GOP tepid with Trump in Nevada gubernatorial debate

RENO, Nevada (AP) – Nevada Republican gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo sought to distance himself from former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election in a debate Sunday, but Said Trump’s policies were better than those of the Biden administration, which he blamed on inflation and rising interest rates in the Biden administration.

“It was a complete failure. In my opinion, Trump moved the country forward,” Lombardo said. But when asked if Trump was “a great president,” Lombardo hesitated, saying, “I wouldn’t say great, I think he’s a sound president.”

Lombardo said he was troubled by Trump’s false claims about election theft, saying he “did not shy away from that” and agreed that Trump’s lying about election fraud undermined voter confidence.

Trump is scheduled to campaign for Lombardo next weekend, setting up a potentially awkward meeting.

Debate with the current Democratic governor. Steve Sisolak had a cordial exchange on the Nationwide Midterm Elections: Abortion Rights, the Economy and Inflation, Education and Crime, which, in some ways, is in Lombard The Las Vegas area, which has more legal careers, has served as sheriff since 2015.

A third of Nevada’s registered voters are Democrats, and independent voters barely beat Republicans, making the race the most watched in the nation. Registrations for the independents outnumbered the two major parties this year, with Democratic registrations largely stagnant, with some switching their registrations to Republicans.

Echoing the efforts of Democrats across the country, Sisolak sought to make abortion central to his campaign, saying voters “have a clear choice in this race.” It’s a tricky topic for Lombardo, who has touted since the Republican primary that he will govern through a “pro-life lens” but has failed miserably on some measures.

Sisolak is a staunch supporter of abortion rights and has worked to make Nevada a safe haven for the procedure as neighboring Utah, Arizona and Idaho restrict access. He tried to portray Lombardo as an anti-abortion extremist. “Joe Lombardo Wants To Ban Contraception” was written on the big screen outside the debate.

Lombardo, who will keep contraceptives “at your fingertips,” gave a 106-word explanation of his abortion stance on his website, with just three in the primary race: “Joe is against abortion.”

Lombardo told KRNV-TV that he would overturn an executive order that Sisolak issued in June to protect out-of-state abortion patients and in-state providers. Days later, he told The Associated Press only that he would see it through a “pro-life lens,” without mentioning specific actions. In a letter posted on his website last week, he said he would comply with the order.

Earlier this month, Lombardo said he would oppose a national abortion ban proposed by a South Carolina senator. Lindsay Graham.

Lombardo said Sunday that he supports laws that require parents to be notified of abortions for minors, as well as legislation that requires a waiting period between counseling and abortion. He said he did not support mandatory ultrasonography.

State law allows abortion within 24 weeks of pregnancy. Lombardo said “there is nothing the governor can do” to change the law.

Sisolak scoffed at the question of whether he supports abortion at 28, 30 or 32 weeks. He said it was a “volatile” issue because the vast majority of abortions occurred before 21 weeks, and called it “political drama”.

Sisolak has the final say on the criminal justice bill from Carson City. Lombardo enforces these laws in Clark County.

Crime there has declined for six years in a row, but has risen in the past two years, Lombardo said, blaming Democratic-controlled state governments for passing “soft crime-fighting legislation” that includes an increase The law for the amount of theft considered a felony increased from $650 to $1,200 and increased the weight of drugs eligible for felony trafficking.

Jon Ralston, chief executive of the Nevada Independent, noted that the Lombard Sheriff’s Department is neutral on the bill. Lombardo said his department had to compromise, “knowing that this is still bad legislation.”

Ralston noted that Sisolak once called Lombardo “the best sheriff in America.” But Sisolak said Lombardo’s policies changed when he sought the governor’s office.

“People are no safer today than they were eight years ago,” Lombardo said when he became sheriff. “I met a roundtable with local businesses and they told me that one of the main problems they faced was burglary. They couldn’t even get (Las Vegas police) to respond to burglary because it was too far down their list .”

Lombardo said it was “absolutely wrong” and that criminal justice reform meant police needed to deal with more burglaries.

The Democratic governor has defended his decision to close non-essential businesses at the start of the pandemic. He said he remembers looking at the Las Vegas Strip and “knowing that if I signed this executive order, I would close the Strip and[and]put 250,000 people out of work.”

“Those lives are more important to me,” said Sisolak, who is recognized by the Nevada Chamber of Commerce. “The economy is back. Those lives we’ll never get back. There are now 11,051 empty seats for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.”

Lombardo criticized the prolonged nature of school and business closures, as well as Sisolak’s decisions on which businesses are critical, calling it “too harsh”.

“We don’t have to be a testing agency, a testing state, or a testing department. You can rely on the things that other people in other states are doing to be successful,” he said. Ving Newsom’s advice.”

Both Lombardo and Sisolak have expressed support for higher teacher salaries. Lombardo said he would support a CPI peg of around 2-3%, but said the exact amount would be negotiated. Sisolak said he would increase teachers’ starting salaries and negotiated pay increases “over 3 percent.”

The sheriff said he would reinstate a provision in Nevada’s “Third-Grade Reading” program that discourages third-graders who don’t read and supports the expansion of charter schools opposed by the teachers’ union.

Like other Republicans, Lombardo strongly supports voucher programs that provide students with public funds to enter private schools, saying parents should have options other than “failed schools.”

Nevada has long been at the bottom of the national education rankings. With 326,000 students, the Clark County School District is the fifth largest in the nation and has withstood staffing shortages. Lombardo said he would consider breaking up CCSD.

Sisolak said the state couldn’t take money out of the cash-strapped public school system, noting that private schools “don’t have to enroll students with higher teaching costs,” such as students with learning disabilities or English language learners.

Associated Press writer Juliet Williams in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Stern is a corps member of the Associated Press/Report US State Capitol Journalism Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit program that places journalists in newsrooms to report on hidden issues.