One of America’s most at-risk GOP governors gets a Democratic challenger

It’s hard to unseat an incumbent governor. But Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has a plan to try.

The Democrat announced his campaign for governor on Monday, entering the race with just over 10 months to go until the primary.

Once a recipient of food stamps and Medicaid benefits, Ford now plans to run against Republicans’ cuts to those same programs, which he says will deeply impact Nevadans.

“It was Medicaid that enabled my son and me to have the health care we needed in order to be able to survive. It was food stamps that kept us fed,” Ford said in an interview, explaining that he and his son used these programs for a year and a half when he was a single father attending college. “It hits me … particularly hard to know that people are about to be hit in those areas.”

If he wins the primary, Ford will likely face Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who is expected to run for reelection. Lombardo surprised many by unseating incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak in 2022, and is widely considered to be the most at-risk incumbent Republican governor headed into 2026.

Ford, an outspoken AG who has sued the Trump administration on everything from education funding to AmeriCorps over the last six months, is not the only Democrat vying for the governor’s office. Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill also said she plans to run for governor, setting up a competitive primary.

Nevada is a purple state that likes to split tickets: Both President Donald Trump and Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen won Nevada in 2024 — Trump with just under 51 percent of the vote. The state joins Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin as one of the five toss-up gubernatorial races in 2026, according to the Cook Political Report.

Medicaid has become a major campaign point for Democrats across the country, and Ford is already framing his race through that lens. In a conversation with POLITICO the week before announcing his campaign, Ford talked about the negative effects the megabill will have on Nevadans and criticized Lombardo’s response to the legislation — accusing him of being silent on cuts that would harm Nevadans.

Lombardo in February asked the White House not to slash Medicaid funding, and in May was one of just seven governors who did not sign a letter in support of the bill. But in July, Lombardo complimented other parts of the legislation, including a provision that removes taxes on tips and overtime. The tip tax policy could have a big impact in a state like Nevada, where many residents work in the service and hospitality industries.

“While my administration continues to assess this bill as it moves to get signed into law, Nevadans should be excited about the potential impacts of tax cuts, investments in small businesses and American manufacturing, and efforts to help secure our border,” Lombardo said in a statement provided to the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the bill’s passage.

Ford last week attacked that statement, arguing that nobody should be “excited about the fact that over 100,000 people in Nevada are about to lose their health insurance.” The AG argued that Medicaid cuts will have a larger long-term impact on Nevadans than the benefits of removing taxes on tips.

“One of the fascinating parts about Nevada is that it is notoriously purple,” Ford said. “And it is not at all adverse to jettisoning an incumbent that's not doing his job.”