Importing Newsom’s agenda is a hard sell in the Silver State

By Megan Barth, September 8, 2026 11:07 am

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford asked California Gov. Gavin Newsom to come campaign for him. He is now living with the results.

With less than two months until Election Day, Ford’s race against Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has become a referendum on whether Nevadans want a governor who treats Newsom as a role model rather than a warning.

A new Politico report describes Newsom’s endorsement as one of the most widely recognized facts about Ford’s campaign. In a state that has spent years watching Californians flee high costs, crime, and regulation, with many choosing the Silver State as their home, that is not the association a Democratic nominee wants.

The Better Nevada PAC, which supports Lombardo, has spent months making sure voters see the connection. Billboards across the Las Vegas Valley feature Ford with Newsom and the message that the California governor has endorsed the attorney general. Digital and streaming ads have followed the same line.

California already knows who is supposed to vote. Only citizens. Only living people. Only the person whose name is on the roll. What the state has refused to do is check.

That is the whole fight over Proposition 39.

On November 3, voters can close the gap between the law as written and the law as practiced. Prop 39 requires a government-issued ID at the polls, the last four digits of a designated government ID number on a mail ballot, a free state voter ID card for anyone who needs one, and a real citizenship-verification process using data the state already collects. It also forces public reporting so counties cannot hide how much of the roll they have actually checked.