MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
It's primary day in Maine, North Dakota, South Carolina and Nevada, where rising gas and grocery prices and a significant slowdown in tourism have taken a toll on President Trump's popularity. Republican Governor Joe Lombardo is feeling the pressure in the purple state as well. After one term in office, he's facing a tough reelection this November, and as Paul Boger of KNPR reports, voters are choosing his Democratic challenger today.
PAUL BOGER, BYLINE: It's a mild, early summer morning in northern Nevada. Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill takes to the streets of Sparks. As a Democratic candidate for governor, it might be her last chance to connect with voters before the primary.
(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING ON DOOR)
CASSIE: Just a minute.
ALEXIS HILL: Hi, Cassie (ph)?
CASSIE: Yes.
BOGER: Since announcing her candidacy last year, she estimates that her campaign has knocked on at least 20,000 doors across the state. She says retail politics, making that personal connection, is still key to winning elections in Nevada.
HILL: I think personal contact is, like, the No. 1 way to win elections. It just happens to be harder when you're running statewide. It turns out there's, like, a lot more people to contact.
BOGER: Hill is one of six Democratic candidates vying for the chance to unseat Nevada's incumbent Republican governor, Joe Lombardo. She largely campaigned on economic equality and environmental stewardship. That message has garnered endorsements from progressive groups, but it didn't earn her the support of Nevada's most powerful election organizing force, the culinary union. It represents hospitality workers across the state. They instead endorse her opponent, two-time Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford.
PATRICIA SOTO: They still going (inaudible).
(SOUNDBITE OF SCREEN DOOR RATTLING)
SOTO: Hola?
BOGER: About 450 miles southeast of Sparks, the weather is much warmer as Patricia Soto, a longtime culinary union member, goes door knocking. She's out in East Las Vegas supporting Ford.
SOTO: It doesn't matter if it's 100, 120 degrees, I can do it. I know I can knock these doors and convince these people to vote because it's very important for the community.
BOGER: She says one of the biggest issues she hears from voters is about affordability, something she's also struggling with.
SOTO: Four years ago, I lived a little bit better, and I don't have the stress to think to pay the house, the bills, the food, the car.
BOGER: Nevada's economic recovery from the pandemic has been sluggish. The state's unemployment rate has stubbornly remained one of the highest in the country. And in a state that once bragged about its vast tracts of cheap land available for housing, Nevada has faced a decade of steadily rising housing prices. It's why Attorney General Ford's gubernatorial campaign has done everything it can to link Republican Governor Joe Lombardo to President Trump. Here's Ford speaking to KUNR Public Radio in Reno last month.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
AARON FORD: We are in a crisis right now that's been created by the Lombardo-Trump economy. Housing gets too expensive. Healthcare is too expensive. Gas is too expensive. Groceries are too expensive. Our energy prices are too expensive.
BOGER: For his part, Lombardo has received Trump's endorsement twice, once in 2022 and again just this week. In a post to Truth Social, Trump said Lombardo was smart, strong and tough. However, Lombardo has done what he can to keep that relationship with the president at arm's length, at least on the campaign trail. Since announcing his initial run for governor in 2022, Lombardo has appeared with the president only a handful of times. In a recent conversation with KTVN TV, Lombardo said he was instead focused on Nevada.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOE LOMBARDO: I don't know all the nuances of foreign policy associated with that and the tariffs and how it directly affects Nevada. But me, as the governor of the state of Nevada, I'm concerned about Nevada.
BOGER: After winning the Silver State by three percentage points in 2024, recent polling shows President Trump's approval rating is nearly 20 points underwater. For NPR News, I'm Paul Boger in Reno.
(SOUNDBITE OF BADBADNOTGOOD AND GHOSTFACE KILLAH SONG, "GUNSHOWERS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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