LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — President Donald Trump has endorsed Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo for re-election, one year before the general election.
The backing came in a post on Trump's Truth Social platform.
Lombardo embraced Trump's backing, thanking Trump on X and saying "I look forward to continuing my work to advance our conservative agenda and keep Nevada red!"
Trump also endorsed Lombardo in his 2022 race, but that backing didn't persuade the Nevada Republican Party's members, who endorsed Reno personal injury attorney Joey Gilbert instead.
Gilbert lost the Republican primary to Lombardo, but sued, claiming the election was flawed. Gilbert lost that lawsuit, and later was ordered to pay Lombardo's legal bills as well.
Democrats reacted immediately to the Trump endorsement; linking Lombardo to Trump is one of the party's strategies for 2026.
“Joe Lombardo jetted to D.C. to kiss the ring and beg for Donald Trump’s support while Nevadans go hungry and see their health care premiums soar," said Nevada State Democratic Party Executive Director Hilary Barrett in a statement. "This endorsement makes clear that Lombardo will never stand up to Trump to do what’s right for Nevada — even as he guts health care, jacks up costs, and drives our economy into the ground.”
And Attorney General Aaron Ford, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for governor, said in his own statement that Lombardo was sucking up to Trump.
“Joe Lombardo spent the last three years fighting for Donald Trump’s approval — and after selling out working families at every turn, he’s finally earned it," Ford said in his statement. "Lombardo said that Nevadans should ‘feel a little pain’ from Trump’s price-raising agenda, and we are. Trump’s policies are stifling tourism, breaking families’ budgets, ripping away health care, and cutting SNAP benefits from tens of thousands of Nevadans all while giving billionaires tax breaks. Yet Lombardo is in D.C. right now kissing up to Trump — again. And at the direct expense of the people he was elected to serve.
“As Governor, I will put Nevadans first: expanding economic opportunity and creating good-paying jobs, lowering costs, guaranteeing school meals, and taking on predatory corporations pricing Nevadans out of their homes. That’s the future we all deserve here in Nevada, and that’s how we move our state forward — together," Ford's statement added.
Included in Trump's endorsement Thursday was a reference to Lombardo's actions to "Keep our now very Secure Border, SECURE."
But Trump's own government this summer accused Nevada of being a sanctuary state, one where state or local authorities fail to cooperate with immigration enforcement. But federal officials refused to to say precisely why Nevada ended up on the list.
Later, after Lombardo's office provided the U.S. Justice Department with a timeline of actions it had taken on immigration, the federal government took Nevada off the list.
WATCH | Nevada off Justice Department's 'sanctuary state' list
And in July 2022, with Lombardo (who was then serving as sheriff of Clark County) on the stage, Trump declared the the United States in general — and Las Vegas in particular — was a "cesspool of crime."
Lombardo thus far doesn't face significant opposition in the GOP primary for governor, unlike Ford, who must face off against Washoe County Commission Chairwoman Alexis Hill for the right to challenge Lombardo.
The governor has set both a single-session and overall record number of vetoes during his first term, a record he said is nothing to celebrate and one he attributed to a lack of communication and cooperation between Republicans and Democrats in Carson City.
The governor has said he will call a special session of the Legislature, very likely this month, to tackle "unfinished business" from the regular 2025 session, which concluded in early June.
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