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Joe Lombardo has won the Republican primary election for Nevada governor, according to The Associated Press, setting up a general election between him and incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak, who won the Democratic primary.
Lombardo, currently the Clark County sheriff, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump as well as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He defeated 14 other GOP candidates, with Joey Gilbert in second place with 26.1% of the votes compared to 37.8% for Lombardo with nearly 75% of votes counted Wednesday morning.
“Joe Lombardo is the leader Nevada needs, and he has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Governor!” Trump said in an April statement announcing the endorsement.
Clark County Sheriff and Republican candidate for Nevada governor Joe Lombardo, center, meets with supporters at an election night party Tuesday, June 14, 2022, in Las Vegas.
(AP Photo/John Locher)
FILE – Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak (L) talks to Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo during a news conference on the mass shooting at a country music festival on Oct. 4, 2017, in Las Vegas.
(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
One of Lombardo’s campaign promises was to push for election reform via legislation that includes ending universal mail-in voting, in which every registered voter automatically receives a ballot in the mail. Trump strongly opposed this practice prior to the 2020 election.
PRIMARY VOTERS DECIDE ELECTIONS IN NEVADA, SOUTH CAROLINA, MAINE, NORTH DAKOTA: LIVE UPDATES
Lombardo was not the only Trump-backed candidate to succeed on Tuesday. The former president supported former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who cruised to victory in Nevada’s Republican primary for Senate.
Trump also scored a win in South Carolina, as his pick for the state’s seventh congressional district, Russell Fry, demolished incumbent Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C. As of Wednesday morning, with nearly 99% of votes counted, Fry had more than double the number of votes as Rice, who drew Trump’s ire by being one of ten Republican House members who voted to impeach him after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Not all of Trump’s preferred candidates won their races. In South Carolina’s first congressional district, incumbent Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., fended off a challenge from former Rep. Katie Arrington.
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Trump backed Arrington to replace Mace after the congresswoman came out against him after the Capitol riot. Mace, meanwhile, enjoyed the support of former South Carolina governor and Trump’s ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.
