Amodei describes Trump's Iran war messaging as 'asleep at the communication switch'

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In today's edition: What Amodei said about Trump's first visit to Nevada in more than a year. Plus: Ford taps a Democratic law firm, Team Lombardo has yet another new ad and an exclusive on Carrie Buck's first quarter fundraising.

President Donald Trump is visiting Vegas, fundraising numbers are rolling in and the primaries are less than two months away. With so much to keep track of, we hope you'll rely on us as your definitive elections resource — especially when we publish our voter guide later this week. Let us know what you find most helpful and what you'd like to see more of!

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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🏛️ D.C. Download: Amodei addresses Trump's threat to destroy a civilization

I recently spoke to Homeland Security appropriations cardinal Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) about the partial government shutdown. 

What didn't make it into that story was his reaction to the news of the week: Trump's threat that "a whole civilization will die" if Iran did not agree to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for oil transit. 

"I think somebody was asleep at the communication switch when it was 'death to a civilization,'" Amodei told me Friday, after the two sides agreed to a ceasefire. "'Death to a civilization' is not synonymous with, 'We want to make sure you can never hurt somebody again.' I don't think a sweeping term like 'civilization' was at all the appropriate way to communicate that we're really going to start blowing the rest of the stuff up."

Nevada's Democratic representatives came down much more harshly. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) called his comments "despicable." Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) called them "beyond the pale." Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) accused the president of "threatening to commit war crimes." 

All of the state's congressional Democrats have criticized the war, which has now lasted more than six weeks without congressional authorization. Ultimately, Trump backed down from the threat, announcing a two-week ceasefire. After negotiations stalled over the weekend, the president said the U.S. would implement its own blockade on Iranian ports. 

For his part, Amodei spoke approvingly of the administration's military approach. He stressed the importance of taking away Iran's nuclear capabilities and making sure terrorists can't target America. 

"You've gone this far, whether you should have or shouldn't, you're fully committed now and you need to stay fully committed," he said. "And oh, by the way, you need to have enough control there to where you don't need to worry about these guys doing side deals or whatever to fund people that are basically the 'Death to America' culture." 

Still, asked if he has an understanding of what's next in Iran, the congressman said, "No, absolutely none. I got about as much on that as I do on the negotiations for funding Homeland."

After that, I asked Amodei if he had any plans to see Trump when he visits Nevada this week. 

"Nope," the congressman said. "I think he's coming to Vegas. That's fine. Maybe some of the primary candidates in CD2 from Vegas will go down there and see if they can sneak onstage with him or something."

— Mini Racker

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Ford gets (private) representation for ethics investigation

Governor candidate and Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) has tapped Bravo Schrager LLP, a Nevada law firm that typically represents Democratic candidates and causes, to represent him in an ongoing state ethics investigation he is facing over his travel while in office.

Typically, when a state officer is the subject of an ethics complaint, they are represented by the attorney general's office. However, when that representation is "impracticable, uneconomical or could constitute a conflict of interest," the attorney general's office under state law must contract with a special counsel.

The $75,000 contract was approved last week and is retroactive to Feb. 12, the day after the Nevada Commission on Ethics advanced two complaints related to his international travel and his office's social media account amplifying private campaign accounts.

The attorney general's office previously said it stopped tagging Ford's personal account as soon as concerns were raised. Ford's campaign has also defended his travel, saying it has been related to work to "tackle challenges that go beyond state lines," including cybercrime, labor and sex trafficking.

— Eric Neugeboren

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SOS denies leaking Republican AG candidate's personal info

Personal information of attorney general candidate Adriana Guzmán Fralick (R), including a copy of her driver's license, was posted on the Nevada secretary of state's website.

Guzmán Fralick said in a press release it was because she voiced concerns about the integrity of Nevada's elections. Her campaign shared a video with The Indy showing the information accessible on a "Public Media Information" page on the secretary of state's website.

However, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D) said in a statement that it was a mistake made by "human error," and that the information was taken down as soon as his office became aware.

— Eric Neugeboren

What we're reading and writing

Mining companies and others complained about Nevada water regulator Adam Sullivan to Gov. Joe Lombardo's (R) office and James Settelmeyer (R) before Sullivan was fired. 

The governor has lots of cash. 

Who's running in Henderson's hottest race?

Indy Ad Watch

The Gov. Joe Lombardo-affiliated Better Nevada PAC is out with another advertisement attacking Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) for his out-of-state travel.

The advertisement began airing Monday in Reno and so far has had a buy of about $829, according to ad-tracking service AdImpact. It highlights Ford's time out of state across his seven years in office and criticizes the attorney general for "taking days off" (much more context in our story here). 

So far this cycle, AdImpact reports that Republican-aligned groups have spent more than $5.3 million in campaign ads. Democrats and aligned groups have spent a relatively paltry $32,175.

— Tabitha Mueller

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Mini Series

💵 First in The Indy — State Sen. Carrie Buck (R-Henderson) drew excitement among Republicans when she became one of only five GOP challengers across the country who outraised their would-be Democratic opponents in the last quarter of 2025. 

• She brought in more than $436,000 in the first three months of the year for her challenge to Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) in the 1st Congressional District. The average contribution was $38.50 and she has $369,000 cash on hand, her team told The Indy exclusively. But Titus also had plenty of money in the bank going into 2026 and is known for kicking into high gear come election year. 

💰 Challenger to Lee loans own campaign $500K — Dr. James Lally (D), the Las Vegas-based cardiologist challenging Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV), loaned his own campaign $500,000 in the first quarter of 2026, his team disclosed exclusively to The Indy. Lally — who says he's running because of Lee's support from the pro-Israel lobby and vote for the Laken Riley Act — also raised around $71,000 in individual donations. Lee reported raising a little more than $1 million through thousands of individual donations in the same period.

• Lally is one of a number of congressional candidates that have propelled their campaigns through self-funding, including wealthy investor Greg Kidd (D), who's running to represent Nevada's 2nd Congressional District and loaned $185,000 more to his own campaign this year.
• Big caveat: Just because a candidate puts a self-loan on paper doesn't mean they'll spend it.

🙅 16K opt out of mail ballots — About 16,000 Nevadans opted out of receiving a mail ballot for the June primaries, according to the secretary of state's office, making up less than 1 percent of all active voters. The opt-out deadline was Friday.

🚗 Former Nevada resident meets President Trump — Sharon Simmons, a DoorDash driver and former resident of Boulder City, delivered McDonald's to the White House on Monday for an event celebrating Trump's "no tax on tips" policy. Simmons now lives in Arkansas but was formerly registered as a nonpartisan in Nevada, although her registration record shows she never voted in any Nevada elections. She also testified during a House field hearing on the policy hosted in Las Vegas last year.

🤠 Ranching roundtable — U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Lombardo met with ranching interests at a roundtable last week in Nevada to discuss "practical ways to strengthen access to federal grazing lands, support responsible land stewardship, address the critical needs of grazing permittees, and improve coordination between federal, state, and local partners," they wrote in a joint statement.

📊Data dashboard — GOP strategist Jeremy Hughes built a very helpful dashboard that regularly tracks voter registration numbers across the state, broken down by party and legislative district. 

💵Let the ad wars begin — Clark County Commission candidate Albert Mack (R) announced Monday that he has reserved more than six figures in ad spending ahead of the primary. The campaign said the ads will focus on Mack's background, public safety, accountability and the rising cost of living.

• His opponent, Assm. Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas), also started running digital ads on Monday that highlight Mack's support for former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and his past praise for the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). 

— Mini Racker, Kate Reynolds, Eric Neugeboren, Tabitha Mueller and Oona Milliken

Looking Ahead

• Wednesday, April 15  — Deadline to file quarterly campaign finance reports
• Thursday, April 16 — Trump visits Las Vegas
• Thursday, April 16 — CFTC Chair Michael Selig testifies before House Ag Committee

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A post that caught our eye: 

👀 Brief beef history: Assm. Reuben D'Silva (D-Las Vegas) endorsed North Las Vegas City Councilman Isaac Barron's (D) state Senate primary challenge against incumbent Sen. Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas). Barron registered a PAC that ran attack ads against state Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas) last cycle, making the councilman persona non grata among Democratic state senators.

We'll see you next week. Interested in more newsletters from The Nevada Independent? Find all of them here.