Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Las Vegas) spoke with voters Oct. 23 at The Nevadan’s “On the Ballot” forum, where they answered questions from Gen Z activist Deja Foxx about affordability, voter dissatisfaction, and corruption.
Ford, who’s challenging Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, would be the first Democrat to unseat a Republican governor in Nevada since 1982. If elected, he would also become Nevada’s first black governor—and the first black governor elected in the west of the Mississippi.
Nevada’s governor’s race is predicted to be among the most competitive in the nation. Each poll either has Lombardo at a slight advantage, or with Ford at a one-to-two point advantage. Emerson College Polling showed Ford leading Nevada by only two points: 44% of Nevadans for Ford and 42% for Lombardo.
“I’m asking you to invest your vote in me so I can reinvest in you, the same way that I got reinvested that allowed me to [be] where I am today,” Ford told voters, referring to when he first became civically engaged.
Ford, who was a single father while earning his first degree, nearly dropped out of college to focus on raising his first son.
“I couldn’t focus on something that was important to me: education, because I had something more important to address, and that was ensuring that my son had food,” Ford said. “That he had a roof over his head and that he had medical care.”
Ford said he invested in himself by voting for then-candidate Bill Clinton. Medical assistance, food stamps, and housing assistance helped him stay in school while raising his son.
Ford said history is repeating itself and many Nevadans are facing the same struggles he did as a working-class single father.
“I almost dropped out because I couldn’t focus on nothing else, and right now, so many Nevadans are experiencing the same thing,” Ford told voters. “They can only deal with what’s in front of them … and so that’s my point: to be a governor who’s going to look out for them.”
What do they say to Gen Z voters who distrust both parties?
Young voters are a central demographic for Nevada Democrats. About half a million members of Gen Z are eligible to vote in the state of Nevada—and they have the power to swing the election, if they get out to vote.
Foxx said there’s “a lot of dissatisfaction and cynicism” with both major parties, a sentiment she shares. She asked Ford how young people are supposed to cast a ballot if they feel their elected officials aren’t representing them.
“I’ll begin by saying and acknowledging that my generation has failed you,” Ford said. “… You have less rights now than you did when your parents were born.”
Ford speculates his generation “got complacent” because they assumed the rights they fought for, such as voting rights, reproductive rights, and environmental protections, would be permanent.
He said the Trump administration is proving that assumption to be wrong.
Ford said Gen Z has the right to be upset with both parties and that elected officials should “duly acknowledge” that skepticism.
Ford said his first step would be allowing graduate students to unionize so they can bargain for better wages and working conditions. Lombardo vetoed a 2023 bill that would have expanded collective bargaining in Nevada’s higher education system, saying the system’s regents can already bargain, and graduate assistants told The Nevadan that because of this, they’re backing Ford.
Horsford, who represents Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, which includes North Las Vegas, northern Clark County, and rural central Nevada, added the current system isn’t “rigged,” against only young people but working class people, too.
What would Democrats do first?
As Election Day nears, national Democrats are hoping for a strong midterm. In Nevada, 55% of likely voters disapprove of President Donald Trump’s job performance, according to Emerson College Polling. Horsford said if the Democrats win the House, the party is ready to govern starting on day one.
“On day one of a House Democratic majority, the first 100 hours, the first 100 days, the first year, we have to act with the same urgency for the American people that this administration and Republicans have against us,” Horsford said. “Against our rights, against our freedoms, and against our opportunities.”
Horsford added that Trump “showed us you can get things done, it may not be what we want, but he’s doing it.”
Ford criticized Lombardo for working with corporations, influential donors, and lobbyists and said Lombardo’s focus has not been on improving Nevadans’s lives.
“He supports the corporations, not the people. I let people draw their own conclusions as to whether they want to call it corruption or not,” Ford said.
Future of the Democratic Party
Horsford said this election is especially important for Democrats.
He pointed to 2006, when House Democrats “overwhelmingly” took the House majority and the Democratic party made health care its central issue.
“By making that the central issue, presidential candidates ran on it in 2007 and 2008, which led to President Barack Obama passing the Affordable Care Act,” Horsford said. “I believe that same thing will happen in 2026, where Democrats will take the majority… we will bring these bold ideas, those solutions, some of them will pass out of the House because we have the majority.”
But a House majority alone can’t make law. Bills would still need to pass the Senate and get Trump’s signature.
The congressman also said this election will help set the narrative for 2028. In August, the Democratic National Committee approved a 2028 calendar that makes Nevada the second state to vote in the party’s presidential primary, after South Carolina, meaning Nevadans will have an early say in who becomes the Democratic nominee.
“We’re the first battleground state, where a state that is multiracial, we are working class,” Horsford explained. “It’s young voters who will determine a lot of these elections. The people will be able to have a say, we will test who these candidates are, what the message needs to be, and ultimately what the agenda is.”
Early voting in Nevada is underway and ends Friday, Oct. 30. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
