Newsom Endorsement Becomes Ford's Biggest Problem in Nevada Governor's Race

California Globe · Megan Barth · September 8, 2026

Importing Newsom's agenda is a hard sell in the Silver State

By Megan Barth, September 8, 2026 11:07 am

08 Sep 2026 11:07 am

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford asked California Gov. Gavin Newsom to come campaign for him. He is now living with the results.

With less than two months until Election Day, Ford's race against Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has become a referendum on whether Nevadans want a governor who treats Newsom as a role model rather than a warning.

A new Politico report describes Newsom's endorsement as one of the most widely recognized facts about Ford's campaign. In a state that has spent years watching Californians flee high costs, crime, and regulation, with many choosing the Silver State as their home, that is not the association a Democratic nominee wants.

The Better Nevada PAC, which supports Lombardo, has spent months making sure voters see the connection. Billboards across the Las Vegas Valley feature Ford with Newsom and the message that the California governor has endorsed the attorney general. Digital and streaming ads have followed the same line.

PAC officials have said Newsom is among the least popular elected officials in Nevada and that Ford invited the association by bringing him into the state. Lombardo has made the contrast explicit: he says he is fighting Newsom's agenda while Ford is trying to import it. That framing fits a record the California Globe has documented for months.

Newsom formally backed Ford early in the cycle and later opened a summer swing in Las Vegas to raise money and rally volunteers for him. Ford introduced Newsom at a North Las Vegas field office as "the governor of the great state of California." The crowd treated the visit as a 2028 preview.

Ford's campaign has leaned on the same coastal network that funds Newsom-aligned politics. Globe reporting in July identified maximum contributions from Soros family members to Ford's gubernatorial account after Newsom's public endorsement.

Ford has also drawn ethics scrutiny over extensive out-of-state travel as attorney general, including luxury trips tied to a special-interest nonprofit, while Lombardo's campaign branded him a part-time state official.

Those stories sit alongside Ford's support for 2019 criminal-justice reform that raised Nevada's felony theft threshold (higher than California) and his pledge to repeal the state's 1953 right-to-work law on day one.

The political timing is unforgiving. Nate Silver's Silver Bulletin recently moved the race to "Likely R," citing widening polls and a string of Ford controversies and lackluster fundraising.

Independent job data undercut Ford's claim that Lombardo has made Nevada's labor market worse: the state has added more than 100,000 jobs since Lombardo took office, and unemployment is lower than when he was sworn in. Nevada's job growth has also outpaced California's under Newsom. Ford still talks as if the numbers do not exist.

Newsom's team has treated the Nevada attack ads as free advertising in an early presidential testing ground. Republicans treat them as a gift. Ford cannot easily walk away from an endorsement he solicited, a visit he hosted, and a policy record that tracks the California playbook on crime, unions, and out-of-state money.

Voters in Las Vegas do not need a consultant to explain the billboards. They already know who Gavin Newsom is. The question Ford now has to answer is whether Nevadans want his progressive sidekick.

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Megan Barth

Megan Barth is the Executive Editor of The California Globe and former, founding editor of the Nevada Globe. Specializing in investigative reporting, her work has appeared in national and local news. The highlights of her career include interviewing President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and FBI Director Kash Patel. When she isn't editing, writing, or talking, you can find her hiking and relaxing in Northern Nevada.

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