After Attorney General Ford won a decisive victory in his primary last Tuesday, media outlets across Nevada and the nation highlighted how Ford’s showdown with Trump doormat and “MAGA warrior” Joe Lombardo will be a referendum on the failed Lombardo-Trump economy, how Ford is running on ending the cost-of-living crisis and renewing the American Dream for Nevadans, and how Nevadans are hungry for change and a fighter to stand up to Trump.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:

The Las Vegas Sun: ‘‘Not going to back down’: Aaron Ford targets vulnerable Lombardo in Nevada governor’s race’

• Ford’s case against Lombardo is straightforward: Nevada families are struggling with rising costs he attributes to the policies of President Donald Trump and his Republican backers, and Ford wants the chance to do something about it. 

• “Nevada families are hurting. I don’t care what party you belong to, I’m not going to back down,” Ford said in an address at Culinary Workers Union Local 226 headquarters on Spring Mountain Road. “The choice couldn’t be clearer. Do you want a governor who’s going to stand with billionaires, or do you want one who’s going to fight for the working class? Do you want an economy that only works for the wealthy and the well-connected, or one that works for everybody?”

The New York Times: ‘Nevada Attorney General Wins Democratic Nomination for Governor’ 

• In Nevada, a critical and politically volatile battleground, voters have not hesitated to oust incumbents, especially during tough financial times. Steve Sisolak was the only sitting Democratic governor to lose a re-election bid in 2022, a defeat blamed on backlash to his pandemic-era lockdown orders.

• Mr. Ford, 54, is hoping that pendulum will swing his way, with Nevada’s unemployment rate and gas prices among the highest in the nation. Democrats view the race as perhaps their best opportunity to flip a governor’s seat.

• Tuesday’s primary victory is part of Mr. Ford’s unlikely rise through Nevada politics. He grew up poor in Texas, attended college through a federal program for low-income students and relied on food stamps and public housing when he became a single father in his early 20s. He is betting that his background will be an asset in a state where working-class voters often decide elections. Mr. Ford would be Nevada’s first Black governor.

Associated Press: ‘Nevada is set to have one of nation’s premier races for governor as Democrats seek to reclaim seat’ 

• Ford argued that both the governor and President Donald Trump are responsible for Nevadans’ economic woes. At his victory party, he promised to lower costs for families.

• “This is all about strengthening the working class,” he said. “And we will once again be a state where you can afford to live your own version of the American dream.”

NBC News: ‘Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo to face off against Democrat Aaron Ford in Nevada’s race for governor’

• In a statement after Ford won his primary Tuesday night, campaign manager Zoë Kleinfeld called Lombardo “Trump’s human doormat” who “told working Nevadans breaking their backs to get by that we need to ‘feel a little pain’ while his biggest donors saw increased profits.”

• Chris Sloan, political director of the Democratic Governors Association, said on a recent call with reporters that Nevada was a “top pickup opportunity” this cycle.

• “We feel confident about this race for a number of reasons. First and foremost, Joe Lombardo is the most vulnerable governor up for re-election in the country, thanks to his failed record and his support for Trump’s cost-raising agenda,” Sloan said.

KTNV Channel 13 Las Vegas: ‘Aaron Ford wins Democratic nomination’

KSNV Channel 3 Las Vegas: ‘Economy, affordability and national politics are the things [voters are] looking at in this governor's race’ 

KLAS Channel 8 Las Vegas: ‘Ford says Lombardo is not doing enough to help working-class Nevadans’

KRXI Channel 11 Reno: ‘Nevadans want a Governor who will fight back on President Trump’s policies’