Oh look there might be a governor's race

Gov. Moneybags, R-Trump. Okay, that's not what it says on Joe Lombardo's business cards. But along with "I'm Joe Lombardo…C’mon man!" and "Those billionaire friends provide jobs," one other notable thing about Nevada's campaign for governor is that despite the truly obscene amount of money from billionaires, corporations, and others Lombardo and allied organizations are spending, what limited polling there has been has pretty consistently shown a tight race between Lombardo and Aaron Ford.

Some of that reflects the purpleness, for lack of a better word, of the state. Some of it reflects Trump's economy, in which polling shows people with a D after their name have a fighting chance, even in some traditionally red states and districts.

Ford's campaign is going up with a new ad buy (see below). Ford's campaign will also continue to be wildly overspent by Lombardo's corpulent campaign and its obesely financed PAC allies.

Typically the money wins. But between the catastrophic Iran war, tariffs, affordability, data centers, the obsequious agreement by Republican candidates like Lombardo to ignore Trump's gross and serial corruption, and so much more Trumpyness than can be listed in a single edition of this or any other newsletter, this may not be a typical campaign year.

IN NEVADA CURRENT

Ad war? Maybe a little, anyway? To reiterate, Lombardo and his allies have been saturating the airwaves (which I guess these days means the ads people see while streaming), and Aaron Ford doesn't have anywhere near the money Lombardo & Friends have. But Ford is starting to spend what he's got. Dana Gentry reports: Ford banking on the ‘many’ to beat the ‘money’ in November

A person can dream. Hopefully, sometime in the not too distant future, people will be saying: "Remember when everybody was on those social media sites all the time? Thank goodness we grew out of that." In the meantime, at least we, by which I mean civilization, are starting to get some settlements. Michael Lyle reports: Nevada could get up to $256 million from Meta settlement over youth social media addiction

Also...

$50B rural health transformation program needs more transparency, groups say. Not only is it a shabby substitute for the Medicaid funding that Trump and Republicans stripped from the rural U.S., it also has the look of a grift magnet. Via KFF Health News.

Nevada among states launching new mail-in voting suit after Supreme Court ruling. As expected. Via the DC bureau.

Note: As I understand this jurisprudential bouncing ball (i.e., superficially), a federal judge will make another ruling by the end of the day Monday, which will again go against Trump's mail-in ballot executive order because that order is unconstitutional, duh. And then that ruling will be appealed.

There's supposed to be a doctrine by which the U.S. Supreme Court says hey you can't be changing the rules this close to an election. But there's definitely a doctrine by which Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court go way, way, way out of their way to not upset the Tantrum-thrower-in-chief. Hopefully the former impulse — or better yet, the U.S. Constitution — will prevail over the latter weakness.

ICYMI

There will be no new statewide ballot questions this year. But not for a lack of trying.

Curbing workplace bullying among objectives of bills ordered up by legislative panel

Wave of anti-money laundering sanctions has Strip’s attention, says Venetian’s attorney

Nevada sues feds over Colorado River cuts

Nevada officials face reckoning as residents and tourists compete for lodging, cell service, roads

Washoe County asking voters to signal support for higher fees on electric vehicles

Good Luck