Capitalizing on reporting showing Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) had spent 137 days out of state in 2024, supporters of Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) have spent more than half a million dollars on campaign ads calling the top Democratic gubernatorial hopeful "high-flying Aaron Ford" and "frequent flyer Ford." 

Ford has indeed spent considerable time out of state during his seven-year tenure as attorney general. 

A Nevada Independent review of his office calendars since 2019 found he spent at least 322 days out of state, mostly for professional conferences, including in Qatar, Israel and Geneva. However, that number is guaranteed to be an underestimate because it largely includes work-related travel, meaning it could omit vacation and campaign-related trips that were not included on his official calendar. 

Much of the travel is linked to meetings of nationwide attorney general groups. Consistent attendance at these events is not unusual, a Nevada political scientist said, and the incoming Republican leader of one of the groups emphasized the role these play in fostering bipartisan collaboration among attorneys general. 

Ford's campaign finance reports indicate he has spent about $99,000 on out-of-state hotels since entering office, and about $30,000 worth of those trips did not appear to link directly back to known travel on his calendar.

There were numerous instances where Ford's office calendars had incomplete information on the length of out-of-state travel. When accounting for the 137 days that Ford's campaign confirmed he spent out of state in 2024 and hotel payments not linked to known trips — assuming each hotel stay was one day — the number of out-of-state days jumps to about 420 across his time in office.

Ford spent the most days out of state in 2024, when he helped campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris, and the least in 2020 during the pandemic. The Las Vegas Review-Journal found that Lombardo traveled out of state for about 30 days in 2024, and both constitutional officers attended 19 of 21 meetings that year for the state boards and commissions they serve on.

Ford, through his campaign, declined an interview request with The Nevada Independent to discuss the out-of-state travel and how it may have benefited the state or what the public should understand.

Attacks over Ford's travel are likely to continue into campaign season, especially after the Nevada Commission of Ethics advanced a complaint that Ford's travels violated four parts of Nevada ethics law, though no official determination has been issued. 

The purpose of Ford's travel is left out of the attack ads, which instead point out trips to France, Taiwan, Singapore and the Yucatan — all of which were related to trips or confereces led by attorneys general groups.

Most of the days Ford spent out of state were related to these groups, while he also spent time attending other conferences, such as ones put on by the National Bar Association and voting rights groups. 

The Nevada Independent reached out to several current and former attorney general staff members, but they declined to speak about Ford's travel frequency and how uncommon it might be.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley (R), the president-elect of the National Association of Attorneys General, said the gatherings of top state prosecutors are valuable — and that their work doesn't stop even when they're traveling.

"What I would also tell you, amongst the attorney generals, we may go to a forum, a substantive meeting, we may go to dinner together," he said in an interview. "But pretty much all of us go back to our room, catch up on emails, talk to staff, and do the job that an attorney general has been elected to do."

Ford's campaign has largely ignored questions about the travel, or pivoted to attack Lombardo over his connections to President Donald Trump. 

In response to the travel queries, a campaign spokesperson pointed to Lombardo's trip to Washington, D.C., in November, amid uncertainty around federal funding for food stamp programs, and a campaign stop in Elko that prevented the governor from attending the state's first press conference related to the cyberattack that crippled state systems last year.

Representatives for Lombardo have emphasized that the governor was kept abreast of the cyberattack situation and was working on the food stamp issues.

But in a midterm election year, when the national political climate and the president's approval rating are key drivers of voter behavior, it's an open question how much attention voters will give the issue.

"People are paying attention to a lot of other stuff in the world right now," UNR political science professor Jeremy Gelman said in an interview. "How many people are going to gain an impressionistic view of Ford where the thing that they remember about him is this travel? It's not clear."

AG groups

Among the 322 days known to be out of state, 172 were linked to events put on by groups such as the National Association of Attorneys General, Attorney General Alliance and Democratic Association of Attorneys General.

In 2024, Ford chaired the Attorney General Alliance, which is billed as a nonprofit group of attorneys general. The group, has received criticism for receiving sponsorships from companies the attorneys were investigating, and this was the crux of the state ethics complaint against Ford.

Tai Sims, the Ford campaign spokesperson, said he "was chosen by attorneys general across the country, including dozens of Republicans, to leadership positions in organizations dedicated to fighting crime and prosecuting international criminals. Those bipartisan groups work together to tackle challenges that go beyond state lines: labor and sex trafficking, fentanyl and wildlife trafficking, cybercrime, environmental threats, social media matters, opioids and many more important topics."

Karl Racine (D), a former attorney general of the District of Columbia and two-term president of the National Association of Attorneys General, said it's "common and encouraged" for attorneys general to travel to such conferences, noting he understands skepticism around trips as a vacation but doesn't agree with it. 

"I know, for example, that in my time, I forged relationships with others from across the aisle that resulted in dual actions and money coming back to the District of Columbia," Racine said.

Racine has given $14,000 in direct and in-kind donations to Ford, including a $7,500 donation in 2025. 

With a large office, Jackley, the South Dakota attorney general, added that staff members and attorneys are also available.

"I will limit travel during legislative session, but I try to attend as many of the national meetings as I can, and I've always made myself available to the team, to the South Dakota media," he said.

Do the attacks work?

A 2022 analysis in the American Political Science Review found that ads are more persuasive in down-ballot races, such as governor, than in presidential contests. This is because the general public is likely to know less about these candidates, so advertising could do more to sway how they feel.

Gelman said the Lombardo campaign is likely capitalizing on this to "lay the groundwork to create an impression of who Aaron Ford is." A November poll found 1 out of 6 voters did not know who Ford was.

But Gelman also said research suggests television advertising this early in an election cycle has little impact.

Racine, the former D.C. attorney general, said in his experience, these kinds of attacks do not resonate as much with independents or voters who are already inclined to vote for Ford. Instead, they resonate more with opponents and could "help in fundraising or other means of getting attention."

One of Ford's predecessors in the attorney general's office — Catherine Cortez Masto (D) — faced similar attacks when she first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee ran ads highlighting "36 lavish trips in just five years," during her time as attorney general for Nevada. Fact checks show she took 32 trips paid for by outside groups, including five international trips and 20 trips related to attorney general conferences or association meetings. 

Lombardo's backers declined to say whether the campaign will continue to bring forward advertisements attacking Ford for his travel. 

Based on the early barrage of campaign ads, however, it's likely to continue.