Balgarianovinite.com
As the June 9 Nevada primaries approach, Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) has amassed a sizable financial advantage in his reelection bid. His campaign has raised millions of dollars, PACs supporting his candidacy have brought in millions more, and a Lombardo-aligned dark money group has already spent $4 million on advertising in the race.
From January 1 through March 31 alone, Lombardo received $2.3 million in contributions and spent $1.1 million, leaving him with $1 million in cash on hand as of March 31. Although six challengers emerged in the Republican primary, polling shows Lombardo maintaining a strong lead in the race.
Lombardo is backed by two main political action committees, Better Nevada PAC and Nevada Way PAC.
Through March 31, Nevada Way PAC raised a total of $1.58 million, with $1 million coming from casino and resort company Las Vegas Sands and $500,000 from Nevada Gold Mines LLC. Better Nevada reported $3 million in cash contributions, all from Nevada Way PAC.
Both PACs were actively raising money to support Lombardo in 2025. Nevada Way brought in $4.5 million last year, with more than $3 million coming from the casino industry. Better Nevada raised $266,000 in 2025, all of which came from an Ohio-based dark money group called A Public Voice Inc. (Nevada does not have limits on contributions to PACs.)
State Attorney General Aaron Ford, the favorite for the Democratic nomination, raised $1.2 million in the first quarter of the year, far behind Lombardo’s total but about $1 million more than his nearest primary competitor.
Bundling arrangements
PACs aren’t the only way Lombardo has bolstered his financial lead in the race. About 44% of the $4.3 million the campaign raised in 2025 was acquired through “bundling” arrangements.
Ken Miller, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said in the case of Nevada, corporate contributors will put money directly into candidate campaigns by setting up a series of corroborate entities that all make the maximum contribution of $10,000 per election rather than taking the super PAC route. However, he said super PACs will still be a “major vehicle” in Lombardo’s campaign.
“Even though there’s this ease of bundling that makes it simple to throw money into the candidates’ account directly, we’re still going to see a lot of the campaign spending is going to be coming from non-candidate committees,” Miller said.
Dark money infiltrates the race
A dark money group has also emerged as a big spender in the Nevada governor race. Its origins? A nonprofit inaugural committee fund tracing back to Lombardo.
The Service First Fund, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, is responsible for $4 million in advertising, over half of the ad spending in the race.
The Service First Fund 501(c)(4) was started in 2022 under the name “Nevada Inaugural Committee,” to run events for the newly elected governor, shifting from former governors Brian Sandovals’ and Steve Sisolak’s use of PACs to fund these events.
Because 501(c)(4) nonprofits are not generally required to publicly disclose their donors, they are often referred to as “dark money” groups. PACs, by contrast, must report their donors under state campaign finance laws.
Just two months after Lombardo’s inauguration in January 2023, the nonprofit changed its name to The Service First Fund. Two months after that, Lombardo vetoed a bill that would have required the disclosure of donors to the nonprofit.
Since then, The Service First Fund has increased its expenditures, more than doubling spending from $1.6 million in 2023 to $3.8 million in 2024. Now, as Lombardo seeks to hold onto his governorship, the dark money group has poured more than $4 million into advertising garnering support for the candidate.
How casino cash, corporate bundling, and dark money are powering Joe Lombardo’s reelection bid in Nevada 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-06-08 13:24:23 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law