POLITICO: Nevada Governor’s Race “Neck-and-Neck” as Lombardo-Trump Economy Devastates Working Nevadans

POLITICO: Nevada Governor’s Race “Neck-and-Neck” as Lombardo-Trump Economy Devastates Working Nevadans

New reporting from POLITICO details how the Nevada governor’s race is “neck-and-neck” as a “highly unpopular president,” “wobbling economy,” and “soaring” gas prices continue to make Joe Lombardo the most vulnerable Republican governor running for reelection.

Even Lombardo admitted, “Yes, I am concerned,” as the Lombardo-Trump agenda leaves Nevada “stung by tariffs that have chilled travel” and deals “a heavy blow to a state economy still so reliant on tourism.” Nevada’s workers “are seeing reduced hours, smaller tips and layoffs.” as a result of Lombardo and Trump’s failed leadership.

POLITICO: ‘This is the new Ohio’: Why everyone’s watching the Nevada governor’s race

• The neck-and-neck Nevada governor’s race is shaping up as one of the earliest tests of whether Republicans can separate themselves from Trump’s political fortunes — without losing his coalition.

• … [Lombardo] finds himself in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Aaron Ford, the state’s attorney general, yoked to a highly unpopular president, a wobbling economy and a Middle Eastern war that has sent gas prices in the state soaring from $3.50 to $5 a gallon, among the highest in the nation.

• “Yes, I am concerned,” the governor told POLITICO in a recent sit-down interview at Starbucks in Las Vegas.

• Stung by tariffs that have chilled travel from Canada and Mexico and an immigration crackdown that has made international visitors wary of coming to the United States, Las Vegas saw 7.5 percent fewer guests last year — the worst non-pandemic decline since the city started tracking in 1970 — a heavy blow to a state economy still so reliant on tourism. 

• Nevada’s unemployment rate remains among the highest in the nation, and the hospitality workers who form the backbone of the Las Vegas economy are seeing reduced hours, smaller tips and layoffs.

• “Just last month, Lombardo said that Trump was doing a fantastic job as the war with Iran has skyrocketed our gas prices,” Nevada State Democratic Party Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno said in an interview. “Talking to folks in the Tahoe area, there’s a gentleman, I mean, he paid $7 a gallon for gas. What that does to your budget, your limited budget — and if you’re a hospitality worker whose hours have been limited, now you’re bringing home less money but you’re paying more for groceries and now gas.”

###