Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and Attorney General Aaron Ford were declared the victors in their respective parties’ gubernatorial primaries following preliminary voting results released Tuesday night.
The Associated Press called the races shortly after results began coming in. The Republican incumbent and Democratic challenger will continue to battle it out in the highest-profile campaign in Nevada this year.
They have trained attacks on each other for months, completely ignoring their primary challengers.
Ford’s campaign has tried to tie the Republican governor to President Donald Trump’s economic agenda. Meanwhile, Lombardo’s team has attempted to link Ford to national Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Lombardo garnered a Trump endorsement in November, while Harris threw her support behind Ford in a Las Vegas appearance this year.
The governor had 91.4 percent of the vote in the GOP primary and Ford had 66.2 percent of the vote from registered Democrats, besting Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill, who had 21.1 percent of the vote. The totals were as of 8:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Hill campaigned throughout the state in the months leading up to Tuesday.
The Lombardo and Ford campaigns had raised considerable funds, with the governor reporting having more than $2.2 million on hand in mid-April. Ford had more than $10 million available during the same time period.
Ford is hoping to make Lombardo the state’s second consecutive one-term governor. Lombardo defeated then-Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak after just one term. The 2022 race centered around Nevada’s pandemic response and the economy.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
