Polling showed Lombardo so far ahead of his primary rivals, a crowded Republican field including Reno attorney Joey Gilbert, former Sen. Dean Heller, and North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, that Lombardo said in a debate late last month that “for all practical purposes, this primary is over” and prompted the party to join around him to conquer Sisolak.
Former President Donald Trump praised Lombardo, saying in an April statement that he would “fiercely protect our under-siege Second Amendment, oppose sanctuary cities, support our law enforcement, veto any liberal tax increase, protect life, and secure our elections.”
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However, the Nevada GOP yanked both Trump and polls of its own voters to support Gilbert, who was reportedly the only candidate in the field to participate in the January 6 riot at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., with a video showing him on Capitol grounds.
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The nonpartisan election analysis group Cook Political Report ranked Nevada’s general election gubernatorial race as a toss-up, making the seat a potential pickup opportunity for Republicans.
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Biden won Nevada two years ago by just 2.4 percentage points — or just under 33,600 votes — and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report has rated the state’s governor’s race a toss-up. Sisolak won his first term, in 2018, against Adam Laxalt, now running for U.S. Senate, by about 4 percentage points.
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At an election night party at an Italian restaurant, Lombardo took the stage late and addressed the more than 100 supporters who had stuck around waiting for results to come in. He ripped into Sisolak, saying he’d “failed” Nevadans while hailing his victory as a “win for Nevadans across the state.”
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“It’s a win for parents and their children’s education. It’s a win for safer communities. And it’s a win for small business owners, those three things,” Lombardo said.
Lombardo added that when people ask him what he stands for, his answer is “very simple: the economy, education, law, and order.”
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In a probable preview of an economy-centric general election message, Lombardo accused Sisolak of failing to “work to find a bipartisan solution to help [people] cope with the rising cost of inflation.”
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Sisolak, for his part, slammed Lombardo in a blistering statement as a “candidate who wants to tear away our progress.”
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“While flouting his official responsibilities on the campaign trail, Joe Lombardo failed to put Nevadans’ safety first — proving to be yet another politician with no vision just looking for a promotion,” Sisolak added.
“Nevadans deserve someone who will put in the work to lift up every family, not someone who has spent the last 12 months taking both sides and lying to voters about where he stands on the issues.”
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