FACT CHECK: The Nevada Independent Rips Apart Lombardo Campaign’s Latest Lies

In a new fact-check, the Nevada Independent debunked the Lombardo campaign’s sham, AI-generated report that completely falsifies the cost of General Ford’s agenda, finding that “the $18 billion price tag is based almost entirely on assumptions that place seven-to-10 figure price tags on vague or rhetorical Ford policies and include costs that would actually save Nevadans money.”

Not only does Lombardo’s report lie about how much Ford’s plan would cost Nevadans, his campaign also inadvertently admitted Ford’s policies would slash costs for Nevadans – including housing costs, through Ford’s plan to continue his fight against Trump’s tariffs.

“Lying Lombardo’s desperate campaign is going to have to finally take responsibility for the cost of living crisis created by him and Donald Trump after this latest pathetic attempt at a distraction was resoundingly smacked down by the Nevada Independent,” said Prerna Jagadeesh, spokesperson for Ford for Governor. “Team Lombardo should probably focus less on manufacturing fake ‘analyses’ and more on what actually matters to voters: lowering costs for working families.”

The Lombardo campaign’s choice to release a fake study is the latest attempt by them  to save their imploding campaign. To recap: 

• In a viral moment, Joe Lombardo was caught abusing his public office and name-dropping his way out of a ticket, sparking coverage everywhere from Associated Press to Fox News to The New York Times to TMZ. This prompted a Reno resident to file an ethics complaint against Lombardo and a local reporter to conclude that he needed to “fix” his campaign. 

• In an embarrassing unearthed video, a worker featured in Better Nevada PAC's attack ad admitted that he “did it for the money” and “ended up voting for [Aaron Ford] anyway.” Shortly before the video was discovered, a fact check by KTNV ruled that “the accusations that appear in some of the [Better Nevada PAC’s] ads aren't true.”

• In recently leaked audio, Lombardo was caught calling Donald Trump his “commanding officer" in regards to dealing with ICE just days after Nevadans watched in horror as Trump’s rogue ICE agents beat an elderly man at the airport.

• After Joe Lombardo touted his “Democrats for Lombardo” sham, a member of the group came forward saying Lombardo added his name despite the fact that he’s supporting Aaron Ford for governor. A KTNV reporter remarked, “Turns out this Democrat for Lombardo is really a Democrat for Ford!”

• Earlier this year, Lombardo admitted that he’s “not enough of a motivator” to turn out voters this fall. Following this admission, Lombardo hinged his campaign on a trans ballot initiative that eventually failed to make it onto the November ballot, calling it his “vote-getter”

READ MORE: 

The Nevada Independent: Republicans keep saying Aaron Ford's policies will cost $18B. Here's why it's misleading.

• But a closer look at the underlying numbers shows that the $18 billion price tag is based almost entirely on assumptions that place seven-to-10 figure price tags on vague or rhetorical Ford policies and include costs that would actually save Nevadans money.

• Most of the alleged new spending — more than $9.9 billion — is for costs borne by businesses or the federal government and thus not related to state revenues. And the proposal the report says is most expensive — canceling medical debt — was based on a significant misunderstanding of the process, a Stanford economist told The Indy.

• Our analysis also found that the Lombardo campaign believes Ford's proposal to fight the Trump administration's tariffs — if successful — could save hundreds of millions of dollars for Nevada homebuyers. The governor's campaign has not previously admitted this.

• While the campaign implies that all of the alleged costs would directly translate into higher costs for households, many of the supposed incurred costs would be placed on the federal government, which can operate at a deficit, or on businesses that do not necessarily increase costs for households. The report also found that many of the proposals would benefit Nevada households.

• Asked whether the report is an acknowledgement that tariffs have had this effect on homebuyers, Lombardo's campaign did not provide a direct answer.
  

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