Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo called his newly announced ballot initiative to block transgender women from female sports a part of his “game plan” to win his 2026 gubernatorial re-election bid, according to audio obtained by The Nevada Independent

At a closed-door event for supporters in September, Lombardo expressed uncertainty about his ability to motivate voters in a non-presidential election year without a ballot initiative, saying that in 2023 he narrowly won the gubernatorial race against then-incumbent Steve Sisolak by about 15,000 votes. Later, at an event in January, Lombardo said, “I am not enough of a motivator as a governor candidate to get them off the couch.”

At an earlier event, Lombardo also touted the passage of a voter ID initiative in 2024 and said that its reappearance on the 2026 ballot — potentially alongside his new ballot initiative dealing with transgender athletes — could be key to driving turnout. 

“We’re going to do this thing called Men in Women's Sports. I’m in the process of raising the money for this ballot initiative to get the signatures to qualify it and put it on the ballot. That’s going to get people out to vote, ” Lombardo said in a recording at an October event obtained by The Indy. 

The sports ballot initiative — announced last week — comes as Lombardo likely faces a competitive race against Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford, with polling indicating the two are in a dead heat. If passed, the initiative would require the state and other entities that receive public funds, such as schools, colleges or local athletic programs, to categorize each sport or competition as male, female or coeducational/mixed sex, and to ban people assigned male at birth from women’s sports.

In order to qualify for the ballot, the initiative must have at least 148,788 valid signatures across the state. The measure must also be passed by voters in two successive general elections before it can be added to the state Constitution. It would create a carveout in language voters approved in 2022 guaranteeing equal rights to all Nevadans regardless of gender identity or expression.

In recent years, Republicans have increasingly turned to ballot measures related to transgender issues as a strategy to drive turnout. In the leadup to the 2025 gubernatorial election in New Jersey and Virginia, Republicans campaigned heavily on trans issues in an attempt to win over independents. Virginia’s Republican candidate for governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, spent 57 percent of her advertising funds on anti-transgender ads, although her bid proved unsuccessful.  

Voters are also considering ballot initiatives to curb trans access to bathrooms and sports in Arizona and Colorado. 

In a statement to The Nevada Independent, Lombardo’s campaign spokesperson, Halee Dobbins, said that “this issue is regularly brought up, so he has taken action to get this issue on the ballot in 2026. Governor Lombardo is eager to give Nevadans a chance to secure protections for women’s sports through the ballot box this November.”

Multiple studies have found that ballot initiatives are associated with higher voter turnout in both presidential and midterm elections, especially with hot-button topics such as abortion access and LGBTQ+ issues, sometimes with margins large enough to determine competitive races. In 2024, Nevada Democrats succeeded in passing a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution. It will need to be approved by voters again in 2026 to become state law.

Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, the executive director at the left-leaning Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, said that candidates use ballot initiatives related to transgender issues as a “wedge” issue to entice voters. 

"It’s essentially an attempt to distract,” Fields Figueredo said in an interview with The Indy. “These are bad faith attempts to drive potential supporters to the polls at the expense and well-being and belonging of trans students.”

Although trans issues consistently rank low on voter priorities, polling indicates that Americans have grown more supportive of restrictions for trans people in recent years. A February 2025 poll from the Pew Research Center indicates that more than 60 percent of U.S. adults favor laws that require trans athletes to compete on teams that match their sex assigned at birth. 

A May 2025 poll from The Associated Press found that about half of U.S. adults approve of President Donald Trump’s handling transgender issues — particularly on policies concerning youth.

Lombardo’s initiative, however, has raised red flags from progressives and LGBTQ+ advocates who say that the effort undermines the state Constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment, which was approved by voters in 2022 and broadly protects against discrimination. The group Silver State Equality called the initiative “discriminatory” and said that it encourages adults “to police girls’ bodies and appearance.”

It has also faced backlash from Lombardo’s Democratic opponents — Ford and Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill — who raised concerns about discrimination. Ford previously told The Indy that although he doesn’t personally support transgender athletes playing in sports that don’t match their assigned birth sex, he thought the initiative was a “political ploy” to drum up support for Lombardo’s campaign.

Although candidates use ballot initiatives to drive turnout, Fields Figueredo said that it “isn’t necessarily how it plays out for voters.” She pointed to prior efforts to restrict trans sports participation that failed, such as a 2024 ballot initiative effort in Colorado and the passage of abortion protections in Republican-leaning Missouri. 

“It’s not apples to apples for them — ‘I care about abortion or reproductive freedom, and that’s going to translate to who I vote for,’” Fields Figueredo said.

Lombardo has a mixed record on policies related to transgender people. In 2023, Lombardo joined other governors in a letter to the NCAA requesting a ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, but later that year, he signed a bill requiring health insurers cover gender-affirming care for transgender minors and adults. The move earned him praise from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups. 

Two years later, he vetoed measures creating a shield law for health care providers who offer gender-affirming care.

Lombardo’s ballot initiative comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers ruling in favor of states that bar transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams.

Nevada is among 21 states, five territories and Washington, D.C., that doesn’t have a state law prohibiting transgender athletes from playing on teams at the K-12 and collegiate level that align with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ rights think tank. The board that governs Nevada high school sports, however, approved restrictions on transgender athletes last year.

Audio obtained by The Nevada Independent of Lombardo Carson City closed door supporter event on 9/16/25.

Audio from Lombardo fundraiser on 1/2/26.