Education, economy take center stage early as Nevada’s gubernatorial race for 2026 unfolds

Nevada’s 2026 governor’s race is already heating up, with candidates from both parties staking early claims on economic recovery and education reform — a full 18 months before voters head to the polls.

Gov. Joe Lombardo’s campaign has been laying the groundwork for his reelection, and the likely top Democratic contenders, former Gov. Steve Sisolak and Attorney General Aaron Ford, are moving toward a primary showdown in June 2026.

Ford has indicated that nothing at this point would stop him from his bid to be Nevada’s next chief executive. The term-limited attorney general publicly expressed interest in a gubernatorial run in December and plans to launch a formal campaign in July.

“I’m not running for a title,” Ford said. “I’m running because I believe in this state and I believe in the people who call it home.”

Sisolak is less sure about reentering the fray. He’s working with a pollster to weigh another bid for governorship, aiming to understand voter attitudes and reviewing their level of satisfaction with current state and federal leadership to help inform his decision.

“The national climate will spill over to Nevada,” Sisolak explained. “How they feel about the job that both (President Donald) Trump is doing now and that Lombardo has done and is doing, if they feel that they’re being represented and their voice is being heard.”

Lombardo defeated incumbent Sisolak in the 2022 election by around 1.51% of the vote. Ford, who was on the 2022 ballot for his second term as attorney general, won by the highest margin in the six statewide races contested that year.

Sisolak says he continues to speak with voters daily, from appearances at Democratic clubs to homeowner association meetings and trips to the grocery store, and he is often asked to pursue another shot at office.

“Not a day goes by that somebody doesn’t come up to me and ask me to take a selfie,” Sisolak said, “or encourage me to run and ‘hope you decide you’re going to run,’ and that sort of thing.”

It’s been something he says he’s been hearing on and off for over two years. But, he said, it seemed to come to a head in April after a Republican fundraising dinner when Lombardo delivered a two-word profanity to his critics. Audio leaked by the progressive network MeidasTouch captured the graphic phrase.

“That was kind of disappointing to hear that he’s gone down that road, but that’s his choice,” Sisolak said. “And it got me to thinking and moving along a faster timeline.”

Lombardo holds an approval rating of 53% and a disapproval of 30%, according to data from global decision intelligence company Morning Consult. In 2022 toward the end of his first term, Sisolak held a 51% and 41% disapproval.

The Cook Political Report lists the 2026 race in Nevada as a toss-up.

Joe Weaver, spokesman for Lombardo’s reelection campaign, said the team would have more to say about the race in the months ahead, “but for now, his priority is leading Nevada forward.”

“While Nevada Democrats are focused on partisan political theater, Gov. Lombardo is focused on bipartisan solutions that benefit all Nevadans,” Weaver said in a statement.

Sisolak is expressing concerns with how the state budget, which is currently under debate in the 2025 Legislature, is shaping up under Lombardo’s leadership. The budget-crafting process already has endured several setbacks. In January, Lombardo initially submitted a budget showing a $335 million deficit through fiscal year 2027. That’s since been rectified to meet the state’s constitutional requirement of a balanced budget. But now potential federal cuts to state funding for critical programs like Medicaid are causing angst in Carson City.

“The first one that he submitted last session wasn’t his budget,” Sisolak said. “That was our budget that we gave him that was certainly balanced.”

The economy has been and continues to be a major concern for Nevada voters and candidates alike. The pandemic hit tourism — Nevada’s biggest industry. Now, as tourism again is faltering under the weight of Trump’s policies, the worries are resurfacing.

The way Ford sees it, addressing economic woes head-on means investing in students and teachers, cracking down on corporate price fixing for housing and expanding local labor by championing small businesses and workers’ rights to organize.

Growing and diversifying the state’s economy was a priority that Lombardo raised in his State of the State address this year. In that speech, he heralded his Economic Development Policy Reform Act, under which targeted tax credits would be awarded for “industries that create high-quality jobs, advance clean energy, and address essential needs like health care and child care.”

“Through investments in infrastructure and strategic partnerships, we’re closing gaps that have long held us back from meeting the needs of underserved rural areas and emerging industries,” Lombardo said at his January address. “Nevada will not simply follow the future; we will define it.”

Despite the governor’s fanfare, the act has not yet been introduced in this year’s Legislature.

Lombardo has also listed education as a critical component of his governorship, supporting policies at the federal level like the Trump administration’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education and, at the state level, school choice.

As a former public school math teacher, Ford said he’s opposed to the idea of taxpayer funds going to private schools, but he supports school choice. The phrase, he says, has been co-opted by the right to be only about school vouchers.

In Ford’s vision for the state, there will be increased opportunities for open enrollment, giving leeway to charter, magnet and career and technical education schools. Lombardo, who has pushed for school vouchers, also supports open enrollment and would expand its reach through another of his priority bills: the yet-to-be released Nevada Accountability in Education Act.

Sisolak agrees that education is a point of struggle for the state, along with health care and affordable housing. None of them, he says, have been addressed properly under Lombardo. For example, he says Lombardo’s plans for affordable housing place too much focus on asking the president to release federal land for development and not enough focus on details that require involvement by developers, county commissions and city councils.

While as the incumbent, Lombardo is unlikely to face major competition for the Republican nomination, a primary for the Democratic nomination is likely. A primary, as Sisolak puts it, is costly, unfortunate and “just part of what you have to do.”

“Aaron’s got to make the decision that’s best for him and his family, when he feels he can win,” Sisolak said. “And I would do the same thing. If I saw a poll and it shows that Aaron is beating me by 10 or 20 points, it’s obviously gonna be difficult to overcome.”

The priority in the coming months for Ford is to define himself as a qualified gubernatorial candidate and to connect with voters.

“I’m not running against Mr. Sisolak. I’m not running against Lombardo. I’m running … for the people of Nevada,” Ford said. “I would not be distracted from the goal, which is to ensure that people in this state have someone here who is focusing on helping the entirety of the Nevada families.”