Can Aaron Ford pass his ambitious education plan without raising taxes?

Indy Elections takes you behind the headlines of Nevada politics, delivering scoops and smart analysis on the races that could reshape our lives. You can change your newsletter settings here.

In today's edition:  Can Aaron Ford's promise not to raise taxes coexist with his other plans? Plus: Sen. Jacky Rosen's (D-NV) Senate floor strategy pays off, a paid family leave bill returns, and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is coming to town. 

President Donald Trump is clearly following Nevada elections — tomorrow he'll visit Las Vegas to talk up "no tax on tips" for the second time this year. 

Is the trip a boon or a boondoggle for Gov. Joe Lombardo (R)? We got a "no comment" when we asked if the governor will join the president at the Red Rock Resort, although video game composer and Congressional District 3 candidate Marty O'Donnell (R) is expected to be there.

This newsletter is published every week. We want to hear from you! Email your newsletter editor Mini Racker at [email protected]. 

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How to A. Ford education

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, the Democratic nominee for governor, has an ambitious education platform that includes getting the state's modest per-pupil funding at least on par with national averages, making educator salaries more competitive and guaranteeing universal free school meals.

These proposals are likely to cost hundreds of millions — so much money that it's hard to envision the state bankrolling it without raising more revenue.

But Ford has pledged to not raise taxes. How does he square those two promises?

For one, he doesn't envision achieving his policy goals immediately. In a previous interview, he told The Indy that he wouldn't expect his first recommended budget to fulfill all of his campaign promises.

"Nothing gets 100 percent. It just can't," Ford said. "What we're going to look to do is to properly allocate according to the priorities that we set in this budget, something that moves the ball — even if only incrementally — to improve it."

He also has ideas on other ways to bring in revenue without raising taxes, but those also raise questions. 

He previously told The Indy that he plans to bolster education funding by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in the state budget. He pointed to the state's hundreds of millions of dollars worth of uncollected debt, saying he would collect outstanding debts and improve debt collection processes. 

Collected debts usually go into a rarely-tapped-into account to bankroll collection services. Collectors also go through many steps before stopping efforts, and a lot of debt is often deemed uncollectible. Ford has also eyed creating a new financial district in Las Vegas to attract high-tax businesses as well as investing in advanced manufacturing. 

Notably, Ford's campaign did not say much money it believes these plans altogether would bring to state coffers. 

It comes as Lombardo's campaign has been highlighting its own analysis claiming Ford's policies would cost the state $18 billion. Ford's campaign has lambasted the report, which included myriad assumptions not found in his policy proposals. 

The Indy will have a more detailed look at the report in the coming days.

— Eric Neugeboren

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What we're reading and writing

A Trump admin trend comes to Reno. 

Meet Minja.

Nevadans will only get to vote on two statewide ballot measures this year. What are they?

SOS to DOJ: no u.

"Slams" is doing a lot of work here.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) got married in Vegas. #wematter?

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D.C. Download: Rosen gets GOP to oppose pardon for Epstein co-conspirator

Last week, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) passed a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted child sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator, should not receive a presidential pardon. She did so through unanimous consent, meaning no senators opposed the measure.

Senate resolutions are more akin to opinions than laws. When she first joined the Senate, Rosen's resolutions were mostly uncontroversial. But more recently, she has sought unanimous consent on bills and resolutions around politically charged issues such as paying Transportation Security Administration agents during the partial government shutdown and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s approach to vaccines, forcing Republicans to oppose them on the record. This is the first of her proposals this year — and her newsiest resolution this Congress — that did not draw an objection. 

On Thursday, she spoke to The Indy about the success. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

MR: Y​​ou've brought up other things that you'd say are common sense that Republicans have blocked in the past. Why did they allow this one?

JR: The resolution is really simple. It just says it's the sense of the Senate that … Maxwell should never receive a pardon, any form of clemency, from Donald Trump. She is a convicted sex trafficker. … So, when we think about [Attorney General nominee] Todd Blanche, who was the bungler-in-chief of the Epstein files, and [former Attorney General] Pam Bondi, who refused to even look at the victims, I wanted to give the chance for every senator to stand up and at least say they stood for something. Even though we're in quite a divided time, it's good to know that everyone agrees that sex traffickers should complete their sentence.

MR: How do you decide which issues you think are going to be worth these kinds of resolutions?

JR: As far as this resolution, when President Trump said he thought about pardoning her … We saw Todd Blanche go down to Florida, talk to her, say … her lawyer's his buddy. That's probably not a good thing. … It's a lawyer for the people, not for a party, and not for a president. … Then she was moved to — what I think was so wrong — an easier minimum security facility. … As Todd Blanche was about to be confirmed, I thought it was important, especially for the victims and their families, to realize that somebody sees them.

MR: Is it the symbolic effect that you think has the most impact, or is there any impact beyond that?

JR: We can't legislate the presidential pardon. … But it doesn't mean that we don't have power with our voice. … It is our sense as a co-equal branch of government … this is wrong. We don't want to accept it, and you shouldn't even be thinking about it. … If you can't stand up for that, then who the hell are we? Where is our heart? So, it is a strong statement, I hope, to the president, to the victims, and really to other victims out there.

— Mini Racker

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Indy Ad Watch: No money, Ford problems?

In 2018 and 2022, Democrats outspent Republicans in the Nevada governor's race. 

This cycle, Republicans are blowing Democrats out of the water.

Data provided by AdImpact shows that as of Aug. 3, groups backing Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) have spent more than $33 million on campaign ads and reservations while groups backing Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) have spent a little more than $128,600 — about 0.3 percent of the GOP spending. The vast disparity is striking, given recent competitive contests for governor have seen more even spending.

Ad spending isn't everything. When Lombardo defeated then-Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) in 2022, he was the only Republican to unseat a Democratic governor, even though Sisolak outspent him on ads by about $4 million out of nearly $87 million spent on the race.

Despite the stark disparity in ad spending, recent polling shows Ford and Lombardo in a dead heat. Ford has also announced a planned seven-figure ad campaign, but that money has not yet been spent.

— Tabitha Mueller

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Mini Series: Sick leave, bro

🩺 Expanding paid family and medical leave — Assm. Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno) told The Nevada Independent that she plans to bring back legislation in 2027 to expand paid family and medical leave, a similar policy to one vetoed by Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) last year that would have required private employers with at least 50 workers to offer 12 weeks of paid leave a year that could be used after having a baby or another qualifying life event.

"It's a pro-business policy … When you take care of your workers, your workers come back and they are more productive, and they're more loyal," La Rue Hatch said, saying she planned to expand the 2027 policy to be more inclusive by wrapping in more types of employers. "I'm really hopeful about the broad coalition of support we've gotten, the support among my colleagues, and I'm very, very hopeful that we will have a new governor who will actually sign this one into law."

Asked about the proposal, Democratic governor candidate Aaron Ford's campaign spokeswoman Prerna Jagadeesh said the attorney general was "excited about this prospective bill's goals and looks forward to sitting down with the sponsor and other stakeholders to work through the details before adopting a formal position."

🏠Bringing in the big guns — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will be in Las Vegas on August 25 to host a fundraiser for state Sen. Carrie Buck (R-Henderson) and video game composer Marty O'Donnell (R), per an invitation viewed by The Nevada Independent. Basic tickets cost $1,000 per person, while those including a photo op and VIP reception go for $7,000 apiece. 

👮Getting Some CLARITY — Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) has become a leader in the national fight over the Trump admin-supported CLARITY Act, which would establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency. The former Nevada attorney general has been advocating for changes to the bill's current language sought by federal prosecutors. Patrick Witt, a leader in the White House's efforts on the bill, said her proposal was "not even close" to the administration's.

On Monday, a Cortez Masto spokesperson told The Indy that she's continuing to negotiate with her colleagues to ensure law enforcement will still be able to crack down on those who knowingly transmit illegal funds and to preserve the existing anti-money laundering framework.

"I've repeatedly said that any final version of the CLARITY Act must address the concerns law enforcement has repeatedly raised with the bill, including with the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act," the senator wrote in a statement.

👍SAVE our Souls — Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) joined other Republican governors last week in a letter to the White House, expressing support for the SAVE America Act and a budget resolution that would increase funding to the Department of War amid the war in Iran.

The letter said the SAVE America Act "includes commonsense measures that are critical for restoring Americans' trust in our electoral process." The legislation would require voters to show a REAL ID Act-compliant ID that indicates the voter is a U.S. citizen — a data point Nevada's Real ID-compliant licenses don't reflect.

Lombardo's signing of the letter — criticized by Ford — came soon after House Republicans made another attempt to pass provisions of the act, which are likely doomed in the Senate.

— Tabitha Mueller, Mini Racker and Eric Neugeboren

Looking Ahead

• Wednesday, Aug. 5  — President Trump speaks in Las Vegas

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A post that caught our eye: 

We have the best bears, don't we folks?

We'll see you next week. 

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