Joe Lombardo knows he is the most vulnerable Republican governor up for re-election. He said it himself, he’s “not enough of a motivator” to turn out voters this fall, so his PAC has turned to running the earliest negative ad campaign for any incumbent governor in Nevada history in an attempt to distract from his abysmal economic record.

“Joe Lombardo’s campaign will do anything to distract from his abysmal economic record,” said Ford for Governor spokesperson Tai Sims. “Under the Lombardo-Trump economy working families are suffering. On Lombardo’s watch: unemployment, housing costs and homelessness have risen as tourism and state revenue have fallen — all while Nevada has lagged behind the rest of the country in job growth. Attorney General Aaron Ford has a proven track record of putting working families over Wall Street and is laser-focused on making our state more affordable as Nevada’s next Governor.” 

See below for the reality that Lombardo’s team is desperate to distract from:

Nevada Current: Lombardo puts Nevadans’ woes on back burner, jets to D.C. for fundraiser

• Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo is slated to attend a $5,000-a plate fundraiser in his honor Thursday in Washington, D.C., as close to half a million Nevadans struggle to make do with a fraction of federal food assistance benefits, another 100,000 face the prospect of unaffordable health insurance, and an unknown number lose jobs or go unpaid as a result of the federal government shutdown.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Home prices hit record high in Southern Nevada, again

• Home prices in Southern Nevada have broken a record high, again. The median sale price for an existing home in November was $488,995, which topped the previous record of $485,000 set early this year, according to Las Vegas Realtors, which pulls its data from the Multiple Listing Service.

News 3 Las Vegas: Las Vegas tourism down 7.5% in 2025

• Las Vegas tourism in 2025 ultimately fell by 7.5% compared to the previous year, according to new figures released Wednesday.

Reno Gazette Journal: Nevada grocery costs rise again in 2025; state ranks fourth in spending per household

• Nevada families were already paying more at the grocery store than most Americans. But prices continued rising through early 2025 — with some items nearly doubling over the previous year, new data shows.

Nevada Independent: Hunger in Nevada is getting worse. A new report says weak state coordination doesn’t help.

• The report cited 2023 data from Feeding America, which found that 15 percent of Nevadans — or nearly 482,000 people — experience food insecurity, a little higher than the national average of 14 percent. One in 4 Nevada children are food insecure, also above the national average.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Las Vegas ended 2025 with one of highest jobless rates in country

• Las Vegas ended 2025 with one of the highest jobless rates in the nation for big metro areas, amid a slump in tourism to America’s casino capital and broader economic jitters.

Fox Reno: Gov. Lombardo hosts press conference on cyber attack after missing Wednesday's conference

• Thursday's event comes after many Nevadans questioned why the governor was not at the first conference on such an important issue as security and the safety of Nevadans' private data.

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