(The Epoch Times)—Incumbent Joe Lombardo will face off against Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford in Nevada’s gubernatorial election this fall.
Lombardo, a former sheriff endorsed by President Donald Trump, defeated more than a handful of long-shot Republican candidates to win the GOP primary in the gubernatorial race in a landslide on June 9. The Associated Press called the race at 11:35 p.m. ET.
Ford won the Democratic nomination for the governor’s seat in a massive lead against Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill. The Associated Press called the race at 11:45 p.m. ET.
The battle between Lombardo and Ford will not be an easy fight, as Cook Political Report ranks the seat as a “toss up.”
Nevada Democrats hope they can flip the governor’s seat back to blue, after Lombardo unseated the state’s most recent Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, after he served just one term from 2019 to 2023.
Trump won Nevada with 50.59 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election, and the outcome of the governor’s race this fall could give the United States a glimpse of where voters in the purple state stand in a time of high gas prices and grocery bills, and a war in the Middle East.
The state has undergone a shift in voter registration in recent years, with Democrats losing more than 60,000 registered voters since 2021 and the GOP gaining 20,000.
The Epoch Times visited polling sites in the Republican-leaning Nye County and Democrat-leaning Clark County to obtain a preview of voter turnout ahead of the results.
Las Vegas City Hall, which is in Clark County, aimed to boost votes by hosting a Vote Party on Tuesday, surrounding constituents with patriotic stilt-walkers, free ice cream, and sparkling showgirl-themed stickers.
Election officials told The Epoch Times that the glitz and glam successfully encouraged residents to cast their ballots at Las Vegas City Hall despite sweltering mid-90 degree temperatures.
“We saw our turnout increase when we started doing these parties and getting people really engaged,” Las Vegas City Clerk LuAnn Holmes told The Epoch Times.
Holmes said the turnout on June 9 was “higher than anticipated” and suspected Tuesday’s foot traffic at the City Hall location could be 30 percent higher than the voter turnout from the 2024 mayoral election at the polling place.
Election officials in Nye County told The Epoch Times that voter turnout was “fluid” all day long, noting a surge in younger people coming to the polls.
A handful of Republicans who lived in a rural area of Nye county told The Epoch Times they voted for Republican candidate Irina Hansen over Lombardo for governor because Hansen opposed data center expansion.
Lombardo advocated for data center expansion in Nevada, saying it would bring jobs and economic growth to the state.
“I don’t like that they target small rural communities because they’re unincorporated, you know?” Nye County voter Amete Futes told The Epoch Times regarding data centers. “They feel that they can come in and they can control the town boards.”
Both Republican and Democrat voters in Nye County fear potential data centers in the county could replace sections held for wildlife, noting the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) removed almost 1,000 wild horses in March.
The BLM said the horse removal was to “prevent undue or unnecessary degradation of the public lands” and to “restore a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands.”
“Our officials are not stopping BLM from rounding up the wild horses, which is what our state is known for,” voter Arien Sorenson said.
Lombardo was born into a military family in Japan and raised in Las Vegas. He served in the U.S. Army and the Nevada National Guard before joining the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, where he worked for more than two decades.
“I am honored by the confidence Nevadans have placed in me, and I will continue working every day on behalf of every Nevadan—whether they voted for me or not,” Lombardo wrote in a statement released on Tuesday night after he won the Republican nomination.
“Together, we will build on our progress, finish the job, and make Nevada the best place in America to live, work, and raise a family.”
In 2014, he was elected Clark County Sheriff, which oversees Las Vegas, and he held that position until he was elected the 31st Governor of Nevada in November 2022.
The Republican is advocating for building a business-friendly state, investing in the economy, and growing jobs.
“Joe Lombardo is SMART, STRONG, AND TOUGH, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in November 2025.
Ford was endorsed by dozens of organizations, including Planned Parenthood and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226.
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 represents 60,000 hospitality workers who are employed at nearly all of the hotels, resorts, and casinos on the strip including the Mandalay Bay, the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, and Caesars Palace.
“We are in the Trump slump,” Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, told The Epoch Times on June 8. “It is real and happening in Las Vegas, and unfortunately, Governor Lombardo is afraid to stand up to President Trump.
Pappageorge blamed Trump’s strict immigration policies at the southern border and other parts of the United States for causing some of Las Vegas’s “biggest customers” to retreat from making the trip to the Entertainment Capital of the World.
The customers he noted during the interview, included tourists from Canada, middle-class people in Southern California, Mexican nationals, and Europeans.
Las Vegas has seen a 6.8 percent drop in visitors in April 2026 compared to April 2024, according to numbers provided to The Epoch Times by the Culinary Workers Union Local 226.
Ford was born in Dallas and worked in the legal profession in the Lone Star State and Las Vegas until he officially moved to Nevada in 2007.
The Democrat has earned five degrees, including a Ph.D. in education and law, and served as Nevada’s majority leader in 2017 before he became the first African American to take the position of state attorney general in 2019.
Ford has said he wants to lower the unemployment rate, stop large corporations from purchasing single-family homes, and cap security deposit payments for apartments that he alleged were charging nearly three times the rent.
