{"id":2467645,"date":"2025-07-28T10:28:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nevada-democratic-ag-aaron-ford-launches-gubernatorial-bid-to-oust-joe-lombardo-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T10:29:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:29:37","slug":"nevada-democratic-ag-aaron-ford-launches-gubernatorial-bid-to-oust-joe-lombardo-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nevada-democratic-ag-aaron-ford-launches-gubernatorial-bid-to-oust-joe-lombardo-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Nevada Democratic AG Aaron Ford launches gubernatorial bid to oust Joe Lombardo &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnevada-democratic-ag-aaron-ford-launches-gubernatorial-bid-to-oust-joe-lombardo-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2467645&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, has officially launched his campaign to become governor, aiming to unseat the incumbent Republican Governor Joe Lombardo in the highly competitive 2026 race. ford highlights cuts to Medicaid and food stamps as key issues motivating his run, sharing that these programs personally helped him and his son in the past. Serving as Nevada&#8217;s top prosecutor since 2019 and with experience as both majority and minority leader in the state Senate, Ford has established political credentials and secured endorsements from prominent Democratic senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez-masto. Although facing a relatively light Democratic primary field, his path could become more challenging if former Governor Steve Sisolak decides to run again. The election is expected to be closely contested in this swing state, with Ford positioning himself as a defender of social safety nets against recent Republican-led budget cuts.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Nevada Democratic AG Aaron Ford launches gubernatorial bid to oust Joe Lombardo<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2183431\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/nevada\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Nevada<\/a> Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, announced Monday that he is running for governor against incumbent Republican <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/politics\/3441374\/joe-lombardo-nevada-vetoes-voter-id-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Gov. Joe Lombardo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The swing state is expected to host one of the more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/these-deep-blue-house-seats-could-flip-red-in-november\/\" title=\"These Deep Blue House Seats Could Flip Red in November\">competitive gubernatorial races<\/a> of the 2026 cycle.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3483700\/mike-collins-launches-bid-for-georgia-senate\/\">&#8203;&#8203;Mike Collins launches bid for Georgia Senate<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3483627\/trump-disputes-netanyahu-gaza-starvation\/\">Trump disputes Netanyahu&#8217;s dismissal of starvation in Gaza<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3483652\/trump-cuts-putin-50-day-deadline-peace-ukraine\/\">Trump cuts Putin&#8217;s 50-day deadline for peace with Ukraine<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Ford hopes voters will support his bid to unseat Lombardo due to cuts to Medicaid and food stamps.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It was Medicaid that enabled my son and me to have the healthcare we needed in order to be able to survive. It was food stamps that kept us fed,&rdquo; Ford said in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/07\/28\/americas-most-at-risk-gop-governor-gets-a-democratic-challenger-00477976?nname=playbook&amp;nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&amp;nrid=f30a4edf-4720-44be-853f-499f03445417\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">interview with <em>Politico<\/em><\/a>, adding that he and his son used these programs for over a year.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It hits me &hellip; particularly hard to know that people are about to be hit in those areas,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Ford has been the state&rsquo;s top prosecutor since 2019 and was in the Nevada Senate for several years, both as the chamber&rsquo;s majority and minority leader at different points in his career. Ford won the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-ag-barr-authorizes-federal-prosecutors-to-pursue-substantial-allegations-of-voting-irregularities-before-2020-election-is-certified\/\" title=\"BREAKING: AG Barr Authorizes Federal Prosecutors to Pursue &quot;Substantial Allegations&quot; of Voting Irregularities Before 2020 ... is Certified\">attorney general<\/a> spot<\/a> in 2018 by less than a percentage point before taking the position by a much more decisive margin of about 7 points in 2022 against Republican Sigal Chattah.<\/p>\n<p>To face Lombardo in the general election, he&rsquo;ll have to make it through a Democratic primary field that remains thin for now. The only confirmed competitor Ford has is Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill. His path to becoming the Democratic nominee would become considerably cloudier if former Gov. Steve Sisolak <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/11\/us\/politics\/steve-sisolak-nevada-governor-joe-lombardo.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">decides to run again<\/a> in 2026 after Lombardo narrowly unseated him in the 2022 election.<\/p>\n<p>But Ford has the backing of Democratic Nevada Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV),<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fordfornevada.com\/endorsements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"> signaling that the Democratic establishment<\/a> in the state could be firmly behind him.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;At a time when the chaos in D.C. is making life harder for so many Nevadans, we need a leader in Carson City who understands what hardworking families are going through and isn&rsquo;t afraid to take on tough fights for our state,&rdquo; Rosen <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RosenforNevada\/status\/1949488789237153896\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">said in her endorsement of<\/a> Ford on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Ford&rsquo;s decision to run against Republican Medicaid cuts aligns with common Democratic criticism of the Trump administration. Republicans say their Medicaid cuts in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nancy-mace-knifes-her-own-party-when-she-adopts-pro-abortion-talking-points\/\" title=\"Nancy Mace betrays party with pro-abortion stance.\">recent budget bill<\/a> are simply &ldquo;waste, fraud, and abuse&rdquo; being drawn out of the program, while Democrats have countered by saying that it&rsquo;s taking benefits away from people anyway.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/medicaid\/poll-finding\/kff-health-tracking-poll-the-publics-views-of-funding-reductions-to-medicaid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">A June poll showed more<\/a> than 70% of the public is &ldquo;worried that a significant reduction in federal funding for Medicaid would lead to an increase in the share of uninsured children and adults in the U.S.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Lombardo asked the White House in February not to cut Medicaid, but also touted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mtg-regrets-voting-for-big-beautiful-bill-after-learning-of-ai-provision-over-a-week-later\/\" title=\"MTG regrets voting for \u2018big, beautiful ...\u2019 after learning of AI provision over a week later\">budget bill&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s advantages. &ldquo;While my administration continues to assess this bill as it moves to get signed into law, Nevadans should be excited about the potential impacts of tax cuts, investments in small businesses and American manufacturing, and efforts to help secure our border,&rdquo; Lombardo said in a statement provided to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/news\/politics-and-government\/nevada\/nevada-inspired-no-tax-on-tips-policy-coming-to-fruition-after-big-beautiful-bill-passes-3392560\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLwkuxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHkLfxw2sgYKAeLm6c61PpCJA85hPrUxNbFymKWf8HeJmNDvY2BtVPrek1-fa_aem_oYUB5fKVvASKAZDyVKzotA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/a>&nbsp;after the bill&rsquo;s passage.<\/p>\n<p>Ford countered last week, saying no one should be &ldquo;excited about the fact that over 100,000 people in Nevada are about to lose their health insurance.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3467239\/trump-agenda-law-limits-gambling-loss-deductions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">TRUMP AGENDA LAW LIMITS GAMBLING LOSS DEDUCTIONS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The attorney general said he believes he has a decent shot at winning if he makes it to the general election in a state that elected Democratic governors for decades before electing three straight Republican governors at the start of the millennium.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;One of the fascinating parts about Nevada is that it is notoriously purple,&rdquo; Ford said. &ldquo;And it is not at all adverse to jettisoning an incumbent that&rsquo;s not doing his job.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2183431\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2183431\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nevada AG Aaron Ford announces run to unseat Gov. Lombardo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2467646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/aaron-ford.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[60077,32923,40300,60078,5592],"class_list":["post-2467645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-aaron-ford","tag-democratic-party","tag-gubernatorial-bid","tag-joe-lombardo","tag-nevada"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/aaron-ford.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2467645"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2467649,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467645\/revisions\/2467649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2467646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2467645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2467645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2467645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}