In bid for governor, Ford focuses on affordability, slams 'Lombardo-Trump economy'

In North Las Vegas' Historic Westside neighborhood, grocery store owner Mario Berlanga has seen costs skyrocket, with wine prices rising from $35 to almost $70 a case. After seeing a 30 percent drop in sales at one of his stores compared to last year, Berlanga has made tough choices about how to offset additional costs without burdening his customers.

Berlanga shared the details with Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) as Ford toured Mario's Westside Market during a campaign stop in mid-May. 

As the two navigated the brightly lit aisles, carefully avoiding interfering with customers browsing the shelves and waiting at the checkout counters, the attorney general listened attentively as Berlanga explained his pricing decisions.

"I have employees to pay, and we have to make money in order to make these obligations, and so it's tough," he said. "Me and my partner — we've taken a decrease in our wages ... until things get a little better."

The conversation was one of dozens Ford, 54, had that day, as he zipped around to six locations in Southern Nevada, including a stop at a union training facility in Henderson and an education press conference in Las Vegas, greeting constituents with a fist bump and a smile. The two-term attorney general and former top state lawmaker has been endorsed by former Vice President Kamala Harris (D), the entirety of the state's congressional delegation, 33 state lawmakers and is decidedly the Democratic favorite to challenge incumbent Gov. Joe Lombardo (R).

Though he faces a challenge from Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill (D), Ford's campaign has effectively ignored the primary, where he holds a commanding fundraising lead, and focused on the general, where he expects to face the formidably funded Lombardo. His messaging targets Lombardo and what he has coined as the Lombardo-Trump economy. 

Lombardo's campaign has countered that affordability issues started under former President Joe Biden (D).

While he declined to debate Hill and has limited questions at press conferences, the campaign has hosted roundtable discussions, a statewide listening tour to inform policy and reached out directly to constituents and community figures, such as Berlanga. In individual conversations, Ford has focused on highlighting his record as attorney general and offered the floor for communication, questions, comments and complaints, nodding intently and asking follow-up questions.

During his time as the Senate majority leader — the top job in the upper chamber — Ford sponsored and helped pass bills that established Nevada's film tax credit program in 2013 and requirements for law enforcement officials to wear body cameras in 2017. He also pushed unsuccessfully for paid family leave (the bill was vetoed by then-Gov. Brian Sandoval (R)) and age-related restrictions on social media. As attorney general, he brought in $1.2 billion in opioid recovery dollars, sued insurance carriers for denials, reached a settlement with a realty company that freed hundreds of Nevada homeowners from predatory title agreements and supported lawsuits aimed at protecting reproductive rights.

Though he's faced relentless criticism from Lombardo and the governor's allies for his out-of-state travel — Ford notched at least 322 days in his seven years in office and far outpaced Lombardo in 2024 —  Ford responded by saying the conferences he went to have helped him better counter the Trump administration's actions and forge relationships with other attorneys general that have helped him better serve Nevadans.

He said his decision to run for governor centered on Nevadans.

"Nevada deserves leaders who will look out for the entirety of the Nevada family, who won't kowtow and capitulate to a Trump administration that I knew then was going to be hell-bent on undermining rights that we had," Ford said. "I knew Gov. Lombardo wouldn't stand up."

Berlanga said he decided to have Ford tour his shop because Ford has been on the front lines of the fight against tariffs, suing the Trump administration twice on the issue, and isn't the type of person to sit back and just watch. 

"Look at his record … he fights against stuff that's not right," he said. "We need fighters and he's a fighter."

Running for governor

Ford is a former math teacher and an attorney with five advanced degrees, a resume ranging from the highest position in the state Senate to attorney general and deep connections at the national level.

But before he found himself shaping laws and suing corporations, Ford, at 21, was a single father applying for Section 8 housing and the Women, Infants and Children Program so he could afford formula for his then-infant son. 

He said he made a commitment to his son and family that everything he does is for them. 

When they moved to Nevada from Texas in 2007, his son joked that if everything was for the family, why move to a state where the education is ranked as among the worst in the country?

The jest prompted Ford to run for office for the first time.

In 2010, he ran for state Senate against Republican Sen. Joe Hardy (R-Boulder City). Though the district only had a slight Republican advantage, Ford lost badly, but that didn't stop him. 

Two years later, he won his second state Senate bid. 

Even as he's risen in the ranks of Nevada's political party, Ford maintains that he has three jobs. On his social media platforms, he lists "Husband, father & Nevada Attorney General. Running for Governor."

The order, he said, is deliberate because he doesn't want anyone to misunderstand his priorities, and those priorities shape his approach to office. Even as he wakes up around 6:15 or 6:30 a.m. and touches base with his team at the attorney general's office and ends his day around 11:30 p.m., he makes family — his wife Berna, 54, who is also an attorney, and three adult children, Avery, Alexander and Aaron II — a priority. 

His eldest son is a medical doctor in residency, his middle child is a law school student and his youngest is in college.

They have a group chat where he wishes his wife good morning when he's away and checks in on his sons, occasionally sending a "mental health status check" query.

Ford, who is Nevada's first Black attorney general, has faced backlash and racial stereotypes. During his 2022 re-election campaign, his opponent said Ford "should be hanging from a f—ing crane."

Questioning whether they should contend with such rhetoric again, the family prayed together and decided to run for office because they believed it was important to have leaders who would stand up to President Donald Trump (R) and fight for Nevada families.

Ford said his life experiences underscore his commitment to protecting safety net programs such as Medicaid and food stamps. As a kid, he said he and his brother had only a stale Skor chocolate bar for dinner one night, and he keeps one on his office desk as a reminder of his journey.

He's centered his campaign and conversations with constituents on an "Affordable Nevada" plan centered on housing, healthcare and energy prices, as well as a "Student Success" agenda for education. The plans include lowering security deposit caps for renters, expanding rental assistance programs, limiting corporate investors' ability to buy up homes, capping prescription drug prices, working with nonprofits to cancel medical debt and guaranteeing school meals. 

"I've lived where too many Nevadans are living right now, from stale candy bars to single parenthood to working eight jobs," Ford said. "I've been a tip worker, I've been in a union, I've been unemployed, I've been without a home of my own for months, so I understand these issues."

Ford's working-class background is something Assm. Erica Roth (D-Reno), who has endorsed Ford, said is needed in politics. As someone who took a circuitous route from dropping out of high school to becoming an attorney, Roth said the experience helps her as a lawmaker.

Roth noted that even before she became a lawmaker and was working as a lobbyist for the Washoe County Public Defender's Office, she was struck by how thoughtful Ford was. They found themselves at opposite ends of legislation aimed at addressing the fentanyl crisis, and rather than dismissing her concerns or scoring political points, she said he worked to build consensus. 

"He could have forced that legislation through without considering any diverse viewpoint, but that's not what he did," she said. "That's just how he approaches the legislative process, and I believe that's how he's going to approach being governor. He is going to listen to Nevadan's period, and not just people who he thinks are going to tell him what he wants to hear."

Responding to critiques

As Ford has worked to elevate his message, he's faced criticism from Republicans who have highlighted the 137 days he spent out of state in 2024, and run more than half a million dollars in campaign ads against him, calling the top Democratic gubernatorial hopeful "high-flying Aaron Ford" and "frequent flyer Ford." 

When he walked into Mario's Westside Market, a man handing out pamphlets recognized the attorney general and brought up the attacks, calling them political noise.

Asked about the critiques, Ford said his top priority as attorney general has been to keep Nevadans safe, and that fight goes beyond state borders. The travel, he said, primarily involved nonpartisan or bipartisan nonprofit organizations focused on convening Democratic and Republican attorneys general to share knowledge and information.

He credited the travel and conferences with bringing $1.2 billion in opioid recovery dollars to the state as well as other settlements, such as one with the social media group Roblox and the protection of food stamp benefits.

"It's work travel," Ford added, noting that even if he's out of state, he's communicating with his staff in the attorney general's office, coordinating on cases and ensuring duties are fulfilled. Asked about family, he said that if there's an allotment for family, he'll bring them, but any travel costs are paid by the family.

Ford said the travel critiques are effectively a red herring for Lombardo's team to dodge questions about the economy and Trump's actions. He said he hasn't missed any key moments, citing Lombardo's absence from town for a fundraiser, which meant the governor missed a press conference addressing a cybersecurity incident that crippled state systems.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), who is a former attorney general and has backed Ford, said any effort to indicate that Ford isn't fighting for Nevada families is "simply not true." She cited his record of securing more than $1 billion in settlements for Nevadans and said his number one priority is delivering for the state.

Ford has a deep knowledge of the executive branch and understands the dynamic between a governor and the Legislature, she said. She noted his consumer protection work, ability to be tough on crime and crack down on human trafficking — an issue she focused on as attorney general.

She added that Ford saw the crisis in Nevada stemming from the opioid epidemic and was one of two attorneys general who actually took the lead to fight pharmaceutical companies. 

"He wasn't afraid to take on big pharma, with all of the money they have, all of the corporate attorneys they have, he was willing to stand up and say no, not my state," Cortez Masto said. "That's a true leader, that's somebody who's going to do what's right for people here in Nevada."

Ford added that separate critiques of his lack of a debate with his Democratic challenger, Hill, miss the point: He is talking directly to voters. 

"It's just a matter of philosophy, and I believe that the best way to talk to voters is to go talk to voters … I'm using them to develop my ability to roll out an economic plan that's responsive to their needs," Ford said. "That's the best way to address these issues, and I'm going to focus on that. Period. Point blank."

In a statement to The Nevada Independent, Hill doubled down on her perspective, saying, "We have key differences in policies – like his support of data center tax breaks – and a debate is one important way voters get a fair comparison."

Ford has emphasized that data center tax breaks will need to be evaluated to see if they're beneficial for the state. He has also said he will require data centers to pay for their energy usage and electrical grid updates so that Nevadans' energy bills do not go up.

Though Hill touted her plans for higher office earlier in the election cycle, Ford said he wanted to wait to roll out his proposals until he'd spoken with a critical mass of constituents and ensured he was on a path to address their needs.

Direct communication and follow-through are aspects of Ford that have gained the support of Daniel Lincoln, the regional director for District Council 16 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. 

Lincoln said the first time he saw Ford was at a union meeting in 2015, right after unions suffered a major setback on prevailing wages for school construction during a session when Republicans controlled the Legislature. A rank-and-file glazier at the time, Lincoln recalled getting frustrated with Ford, and the state senator responding, "Give me the gavel, and we can make things happen."

In the next session, when Democrats led by Ford regained control of the Senate, the prevailing wage was reinstated.

When Ford stopped by the union's training facility, he walked through the cavernous building, saw a car that was being refurbished and checked in with apprentices and instructors. One attendee remarked that he'd like to see Lombardo show up for a tour.

Ford joked about his Sunday shoes mussing up sections of flooring that floor coverers were working on, and, separately, he learned how to score a mirror to cut it. 

"Score — S-C-O-R-E?" Ford asked. The person showing him affirmed the spelling, and then Ford cut the mirror, following the technique shared with him.

Ford asked questions about the work going on and answered questions about his advocacy for repealing Nevada's "right-to-work" law, which prohibits labor unions and employers from requiring union membership for employment but has been criticized for allowing non-dues-paying workers to "freeload" off union-won benefits.

The position is rare for Democrats running for statewide office, as many attempt to side-step the issue.

"The reason why Democratic leaders have stayed away from it is politics. They're concerned that it's going to lose in the general election, and so they don't want to talk about it," Lincoln said. "Him talking about it and saying it out loud is just another reason to show that he is not politically driven."

Ford said the issue is clear-cut for him, and he took the stance he did because it's what is best for workers.

"What's right is right. And at the end of the day, I do what's right, because this job is temporary," he said. "And when I leave, the decisions that I've made are going to last potentially in perpetuity, and if it enables me to help people, then I'm going to do it."

Looking ahead

When Ford stopped around lunchtime at Esmeralda's Restaurante in Las Vegas, which serves Salvadoran and Mexican cuisine, he listened to the owner, Daisy Vega, explain that she's having to do more with less.

Rising costs have made keeping the restaurant open a struggle, she said, and she just has to "keep hoping things will get better." Learning that Ford spoke Spanish — a language he began studying in high school at his mother's urging and continued to study in college — the two chatted for a while in her native language. Then she invited him into the kitchen to make a pupusa, offering him a white apron to wear over his slacks and work shirt. 

As they discussed the rising difficulties with running a small business, Ford outlined his efforts to successfully sue the Trump administration over the tariffs. He added that he and others are working on trying to get refunds for consumers.

He then asked if she had ideas for ways he or others could help.

"No, I think maybe if you can become governor, I'll go see you," she replied.

Ford laughed and shared his number with her.

"Even before then, if you have any ideas or comments or concerns that you want to share with me, you can certainly reach out," he said.