Donors affiliated with corporate homeownership have funneled millions to Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s bid for re-election, and thousands to help Trump-backed Republican Marty O’Donnell oust US Rep. Susie Lee (D) in Nevada’s 3rd District.
Corporate homeownership has been a contentious debate in Nevada for several years. Democratic lawmakers have adamantly opposed corporations gobbling up homes in Nevada, but Lombardo has halted every attempt to regulate the industry.
Lombardo vetoed the effort in 2023, and in 2025, he took a new approach: he asked State Sen. Ira Hansen (R) to kill the bill by voting no—despite Hansen supporting the bill, and saying he was obeying the request “very reluctantly.”
“For the first time this session, I have actually been asked by the executive branch to support a caucus ‘no’ position, which I have agreed to do,” Hansen said in a floor speech towards the end of the legislative session, before the bill was ultimately killed.
Blackstone Real Estate Partners reported owning over 8,400 homes and apartments across the state in 2026. An apartment income real estate investment trust limited partnership (REIT LP), also known as AIR Communities—a Blackstone subsidiary—owns at least 12 housing complexes in Nevada.
Lombardo’s history with housing corporations
In just two days, Lombardo racked up $25,000 from the Blackstone-owned REIT, according to his third quarter campaign finance filings.
Real estate investor Robert Bigelow donated $2.5 million to the Better Nevada PAC, $6 million to the Republican Governor’s Association Nevada PAC in support of Lombardo, and over $200,000 to Lombardo’s campaign.
In total, Bigelow has spent nearly $39 million to support Lombardo’s gubernatorial campaigns since 2022. Bigelow also made appearances in Nevada’s governor race in 2022. Democrats criticized Lombardo for taking Bigelow’s contributions as he evicted Nevada families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
O’Donnell’s slippery slope
On Sept. 30, Blackstone’s founder and CEO Stephen Schwarzman donated $3,500 to Marty O’Donnell, who’s challenging US Rep. Susie Lee in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District. Schwarzman’s wife, Christine, gave O’Donnell an additional $3,500.
O’Donnell has campaigned on limiting the amount of homes corporations can purchase and alleged Lee is funded by “Wall Street hedge funds.”
National Republicans have recently decreased spending on O’Donnell. Politico reported a PAC affiliated with President Donald Trump is “cutting off spending to a group of less attainable House races,” including in Nevada’s 3rd District.
The PAC originally reserved $3 million in TV ads for O’Donnell, but reduced its spending by at least $2 million in the past two weeks.
O’Donnell rallied for Trump in Bullhead City, Ariz. last week. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) visited Las Vegas Oct. 20 to rally with O’Donnell and State Sen. Carrie Buck (R), who’s challenging US Rep. Dina Titus (D) in Nevada’s 1st Congressional District.
There were dozens of empty seats at the rally and the two GOP candidates have been ridiculed on X for the poorly attended event.
Early voting in Nevada is underway and ends Friday, Oct. 30.
