LAS VEGAS (AP) —
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo won his party's nomination to seek a second term while Democrats battled over the right to deny him one. Primaries were also held Tuesday for two closely watched congressional seats, among other races, as Nevada grapples with an affordable housing shortage, exploding energy demand from data centers and federal cuts to key state programs.
The state has a closed primary, meaning only registered Democrats and
Republicans voted in party contests after an effort to open them failed in 2024.
Several primaries featured matchups between candidates backed by party leaders and political outsiders promising change. Come November, the governor's race is considered one of the most competitive in the country, and holding on to the 3rd Congressional District is considered crucial for Democrats' hope of retaking the U.S. House.
Here's a look at the most prominent races:
Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, is considered one of the most vulnerable governors in the country this fall.
Democrats vying to challenge him included state Attorney General Aaron Ford, who has the backing of the Democratic congressional delegation and former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Alexis Hill, a county commissioner in northern Nevada.
Ford and Hill focused their campaigns on affordability, as the state continues to see a shortage of affordable housing, some of the highest gas prices in the country and cuts to federal healthcare and food assistance programs.
Hill campaigned as a progressive and challenged the party establishment, pushing an agenda that included implementing universal pre-kindergarten, capping rents and making wealthy people pay more.
Ford, who was trying to become Nevada’s first Black governor, largely ignored Hill and instead directed his attacks at Lombardo. He argued that both the governor and President Donald Trump are responsible for Nevadans' economic woes.
Lombardo vowed to focus on housing affordability during a second term.
“We’re running again because we still got a lot of work to do in that space,” he said Tuesday as he thanked campaign volunteers outside a polling place in Las Vegas, where they huddled under a canopy in the 94 F (34 C) heat.
Joshua Garcia of Las Vegas backed Lombardo, saying, “He just seems like a really good guy. He gets things done, he cares about the local community and that’s what’s important.”
Blake Howard, a Las Vegas Democrat, backed Ford, hoping his experience will help him lower prices. Of Lombardo, Howard said: “Everything just seems pretty much the same if not even worse with what he’s done.”
In the Republican contest to replace longtime Rep. Mark Amodei, who is retiring, Trump endorsed David Flippo, a loyalist of the president who has never held elected office. Amodei and Lombardo backed James Settelmeyer, a former state senator with a long political track record.
The district covers northern Nevada and includes Reno and Carson City, the capital, along with an immense rural expanse.
Trump-endorsed candidates have seen success in primaries elsewhere, underscoring his unrivaled power over the Republican Party as he enters the last years of his presidency. He easily won the district in the 2024 election.
The GOP nominee has a good chance of winning in November, as registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 70,000 in the 2nd District. A Republican has held the seat since the district was created in the 1980s.
Still, Democrats hope to entice the large number of nonpartisan voters in the district this fall. Their candidates included Teresa Benitez-Thompson, a former majority floor leader of the Nevada Assembly, and Greg Kidd, an investor who ran in the last cycle as a nonpartisan.
Nevada’s other three members of Congress, all Democrats, were expected to win their primaries easily.
In southern Nevada's 3rd District, Republicans battled to determine who will face Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in what is considered the most competitive congressional district in Nevada because of its narrow Democratic registration advantage, its high number of nonpartisan voters and a history of razor-thin election margins. Both Lee and Trump won there narrowly in 2024.
Candidates included Trump-backed Marty O'Donnell, a composer who worked on the “Halo” video game series and ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2024; Jeff Gunter, a dermatologist and former ambassador to Iceland; neurosurgeon Aury Nagy; and businessperson Tera Anderson.
The candidates ran on border security, energy independence and decreasing the federal debt.
With Ford term-limited and running for governor, the opening has prompted competitive primaries for the state's top law enforcement post.
The Democratic side featured state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Treasurer Zach Conine. Both campaigned on promises to take on the Trump administration, following in the footsteps of Ford, who filed numerous lawsuits against the federal government.
For the Republicans, Trump-backed attorney Adriana Guzmán Fralick faced Douglas County commissioner Danny Tarkanian. Tarkanian, son of legendary University of Nevada, Las Vegas basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, previously ran unsuccessfully in multiple congressional races.
Both candidates campaigned on “election integrity,” casting doubt on voting security. Nevada is one of the swing states where Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen, despite no evidence of widespread fraud.
Several Republicans also ran for secretary of state, the office that oversees elections, including some who falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. The winner of the primary will take on Democratic incumbent Cisco Aguilar.
The GOP candidates included Jim Marchant, a former state lawmaker and perennial candidate who has said the 2020 election “ was probably stolen ”; Sharron Angle, a former state lawmaker who was part of an effort to block the certification of Nevada's 2020 election results; and Shirley Folkins-Roberts, an attorney who received Lombardo's endorsement and has denied there is widespread voting fraud in Nevada.
All the candidates supported implementing voter ID, which will be on the ballot for the second time in November after the question passed by a wide margin in 2024.
