Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has defeated Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, becoming the state’s first Black governor.
A closely watched race flips
Nevada’s Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford won the governor’s race on Election Night, according to projections from the Associated Press and NBC News. The AP called the contest early Wednesday morning. With about 85 percent of the vote counted, Ford led Lombardo by roughly seven percentage points, KTNV reported. Nonpartisan candidate Danielle Ford was also on the ballot.
The result makes Ford Nevada’s first Black governor. The Nevada Independent reported he is the first elected Black governor west of the Mississippi River. Ford has served as attorney general since 2019 and was previously the state’s first Black attorney general.
On X early Wednesday, @TheDemocrats posted: “DEM FLIP: Democrat Aaron Ford has defeated incumbent Republican Joe Lombardo, flipping this seat from red to blue. Congrats, Governor-elect Ford!”
How each side framed the race
Ford’s campaign cast the election as a referendum on living costs and tied Lombardo to President Donald Trump. NBC News reported Democrats attacked what they called the “Lombardo-Trump economy,” pointing to tariffs and federal tax-and-spending fights that weighed on a tourism-heavy state.
- Ford told a Las Vegas watch party the election was about whether “working people in Nevada have a government that works for them,” according to Nevada Current.
- After the call, his campaign said the win belonged to “housekeepers, nurses, teachers” and other workers “fighting for a Nevada we can all afford to call home,” KTNV reported.
Lombardo, elected in 2022 after serving as Clark County sheriff, stressed his state record on health care, education, housing and the economy. He appeared with Trump in Las Vegas last summer and also publicly opposed some tariffs, NBC News noted.
- On Election Night, Lombardo told supporters, “There’s a lot of things going on in the world… We are worried about Nevada,” and said his team had “done a fantastic job,” Nevada Current reported.
- Earlier Tuesday he urged voters on X to stay in line, writing, “We only lose if we don’t vote.”
What comes next
Ford will take office as Democrats also swept other Nevada statewide races, according to The Nevada Independent. Lombardo had not posted a concession on X as of early Wednesday morning.
Sources: AP, NBC News, KTNV, Nevada Current, The Nevada Independent, @TheDemocrats on X, @JoeLombardoNV on X
