Ford neck and neck with Lombardo in toss-up Nevada governor’s race: Poll

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) and state Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) are neck and neck in the state’s gubernatorial race, according to new polling released on Thursday.

The Democratic candidate led the incumbent Republican governor by a slim 2-point margin in the latest Emerson College Polling and KLAS-TV survey.

Ford had a 31-point advantage over Lombardo among Hispanic voters and an 11-point lead among women. The Republican governor led the Democrat by 13 percentage points among white voters and 6 points among men.

A poll from November 2025 by the polling center had the two candidates tied at 41 percent. The Cook Political Report , a nonpartisan election forecaster, has rated this contest as a “toss-up.”

Lombardo has repeatedly clashed with Nevada’s Democratic-controlled Legislature during his first term as the state’s top executive, vetoing more than 160 bills since he assumed office in 2023, according to The Nevada Independent .

In Thursday’s Emerson poll, 40 percent of likely voters in the state said they approved of the governor’s job performance, while 21 percent said they were neutral and 39 percent said they disapproved.

Additionally, 37 percent of respondents expressed approval of President Trump’s job performance. A little more than half, 55 percent, said they disapproved of how Trump has handled this role.

Trump won the state by a 3-point margin in 2024. Former President Biden won the state by a similar slim margin in the 2020 presidential race.

Lombardo, who endorsed Trump in his 2024 presidential race, told The Nevada Independent earlier this year that he thought the president was doing well but added that he does not always agree with Trump’s presentation style.

Ford has slammed the GOP governor over his support for the president amid rising fuel costs tied to the Iran war and Trump’s trade fight with Canada.

“$100 a barrel. $4.98 a gallon in Nevada. That’s the cost of a failing Lombardo-Trump economy,” Ford wrote on social media Wednesday. “Nevada families cannot afford four more years of this.”

The poll showed 43 percent of voters ranked economic concerns as their top issue in the November election, followed by 15 percent who said housing affordability and 11 percent who said healthcare.

Lombardo has criticized his Democratic opponent over his economic platform and support for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

“For the last three years, I’ve fought every day to keep Nevada from becoming California,” the GOP governor wrote on social media last month. “Meanwhile, Aaron Ford is proudly endorsed by Gavin Newsom and wants to bring California’s failed, tax-and-spend agenda to our state.”

The Emerson College Polling Nevada survey polled a sample of 680 likely voters in the state from Sept. 5-8 with a margin of error of approximately 3.7 percentage points.