Last week, Ford released his ‘Workers First’ economic development plan, a roadmap for how he will make the American Dream accessible to Nevadans again by diversifying Nevada’s economy, cutting costs for working families, and standing up for workers as Governor. 

While Joe Lombardo brags about having the second worst economy in the nation, Attorney General Aaron Ford is proposing plans focused on creating good-paying jobs and relieving Nevadans of the economic hardship they’re experiencing under the Lombardo-Trump economy and how he will turn things around as Governor. The highlights of his plan include:

• Turbocharging union apprenticeship opportunities so that hardworking Nevadans have more paths to the middle class;

• Encourage our best and brightest to contribute their talents here at home by broadening  scholarship opportunities for post-secondary education;

• Requiring data center companies commit to relying on clean energy, paying for their own energy and grid updates, and using alternative cooling systems in order to receive tax abatements; and

• Making Nevada a global clean energy leader to lower costs and create good-paying jobs.

Ford went on MS Now’s ‘The Briefing With Jen Psaki’ to talk about how under Joe Lombardo and Donald Trump Nevada’s unemployment rate is one of the highest of any state in the nation, Nevada families have had to spend an extra $2,900 on average for things like food, energy and health care, and how he’s fighting back against Donald Trump’s destructive policies instead of folding like Joe Lombardo.

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MS NOW: Attorney General Aaron Ford is Protecting Nevadans from Donald Trump and Joe Lombardo

• “I've had direct conversations with Nevadans all across our state at the University of Nevada up in Reno, at UNLV down in Vegas… they are selling plasma to pay their rent.”

• “I've had conversations with a woman in a rural county, Douglas County, telling me she was grocery shopping and had to buy a prescription – she picked up her prescriptions and left those groceries right there in the aisle. She couldn't afford both.”

• “And what we see now is the cruelty of Donald Trump and the cowardice of Joe Lombardo is a dangerous combination. I'm running for Governor to get us out of this horrible mess, and it begins on accountability day on November 3rd when I am elected Governor.”

Las Vegas Sun: Ford’s Nevada economic plan targets NV Energy fees, prescription costs and corporate landlords

• The plan by Ford, the Democratic nominee for governor, points to several economic pressures, including an unemployment rate 0.9 percentage points above the national average as of May 2026, a decline in the tourism industry and a 12% increase in college tuition. It lays out policy responses across four areas: workers and unions, economic diversification, education and everyday costs.

• For workers, Ford proposes repealing Nevada’s right-to-work law, which he says suppresses wages. He cites data showing workers in non-right-to-work states earn about $1,600 more annually than those in states like Nevada. 

• The plan also calls for expanding registered apprenticeship programs through partnerships with labor unions, with a goal of enrolling 50% more apprentices. Those programs, Ford says, create direct pathways to well-paying careers.

• To diversify the state’s economy, long dependent on gaming and tourism, Ford proposes investing in emerging energy technologies and expanding utility-scale solar. The campaign says Nevada currently consumes more energy than it produces, despite leading the nation in solar power potential.

KTVN: Ford talks about his ‘worker-first economic’ agenda

• “I think AI is here to stay but it should also be benefiting everyone and we should be careful not to have it displace jobs”

• “We’re going to ensure that any data center that operates here is utilizing something other than water to cool its systems, that it is also building out the electrical grid in a way that doesn’t burden our residential or even commercial consumers”

• “I’m going to encourage our best and brightest to contribute their talents here at home because our biggest export shouldn’t be our children”