As Newsom winds down in California, things heat up in Nevada
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- Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo is running for reelection against Democratic Atty. Gen. Aaron Ford.
- Lombardo is treating Gavin Newsom as Ford’s running mate, a page from an old political playbook.
There are many states in America where a governor shares the ticket with his or her running mate. Nevada is not one of them.
That, however, is but a small detail.
Joe Lombardo, Nevada’s Republican governor, is seeking election to his second term. His chief opponent is Aaron Ford, Nevada’s Democratic attorney general.
But to hear Lombardo and his allies tell it, Ford’s guru, his doppelganger, his soulmate and political inspiration — if not his actual running mate — is the Democratic governor living next door. It’s almost as if Lombardo is facing Gavin Newsom in November.
Look, there, along the streets of Las Vegas, you’ll see California’s governor on billboards, grinning alongside Ford.
Stop at the gas pump, wince at the pain and ask yourself why? It’s not President Trump and the muddle-headed war he started over in Iran. Blame Newsom.
Higher taxes and more spending? Only if Newsom, er, Ford, has his way.
“It’s official,” a chirpy announcer says in one pro-Lombardo campaign spot. “Shared vision. Shared values. Aaron Ford: Gavin Newsom’s choice for Nevada.”
Lombardo seemed, for a time, the most politically vulnerable Republican governor in the country. Things have looked up. He’s built a big financial advantage over Ford. But anti-Trump sentiments are keeping the Democrat in contention, which is what happens when an incumbent is running shackled to a ball and chain.
Enter Newsom.
A familiar playbook
It’s not at all surprising he would endorse a member of his own party, especially in Nevada, which is holding one of the first contests of the 2028 presidential race. Newsom, if you haven’t heard, has been positioning himself for a potential White House bid for years. Backing Ford is a way of collecting chits, as they say in gambling and politics.
It’s also not surprising that Lombardo would try to deflect from the unpopular Trump by yoking his opponent to Newsom. Select a polarizing member of the opposite party and suggest your rival is their slavish devotee; it’s a strategy as well-thumbed as a Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas road atlas. (Google it, kids.)
In Nevada, the attack can have added resonance when the offending politician is from California, which has long been viewed, by some at least, as an overpriced, tax-happy, left-wing lunatic asylum.
“There’s a tendency in Nevada to worry about what’s called ‘Californication’ and this has gone on quite a while,” said Michael Green, a historian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who suggested it’s a particular slice of California, not the moderately conservative Central Valley but rather outré San Francisco, that Lombard is trying to convey.
For the governor, Newsom-bashing is a return to form.
Four years ago, as the sheriff of Clark County — that’s Las Vegas — Lombardo said the Democratic incumbent, Steve Sisolak, cared “more about copying Gavin Newsom than governing in the best interest of Nevadans.”
This time, Lombardo has focused on high fuel prices, a particular torment in a vast state with a lot of long, gas-guzzling stretches of rural highway. In March, he sent an open letter to Newsom blaming California’s environmental policies for running up energy costs. (Nevada relies on California for nearly 90% of its transportation fuels, which mainly flow from Southern California refineries to Las Vegas.)
In April, he explicitly blamed “Gavin Newsom’s energy policies” for “driving higher gas prices for Nevada families” and said Ford refused to push back because “he doesn’t want to risk his relationship with his biggest ally.”
Newsom vs. Lombardo
Turnabout being fair play, the Ford campaign has responded by tying Nevada’s governor to the unpopular president.
“Joe Lombardo is endorsed by Donald Trump and is running on a platform of raising costs and is laser-focused on taking care of Trump’s billionaire friends and padding the pockets of greedy corporations,” said spokesperson Tai Sims, who suggested the governor was relying on a “failed MAGA playbook” because “he’s too busy embracing Trump’s cost-raising agenda to acknowledge the economic pain caused by the Lombardo-Trump economy.”
Newsom and Lombardo have also gone at it.
“Since I took office, Nevada has created more jobs than California,” Lombardo boasted in a July posting on X that, of course, tied Ford to Newsom. “As Governor, I’ll never let Nevada become an extension of California’s failed agenda.”
“FALSE!” Newsom’s press team replied, with a Pinnochio-nosed emoji and a link to Federal Reserve data. “Using the same official jobs measure your office cites, California added about 340,900 jobs from December 2022 through June 2026. Nevada added 100,800.”
Gavin Newsom leaves office in a few months, allowing him to devote all of his time to a 2028 presidential run. The question is whether he can sell a progressive agenda outside the comfortable confines of California.
Lombardo hasn’t just focused on economics. Playing on old animosities, he told a Jewish Republican audience in Las Vegas last month that a certain California governor “wanted to pass two holidays for the Muslim community, agnostic to the Jewish community.” (Legislation that would add Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha to the list of state holidays is on Newsom’s desk, for him to sign or veto.)
“That’s not going to happen in the state of Nevada,” Lombardo said to applause, and so much for appealing to the better angels of our nature.
In the end, will the forced marriage of Newsom and Ford matter?
Probably not a whole lot. There are doubtless many things that matter more to your typical Nevadan than whether California’s governor hearts the state’s attorney general.
Wait until 2028. If Newsom is on the ballot, then we’ll find out what Nevada truly thinks of its next-door neighbor.
What else you should be reading
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The L.A. Times Special:California provides tax breaks to Hollywood. Why not struggling news outlets?
Until next time,
mzb
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Ideas expressed in the piece
- The article argues that Joe Lombardo is attempting to turn Nevada’s gubernatorial race into a proxy battle over California and national politics, tying Aaron Ford to Gavin Newsom in order to deflect attention from Lombardo’s own alignment with Donald Trump and the economic anxiety surrounding that relationship[4][11][12].
- It further contends that Newsom’s endorsement of Ford is both routine party loyalty and a strategic move to build influence ahead of the 2028 presidential contest, while Nevada Republicans are following a well-worn playbook of using a polarizing out‑of‑state Democrat to define their opponent[4][11][13].
- The article suggests Lombardo’s focus on high gas prices, and his effort to blame “Gavin Newsom’s energy policies,” oversimplifies a more complex situation in which Nevada is structurally dependent on California refineries and global events like the Iran conflict have driven fuel costs higher[1][4][11].
- It notes that Ford’s campaign responds by tying Lombardo to Trump and framing current fuel costs as the product of a “Lombardo‑Trump economy,” underscoring how both sides weaponize economic pain and gas prices rather than fully addressing underlying policy trade‑offs[11][12].
- The piece emphasizes that Lombardo’s attacks play on longstanding Nevada anxieties about “Californication,” portraying California—especially its more liberal urban centers—as a cautionary tale, and using that sentiment to argue Nevada must avoid becoming an extension of California’s agenda[4][11].
- It highlights Lombardo’s remarks about proposed Muslim holidays in California as an example of stoking cultural grievance, suggesting the governor is appealing to old resentments rather than “the better angels of our nature,” and framing identity and religion as political wedges instead of policy questions.
- Finally, the article argues that while the forced political “marriage” of Newsom and Ford makes for potent campaign imagery and clever billboards, it is unlikely to be decisive for most Nevada voters, who the piece suggests care more about material concerns such as jobs, inflation and daily costs—and that any true test of Newsom’s standing with Nevadans will come only if a presidential bid materializes in 2028[4][11][12].
Different views on the topic
- In contrast, Lombardo and allied Republicans insist that California’s refinery regulations, proposed profit caps and climate policies are central drivers of Nevada’s elevated gas prices, stressing that roughly 86–90% of Nevada’s transportation fuel comes from California and warning that new rules could “artificially create shortages” and raise costs across the West[1][5][10][11].
- Additionally, business groups such as the Energy & Convenience Association of Nevada echo this view, arguing that “well‑documented supply constraints originating outside Nevada” and California’s regulatory environment—not Lombardo’s governance—are primarily responsible for higher prices at the pump[11].
- Conservative commentary portrays Newsom as the architect of California’s economic problems, citing budget deficits, high taxes, business closures and out‑migration as evidence of a “failed” model; these critics argue that Newsom’s endorsement of Ford accelerates the “Californianization” of Nevada and threatens to import policies they see as harmful to jobs, public safety and affordability[2][7].
- Meanwhile, Lombardo’s campaign and supportive outlets contend that Ford chose cultivating Newsom’s favor over standing up for Nevada consumers, pointing to Ford’s refusal to challenge California refinery mandates and asserting that Ford was “more focused on securing Gavin Newsom’s endorsement than standing up to him to protect Nevadans at the pump”[3][11][13].
- Pro‑Lombardo strategists have amplified this message with attention‑grabbing billboards and synthetic‑media signs in Las Vegas that highlight Newsom’s backing of Ford, arguing that Ford’s “shared vision” with Newsom would bring California‑style tax‑and‑spend policies and stricter energy rules to Nevada[9][13].
- On the other side of the fuel‑policy debate, Newsom’s office and supportive Democrats push back on Lombardo’s narrative, asserting that profit caps and inventory requirements are designed to curb refinery price gouging and prevent supply gaps, and claiming these measures will save consumers in California, Nevada and Arizona hundreds of millions of dollars by reducing price spikes rather than causing them[6][8][10].
- Ford and Democratic allies also emphasize geopolitical factors and Trump‑era trade conflicts, arguing that the Iran war and broader market instability have driven crude prices and, in turn, Nevada gas prices higher; they describe current conditions as a “failing Lombardo‑Trump economy” and contend that tying Ford to Newsom is a distraction from the role of national Republican policies in fueling economic strain[1][11][12].
