo is embracing data centers “wholeheartedly” while Attorney General Ford is cutting off their tax breaks, imposing the strictest standards in the nation, and holding them accountable to protect Nevadans’ wallets and natural resources.
Joe Lombardo proclaimed the need to “take care of [his and Trump’s] billionaire friends” – and when it comes to the powerful billionaires trying to build dozens of data centers in Nevada, that’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s one of the biggest data center cheerleaders running for office anywhere in America:
The Nevada Current: In addition to being an ardent defender of billionaires, Lombardo is also among the most enthusiastic data center apologists with their name on a U.S. ballot this year.”
Lombardo: “I am wholeheartedly in support of data centers”
Lombardo: “[Data centers are] a good solution”
Lombardo: data centers are a “gold rush”
Lombardo: “Nevada is proving data centers can be done right”
Lombardo is taking millions of dollars from data centers, who are among his biggest donors, while he has given data centers over $240 million in tax breaks.
On May 11, 2026, Lombardo’s Better Nevada PAC received $500,000 each from Ben Horowitz and his wife, Felicia Horowitz, for a combined $1 million contribution to boost Lombardo’s reelection.
On May 14, just days after his PAC received $1 million from billionaire donors profiting off of data centers and AI, Joe Lombardo’s campaign account posted a video of Lombardo declaring his support for building more data centers in Nevada.
Lombardo said he was a “supporter of the data centers”, which he said “drives’ and “supports” A.I.
Soon after receiving the millions from pro-A.I. and data center donors, Lombardo also published an op-ed in the Reno Gazette Journal doubling down on his embrace of data centers.
On May 21, 2026, days after Lombardo’s pro-data center post, Better Nevada PAC received $1 million from Jessica Roy, the wife of Rob Roy, the founder of Switch, a tech company that designs, builds, and operates data centers in Nevada.
The $1 million Lombardo received from Jessica Roy, the wife of Switch founder Rob Roy, came as Switch is planning to build more data centers in Las Vegas and the North Valley.
In June 2026, less than one month after Roy’s $1 million donation to Lombardo, Switch was approved to build a nearly 57,000 square foot data center on nine acres of land in southern Nevada.
In a June op-ed, Lombardo claimed he wouldn’t support data center projects that don’t have community support. However, two months after writing that op-ed, Lombardo signed Nevada up for Trump’s program to fast-track the buildout of new data centers and bypass community and environmental reviews in the process.
Immediately after signing Nevada up for that MOU fast-tracking data center construction, Lombardo tried to cover up his record and deceive voters ahead of the election by saying his administration is putting protections in place – when the MOU he signed just days before does the exact opposite.
Two days before Lombardo signed Trump’s MOU, The Nevada Independent reported that Lombardo’s administration had not involved local communities in conversations about data center development in Nevada. According to the Nevada Independent, “none of the 12 counties reached by The Indy said the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) engaged with them as part of the [data center] review.”
###