Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has spent years taking on powerful institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and now, repeatedly, the Trump administration. This fall, he’s taking on another fight: running to unseat Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and become Nevada’s first Black governor.
I spoke with Ford this week about what it looks like to actually fight for justice – and win. From clearing thousands of rape kits that led to arrests and justice for Nevadan victims of sexual assault, to taking on the Trump administration in court- and winning, Ford always leads with gloves off energy. I talked to the AG about how the corruption in Washington has impacted Nevadans directly, why the fight for economic relief for Nevadans is personal to him, what and how he has been doing the job Nevada’s current governor has refused to do while in office.
One of the biggest fights Ford has waged on behalf of Nevadans has been over Trump’s tariffs. Ford challenged the administration’s tariffs in court, arguing that the costs ultimately fall on families and small businesses. He told me he’s heard directly from Nevada business owners who have been forced to raise prices, lay off workers, or close their doors for good.
When his opponent, Governor Joe Lombardo initially suggested Nevadans may have to endure some pain from the tariffs, Ford said his reaction was simple: “We don’t need to feel pain. We need leadership.”
But affordability, Ford told me, goes well beyond tariffs. While traveling through rural Nevada, he met a woman in Minden who was grocery shopping when she stopped at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. When she saw the price of the medication, she realized she couldn’t afford both the food and the pills. “She left those groceries in the aisle,” Ford told me.
That story gets at something Ford says he hears everywhere he goes in Nevada, regardless of whether he’s talking to Democrats, Republicans, or independents. “Folks just want a good job. They want to buy a house,” he told me. “They want their schools preparing their kids for college or careers. They want a healthcare system that’s available and affordable to them, and through all of that, to be treated with humanity, dignity, and respect.”
Ford pointed to a bill Lombardo vetoed that would have limited the price of certain prescription drugs to Medicare-negotiated rates. Ford contrasted that decision with his own record of taking pharmaceutical companies to court, including opioid litigation that he said brought more than $1 billion back to Nevada.
But Ford’s connection to these issues isn’t only political. He told me about his experience as a single father in college, when he relied on food stamps, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing to support himself and his son. He remembers considering dropping out because it was hard to focus on school while worrying about feeding his child.
That experience came back to him last year, when federal action threatened SNAP benefits. In response, Ford sued the Trump administration.
He described the contrast this way: while Lombardo was in Washington seeking Trump’s endorsement and attending a pricey fundraiser, Ford said he was in Nevada fighting in court to preserve SNAP benefits for hundreds of thousands of Nevadans.
“They know they have a fighter in me versus a folder in Joe Lombardo,” he told me, referring to Nevadan voters. That contrast runs through much of Ford’s campaign.
When I asked what about working alongside Lombardo convinced him he could do the job better, Ford pointed to the moments when he believed Nevada needed someone willing to confront Washington.
He cited his lawsuits over tariffs, birthright citizenship, and federal actions affecting Nevada elections. “A direct line is not what stopped those tariffs,” Ford told me, referring to Lombardo’s relationship with Trump. “It was my lawsuit.” But Ford also made clear that his vision of leadership isn’t simply about fighting.
Nevada is a deeply purple state, and Ford has spent much of his career working in that reality. Before becoming attorney general, he served in the state Senate, where he said he passed legislation with bipartisan, and sometimes unanimous, support.
“I will work with anybody who is willing to make the lives of Nevadans better,” he told me.
And then, toward the end of our conversation, I asked Ford the question I ask every guest on Gloves Off: What gives you courage?
His answer had less to do with politics than with how he thinks about power. “I don’t view my position as who I am. It’s only what I do,” Ford said. He told me he’s watched politicians let elected office become their identity, where power, prestige, and influence become so personal that losing office feels like losing a part of themselves.
Ford tries to see it differently.
“Who am I? I’m a husband first to my wife. I’m a father to my sons, and then I’m attorney general.” Political office is temporary, he said, and that knowledge gives him a sense of urgency.
“I have to do as much as I can for as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, on as many things as possible,” Ford told me.
That may be the clearest way to understand the case Ford is making for himself in Nevada. For him, leadership isn’t about holding onto power. It’s about what you’re willing to do with it while you have it. And I for one, want to see more of that kind of leadership in our statehouses and in Washington.
