AP
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo speaks with journalists at a news conference announcing his candidacy for governor of Nevada, Monday, June 28, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Monday, June 28, 2021 | 3:06 p.m.
Touting himself as a law-and-order, conservative Republican, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo formally announced his run for Nevada governor this morning in Las Vegas.
Lombardo said the progressive policies Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak has advanced “would make (U.S. Sen.) Bernie Sanders blush.”
He told a classroom of about 80 supporters at Rancho High School, where he graduated some 40 years ago, that he’s running because “if we don’t put an end to the single-party rule eroding our state of the values, laws and opportunities that make Nevada great, we won’t have a lot left to fight for.”
Democrats in Nevada control the governor’s office, Legislature and the attorney general’s office.
“There is no denying that Steve Sisolak is the most partisan governor in Nevada history,” Lombardo said.
Earlier this morning, Lombardo told Fox News the state was headed “in the wrong direction and that “we have a sort of socialist attitude occurring here in Nevada, single-party rule.”
Asked to expand on his statement during his news conference, he mentioned big government and reduced criminal penalties, seemingly referring to criminal justice reform passed during the Legislative Session earlier this year.
“Police reform is needed, and I appreciate that and we have looked at that. But (we’re) reacting too fast,” Lombardo said. “We’re creating an environment where the police are handcuffed and have the inability to do their job.”
Citing an increase of violent crime across the U.S. as the country emerges from the pandemic, Lombardo said he would take the “law-and-order lane” in the race. “I know how to fix that; I understand.”
Lombardo, who’s been with Metro for more than three decades, described himself as “a proud (Army) veteran, a former beat cop and a chief executive of an agency that prides itself on being tough and accountable.”
Lombardo said he would veto any new taxes a future Legislature might send his way.
He said he is a staunch supporter of Second Amendment for “law abiding” and “responsible” gun owners. He said he supports legal immigration but “zero-tolerance” policies for illegal immigration.
Since his defeat in November, former President Donald Trump has amplified false claims of mass election fraud, inaccurately claiming it cost him the presidency. Few Republican officials have rebuked those claims.
Lombard said he would create bipartisan commissions to examine election integrity in Nevada and voting redistricting.
Lombardo, who supports voter ID laws, said current state laws, which allow mail-in ballots for every registered voter, makes it easier to cheat.
“What I see is a system that makes it easy for people to commit fraud,” he said.
Lombardo that when it comes to the 2020 election, he’s looking ahead rather than at the past. “Do I think there was fraud?” he said. “I’m not going to give you an answer to that.”
Lombardo wouldn't say whether his campaign would actively seek Trump's endorsement but would embrace it. "Anybody who's willing to endorse me and that believe in the direction I want to go, I'm not going to turn them away," Lombardo said.
Lombardo said he supports school choice and opposes the teaching of critical race theory in public schools.
Lombardo also criticized Sisolak’s pandemic-related school restrictions, noting that the governor “denied an entire generation of students months of critical education, social interactions and activities like sports, music and theatre.”
With Lombardo’s announcement, he officially joins a field of Republicans trying to unseat Sisolak, who’s first term expires in 2022.
North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, who switched his party affiliation from Democrat earlier this year, and a Northern Nevada attorney who has questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election have made formal announcements.
U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, a Nevada Republican who lost his reelection in 2018, are weighing campaigns.
Lombardo and his campaign team were boarding a plane this afternoon to Northern Nevada, where he will meet with voters later this week.
Lombardo, the two-term sheriff of Clark County, was first elected to the nonpartisan seat in 2014. He said that gives him an edge over other Republican candidates. "Everybody knew I was a Republican,” he said. “I have been a Republican to the core.”
