AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, left, and Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, center, greet President Donald Trump after he arrived at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport to meet with victims and first responders of the mass shooting, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017, in Las Vegas.
Sunday, May 1, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Now that Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo has an endorsement from Donald Trump in the Nevada governor’s race, it will be interesting to see how he handles the campaign moving forward.
If Lombardo prevails in the June primary against the grounded GOP field, will he make moves similar to Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin for the rest of the campaign?
During the primary, Youngkin tied himself to Trump, touting right-wing grievances like election integrity and critical race theory. But after winning the primary, he kept his distance and toned down his message to appeal voters outside of Trump loyalists.
And for good reason.
In October 2021, a Fox News poll found that Trump wasn’t especially popular in Virginia, with his favorability at 44% and President Joe Biden’s at 50%. Trump lost Nevada in both 2016 and 2020, falling to Biden by 2.4 points in 2020 — although a March 25 poll did put Trump ahead of Biden in a hypothetical matchup in 2024.
Lombardo may choose to follow Youngkin’s lead, holding the Trump torch until the primary is over and then watching the light die out. Or, he could carry it to the end.
Lombardo didn’t return our requests for comment on the endorsement. In a Twitter post, he said he was humbled to receive Trump’s support.
The sheriff was the favorite to land the endorsement because he’s long been the primary front-runner and Trump wants to support someone expected to win. Trump said Lombardo would protect the Second Amendment, oppose sanctuary cities, protect life and secure elections.
But Lombardo isn’t the most Trump-like candidate in the race.
As sheriff, he implemented a sanctuary-like policy for Metro (albeit after a court ruling in 2019) and ordered his officers to stop notifying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they arrested an illegal immigrant who had only low-level traffic bench warrants, which drew criticism from Republicans.
Although most of the candidates facing Lombardo are loyal to Trump, none are indicating they might drop out after the endorsement. North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, who is one of Lombardo’s biggest primary challengers and labels himself as a “Trump conservative,” said even the best businessmen make bad decisions.
“He made the wrong decision. I know that I’m the better man … and I’m going to win this thing,” Lee said.
A Trump endorsement doesn’t necessarily guarantee a win, and for some, his support isn’t wanted.
In Ohio, for instance, U.S. Senate candidate Matt Dolan is gaining popularity despite “refusing to kiss the ring,” asPolitico put it. And in Nevada’s Senate primary, Army veteran Sam Brown continues to fundraise at a strong rate despite Trump backing Adam Laxalt.
Laxalt’s campaign reported raising $1,577,846 in the initial three months of 2022, according to Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports. Brown brought in $1,144,707.
David Damore, a UNLV professor and chair of the department of political science, said Trump’s announcement doesn’t come as much of a surprise, and he doesn’t think the endorsement will be a prominent feature of Lombardo’s campaign in the fall if he wins the primary.
“Some of Trump’s endorsees in other states are struggling to gain traction,” Damore said in an email. “Assuming that Lombardo prevails, backing the front-runner will allow Trump to improve his endorsement average.”
The other GOP candidates lost out on the “prize,” Damore said, as they were all desperately fighting for Trump’s endorsement in hopes of cutting into Lombardo’s lead.
“How it plays out in the general will largely depend upon how much hay the Democrats think they can make by tying Lombardo to Trump,” Damore said in the email.
Big GOP names stump for Laxalt
The campaign of Laxalt, former Nevada attorney general, hosted supporter events over the past two weeks throughout the state with notable Republicans.
Two weeks ago it was Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who hit on government spending and energy independence, and last week it was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who claimed Democrats have supported inflationary proposals and have refused to secure the border.
We all know Nevada is at the center of the stage with its races, as echoed by DeSantis, who said Nevada’s Senate race is the only race outside of Florida that he’s gotten involved in. If the Republicans unseat Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, they could flip the Senate to be Republican-controlled. And with the Democrats’ three House of Representative seats vulnerable, Republicans could flip the entire Congress.
With all eyes on Nevada and Laxalt bringing in heavy Republicans from across the country, it begs the question: Who’s next? Can we expect a campaign rally hosted by Trump at his hotel on the Strip?
Law enforcement endorsement
While Laxalt has painted Cortez Masto as being “anti-police,” the senator’s campaign announced it received the endorsement of the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers and the Nevada Law Enforcement Coalition last week.
Lt. Chris Aguiar with the Henderson Police Supervisors Association said the associations are “proud to endorse” her.
“We trust her to always have the backs of the hardworking women and men of law enforcement,” Aguiar said in a statement. “Sen. Cortez Masto is a true friend to law enforcement and we proudly stand with her on behalf of all Nevadans.”
Her campaign also released a new statewide ad Friday featuring Amy Ayoub, a survivor of human trafficking who shares her story and highlights the senator’s record on human trafficking. Ayoub says she was only 18 when she tried to escape her pimp, who kicked and beat her. She says he held her at knifepoint for two days and threatened her.
“It was a long time before I tried to get away again,” Ayoub says.
As Nevada attorney general from 2007-15, Cortez Masto wrote laws to increase penalties against sex traffickers in Nevada and allow survivors to sue their captors, her campaign said in a statement. She was also praised by former Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Cortez Masto has also been working to pass laws to crack down on online sex trafficking and to end the epidemic of missing, murdered and trafficked Indigenous women. Those laws were signed into law by Trump, the statement notes.
Human trafficking has been a key talking point in the campaign with Laxalt, who claims open borders have led to increased human trafficking.
Laxalt, when he was the state attorney general, obtained the first human trafficking conviction in the history of the office when Mario Lamont Jones II, 25, of Las Vegas, was sentenced for forcing a victim to engage in prostitution on the Strip.
Congressional update
Congress was back in session last week, and Nevada’s representatives were busy as usual. Democratic Rep. Dina Titus’ bill, the Protecting Semiconductor Supply Chain Materials from Authoritarians Act, passed the House on Wednesday. The legislation aims to make sure the United States is helping insulate critical supply chains from more disruptions.
Semiconductors help the gaming industry, as chips are used in slot machines, Titus said in the statement. They are also used for items like medical devices, cellphones and cars.
“The COVID-19 pandemic placed a massive strain on the global semiconductor supply chain network,” Titus said in the statement, “and these tensions have been further exacerbated by (Vladimir) Putin’s unlawful and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.”
Titus also introduced a bill last week called the Economic Development Promotion and Resiliency Act, which aims to boost the travel and tourism industry by establishing a grant program for communities that have experienced employment and gross domestic product losses in the travel, tourism and outdoor recreation sectors, according to her office.
“At the height of the pandemic, Southern Nevadans struggled to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads,” said Titus, who is chair of the Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee, in a statement. “Due to the decline in travel and tourism, we had the highest unemployment rate of any large metro area in the United States, and we are still recovering from these economic losses.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and 10 colleagues sent a letter last week to the U.S. Department of Transportation urging it to develop a “comprehensive federal framework” for self-driving vehicles.
In the letter they highlighted how autonomous vehicles can create jobs, save lives and “ensure the United States will continue leading in the future of mobility,” her office said in a statement.
“Autonomous vehicles hold great promise to deliver significant benefits for all Americans — but only if the federal government puts the necessary policies in place to achieve these benefits,” the senators wrote.
Rosen’s office said in a statement that Nevada was the first to authorize the operation of autonomous vehicles in 2011, and last year Las Vegas was selected as the first city for a fully driverless taxi service.
Countdown
Days until early voting begins: 27
Days to primary: 43
