Morning Digest: Democratic heavyweight steps up to challenge Nevada's GOP governor

The likely matchup sets up a major battle in this perennial swing state

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) (credit: Aaron Ford Facebook)

Leading Off

NV-Gov

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford all but announced that he would challenge Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo on Thursday, a move that marks an early start to what will be a closely watched contest to lead this perpetually swingy state.

"I do intend to seek higher office," the Democrat told the Nevada Independent's Tabitha Mueller. "I have been having informal conversations with people across the state to better understand what they believe Nevada needs in its next governor."

But Ford, who would be the Silver State's first Black governor, has been doing much more than chatting. Mueller notes that he's held fundraisers throughout the year even though term limits preclude him from seeking a third term in his current post.

Ford has been a prominent figure in local politics for some time. He was the state Senate's majority leader in 2018 when he campaigned to succeed Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who gave up his post to run for governor. Ford became the first Black person to win a statewide office in Nevada history after he scored a tight 47.2-46.8 victory over Wes Duncan, who was one of Laxalt's top aides, as Laxalt was losing to Democrat Steve Sisolak.

Republicans had hoped to target Ford in 2022, but their plans went haywire after election conspiracy theorist Sigal Chattah won the GOP nod over their preferred candidate, Tisha Black. Ford's allies were more than happy with this matchup, as they ran radio ads during the primary slamming Black over a 2015 donation she made to Sisolak while calling Chattah a "MAGA conservative."

That meddling paid off in the general election, as Ford prevailed 52-44 despite the fact that Lombardo narrowly unseated Sisolak. Ford's showing made him the top vote-getter in any partisan race for statewide office that year, and political observers soon began talking about him as a likely opponent for the governor.

Ford is the first major Democrat to publicly express interest in this race, and it remains to be seen if anyone else will eye this contest. Lombardo, for his part, made it clear back in April that he'd run for a second term.

Senate

GA-Sen

Republican John King—Georgia's insurance commissioner, not the CNN guy—is reportedly considering a bid against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Greg Bluestein. However, Bluestein adds that King is a close ally of term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp and is waiting on the governor to decide whether he'll run for Senate before making up his own mind.

Bluestein also mentions Rep. Rich McCormick as another potential GOP candidate, though he hasn't yet said anything publicly and it's not clear whether he's actually weighing a campaign.

MN-Sen

Democratic Sen. Tina Smith said, "That's my plan" when asked if she'll run for a second full term in 2026 by the Minnesota Star Tribune's Sydney Kashiwagi in a new interview. Smith, who is 66, was appointed to the vacancy created by Al Franken's resignation in 2018, then won a special election for the final two years of his term that fall by a 53-42 margin. She earned a six-year term at the ballot box in 2020, winning 49-43. So far, no Republicans have emerged to challenge her.

Governors

AZ-Gov

A spokesperson for Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani, who won a second term last month by a narrow 50-47 margin, tells Axios's Andrew Solender that the congressman will not run for governor in 2026, when Democratic incumbent Katie Hobbs will be up for reelection.

FL-Gov

Super-rich attorney John Morgan, who once said that "[i]ndependents never win and only act as a spoiler," is talking about running for governor of Florida as a third-party candidate.

Morgan, who made his fortune building up a giant personal injury law firm known for its aggressive advertising, made those comments in 2018 after spending a few months flirting with a bid for the governor's office the last time the post came open. Now he tells Politico's Kimberly Leonard that he wants to create an outfit he calls the "Capitalist Party," though how that would differ functionally from an independent bid is not clear.

It's always hard to tell with Morgan just how serious he is: In the same interview, he said he wouldn't want to live in the governor's mansion in Tallahassee, complaining that it "smells moldy," and explained his pledge to serve just one term by saying that, at the age of 68, he's "tired as a motherfucker." (He also claimed he's talking to Matt Gaetz about hiring the ex-congressman to work at his firm.)

Morgan has never run for office before, but he's spent millions of his own money to help pass two ballot measures: one in 2016 that legalized medical marijuana and another in 2020 that increased the state's minimum wage.

NM-Gov

New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, who just won reelection last month, isn't ruling out a bid to succeed term-limited Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a fellow Democrat. When asked about his plans this week by Semafor's Burgess Everett, Heinrich would neither confirm nor deny his interest, saying only, "I don't really have anything to share today."

Heinrich has long been the subject of speculation in regard to the 2026 governor's race. Last year, in response to questions from Santa Fe New Mexican columnist Milan Simonich about that contest, a campaign spokesperson dodged the subject.

"The only political decision Martin has made is to run for re-election," adviser Brad Elkins wrote in an email. "His focus right now is serving New Mexicans as U.S. Senator."

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If Heinrich were to run and win, he'd be able to pick a successor who'd then have to run for the final two years of his term in 2028. An election for a full six-year term would take place in 2030.

No major candidates have launched campaigns yet, which is also the case in most other states that will elect governors in 2026. Everett, though, mentions that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is also "in the mix" for Democrats; Politico reported last summer that she's "expected" to run. Another Democrat, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, is also a possibility. In an interview almost two years ago, he didn't rule out a run, but it doesn't seem that anyone's checked in with him since.

RI-Gov

Just a few weeks after sounding eager to take on Gov. Dan McKee in the 2026 Democratic primary, Attorney General Peter Neronha no longer seems keen.

"I am not at all interested in the trappings of, say, governor," he tells WPRI in a new interview, though he suggested he might run for lieutenant governor instead.

Judges

WI Supreme Court

Court of Appeals Judge Maria Lazar, a conservative who had been considering a bid for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, announced this week that she would not run and was instead endorsing former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel.

Barring a last-minute entry by another candidate, Lazar's decision all but ensures the April 1 election that will determine control of the court will be a battle between Schimel and Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, who has the backing of the state Democratic Party.

Legislatures

VA State Senate

Republican Rep.-elect John McGuire finally announced this week that he would resign from the Virginia Senate effective Jan. 3, but despite his long delay, Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas quickly set the special election to replace him for Jan. 7.

That's the same day Virginia will hold two other legislative specials, including one in the House and another in the Senate. But in those two districts, both solidly blue held by Democrats in northern Virginia, the incumbent office-holders resigned last month, and nominees have already been chosen in the races to replace them.

Republicans, by contrast, won't pick a candidate for McGuire's deep red seat until this evening, while Democrats tapped sociology professor Jack Trammel last week. It had appeared that McGuire's unexplained delay in quitting might cost the GOP a chance to replace him before the legislature reconvenes next month, but Lucas, a Democrat, did not make Republicans wait.

Mayors & County Leaders

Prince George's County, MD Executive

State Sen. Alonzo Washington announced Wednesday that he would run in the special Democratic primary to lead Prince George's County, a declaration that makes him the fifth prominent candidate to enter the March 4 nomination contest.

Washington used his kickoff to remind his audience that he'd grown up poor and resided at a homeless shelter when he was 8. He went on to become the first member of his family to attend college and has served in the Maryland legislature since 2012.

Prosecutors & Sheriffs

St. Louis County, MO Prosecuting Attorney

Republican Gov. Mike Parson announced Thursday that he was appointing prosecutor Melissa Price Smith as prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County—a move that came a week after County Executive Sam Page said that he had chosen former federal prosecutor Cort VanOstran for the same job. Both Smith and VanOstran are Democrats.

The dueling picks come amid a legal showdown between Parson and Page over which of the two has the right to replace Wesley Bell, a Democrat who will resign following his election to the U.S. House. Whoever eventually gets the job will be up for a full four-year term in 2026 in one of the few reliably blue bastions left in Missouri.

Voting Rights & Election Law

North Carolina

North Carolina Republicans overrode a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper to pass an extreme new power grab into law on Wednesday that seeks to strip authority from Democratic office-holders and transfer it to Republicans. Cooper and his successor, fellow Democrat Josh Stein, responded by filing a lawsuit the next day in state court that seeks to block the bill for violating the state constitution.

The new measure is breathtaking in scope. Among other things, it would move the state's Board of Elections out from under the control of the governor and place it in the hands of the state auditor—a position that Republicans not coincidentally won last month despite getting blown out in the governor's race.

North Carolina reporter Bryan Anderson, in his Anderson Alerts newsletter, details many of the other ways the GOP's bill seeks to wrest power from Democrats and undermine democracy, while Alex Burness at Bolts focuses on the impact on the local election boards found in each of the state's 100 counties.

We also dissected the new law on this week's episode of The Downballot podcast, which you can listen to below:

The NC GOP's rancid new power grab

Obituaries

Jim Leach

Former Republican Rep. Jim Leach, whose shocking loss in 2006 signaled just how high that year's Democratic wave had crested, died on Wednesday at 82. After serving 15 terms representing Iowa in the House, Leach was upset by an unknown political science professor named Dave Loebsack in a race so under-the-radar that the DCCC did not spend a dime.

Unusually liberal for Republicans even by the standards of a previous era, Leach went on to endorse Barack Obama two years after losing his last race. Loebsack retired ahead of the 2020 elections, which saw Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks reclaim Leach's old district by just six votes. The Des Moines Register's Stephen Gruber-Miller has more on Leach's career in an in-depth obituary.