Business group abandons Lombardo in favor of Ford

The Retail Association of Nevada, which represents stores and restaurants in Nevada, is endorsing Democrat Attorney General Aaron Ford for governor, a turnaround from the 2022 election when it endorsed now-Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican. 

“This is the first time in recent history that RAN has endorsed a Democratic candidate for governor,” the association said in a news release. 

“We don’t endorse often,” RAN President Bryan Wachter said at a news conference Monday announcing the endorsement. He noted the association “had talks with the governor’s campaign” about talking with Lombardo “but that didn’t go beyond staff.” 

Speaking directly with the candidate, as RAN did with Lombardo in 2022, is part of the association’s endorsement process. 

“It’s usually very helpful to make sure we understand what their thought process is, and sometimes things get filtered through staff,” Wachter said, adding the endorsement decision is made internally. 

Lombardo’s campaign issued a statement noting he has been endorsed “by the Latin Chamber, Vegas Chamber, and Asian Chamber of Commerce, organizations that represent thousands of businesses across Nevada’s diverse communities and industries.”

The governor’s campaign statement also credited Lombardo for job and business growth during his administration, adding the governor “lowered taxes, and eliminated or streamlined over 900 burdensome regulations.”

Lombardo’s campaign spokesperson declined to say why the governor did not participate in an endorsement interview with RAN.

RAN represents more than 8,000 businesses. Wachter said he’s aware individual businesses may back Lombardo but said endorsing Ford was the best move for the association. The association cites Ford’s participation in legal action that has overturned some of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

RAN made the announcement at Firefly, a Las Vegas restaurant near the Strip. Owner John Simmons said business has plummeted by 15% year-over-year since Trump took office and imposed hefty tariffs. 

“Our cost of goods are up. Tourism is down. All of these trade wars and attacks over our former allies in Canada, Mexico, Europe,” Simmons said, noting the resulting slow down of visitation from foreign nations. 

It’s the second time this year that RAN and Ford have teamed up to take on the debilitating effects of Trump’s tariffs on Southern Nevada businesses. 

More than 70 small businesses in Las Vegas have closed since Trump took office, Ford said Monday. 

“The reason I ran is that I felt Joe Lombardo would cower and lie down,” he said. “I knew and unfortunately, I was right.”

Asked if he really expects Lombardo to stand up to Trump and risk the political fallout from Republican voters, Ford noted that as attorney general he “stood up to Biden,” a reference to a handful of lawsuits filed by Democratic attorneys general against the former Democratic president. 

In 2021, Ford joined the attorneys general of Virginia and Illinois in an appeal that sought to have a court recognize the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment. Biden finally recognized the ERA as an amendment just days before leaving office in 2025. 

Lombardo asserts that he has Trump’s ear and has taken advantage of the relationship by persuading the president to allow work to continue on a handful of solar projects on federal land, even though such projects have been halted in other states. 

But the governor has downplayed concerns about the effect of tariffs on the Nevada economy, and suggested he can’t do anything to right the economy.

“When we talk about affordability and inflation rates and everything, I can’t control that as a governor,” Lombardo said at veterans gathering this summer. 

Ford notes Lombardo vetoed a record-setting number of bills in both of his legislative sessions, many of which included cost-cutting measures, including legislation that would have limited corporate home purchases that are driving up the cost of housing. 

“Governor Lombardo has told us that Nevadans need to feel pain from tariffs,” Wachter noted. Nevadans, he said, “can’t afford more pain,” given the cost of food, prescription drugs and energy. “He said that he can’t do anything about affordability, and he said that we need to take care of billionaires first because they provide all of the jobs. We don’t recognize that kind of leadership.”

Most jobs, Wachter added, are created by small businesses, not billionaires.

Ford did not rule out the potential for revamping Nevada’s tax structure, which is among the most regressive in the nation. 

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Nevada households with the lowest incomes pay an overall state and local tax rate of almost 12%, while the wealthiest households are paying less than 3%.

“To the extent that the conversation manifests itself, I’m going to be in the midst of it, as well,” Ford said, adding that his priorities are reducing the burden of housing costs, prescription drugs, and medical debt. 

Last week, an Emerson College poll pegged Ford slightly ahead of Lombardo. The challenger, however, lacks the millions of dollars raised by Lombardo’s campaign and political action committees.