Lombardo’s 2025 campaign raised $4.3 million, and an analysis reviewed by The Nevada Independent and described by The Associated Press found that a substantial portion of the money flowed through what campaign-finance analysts call “bundling” arrangements. The arrangements, the analysis said, can allow donors to provide money that would otherwise exceed Nevada’s single-cycle contribution limit by distributing donations through different names and entities.
The report said about $1.9 million of Lombardo’s total came from these bundling-related patterns, which it described as donations from entities with known connections or the same listed address that totaled more than the single-cycle contribution limit. The analysis also said that figure did not include instances where two people living at the same address each gave the maximum $10,000.
By comparison, the AP report said bundlers gave about $50,000 to Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford’s gubernatorial campaign in 2025, roughly 2% of Ford’s haul, and said Democratic candidate Alexis Hill’s campaign was not reliant on bundling. The report also noted that bundling was a common practice across Nevada campaigns, including among former Gov. Steve Sisolak.
The Associated Press report said the structure can be legal in Nevada because corporations can contribute directly to state candidates, unlike the rules for federal elections and unlike campaign laws in about one-third of states. As an example, the report said Caesars donated $80,000 directly to Lombardo’s campaign account through eight affiliated companies.
“Campaign finance systems like these render individual contribution limits moot,” said Ken Miller, a UNLV political science professor. In the reporting, Miller framed the issue as less about what a single check shows and more about how donors can route money through multiple channels without formally breaking Nevada’s stated limits.
The AP story said Lombardo’s campaign account and associated political action committees combined raised about $9 million, with donations flowing from gaming and real estate companies. The report said top donors included Las Vegas hotel mogul Robert Bigelow and GOP casino executives Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, as well as Las Vegas gambler and developer Billy Walters, who was convicted of insider trading charges in 2017. The story also said another prominent PAC-linked donation of $250,000 came from Nevadans for Fair Recovery, a PAC bankrolled by Uber.
In response to questions about its reliance on bundling, Lombardo’s campaign said “there is nothing unusual or improper about the makeup of the Governor’s donor base.” The campaign added that Nevada governors from both parties have long received donations through bundling, and that down-ballot candidates also receive contributions through similar arrangements.
The reporting said Ford’s campaign, responding in a fundraising context, told AP that Lombardo’s $15 million in cash on hand was driven by “corporate interests,” and said Ford’s campaign raised about 25 times as much money from donations worth less than $100 despite Lombardo’s campaign haul doubling Ford’s. The story also said Ford’s campaign noted that more than half of his individual donors, rather than dollars, are from Nevada, that it received donations from all 17 counties within a month of the campaign’s launch, that it received 10,000 donations—described by the campaign as a record for a gubernatorial campaign—and that about 90% of them were under $125.
In a statement before releasing her campaign finance report, Hill said, “I don’t think you should be able to buy your way into office.”
The AP report said some of the highest-dollar contributions went to Lombardo’s PACs. It reported that the Fertittas, who run Station Casinos, each donated $1 million to a Lombardo-affiliated PAC and that Station Casinos donated another $1 million, which the story said meant they collectively accounted for about one-third of all money raised by Lombardo in 2025. The reporting also included a criticism from Aaron McKean of the Campaign Legal Center, who said questions can still arise in the public mind: “It’s always going to raise that question for regular folks — what is this person buying? What is that interest? Why are they spending so much on elections?”
McKean said cause-and-effect is not always provable. “You can’t necessarily always point to ‘this large contribution led to this favor later on.’ But it does … undermine the confidence that the public has in our elected officials,” he said in the AP account.
The AP story said gaming dominated donations to Lombardo, led by the Fertittas and Station Casinos’ $3 million in contributions. It also described additional gaming contributions to Lombardo’s PAC, including $200,000 from South Point Hotel and Casino and $158,000 tied to Boyd Gaming, among other amounts. The reporting said the real estate and development sector contributed about $1.6 million, describing the largest donor in that category as Leading Builders of America, a Washington-based group representing homebuilders, which gave $300,000 on Nov. 12, the last day before a special session blackout period began.
On policy ties, the story said Lombardo helped push a bill through the Legislature that included a $133 million allocation to support development of “attainable housing,” and that he approved $21 million to fund rental assistance programs across the state. It also said Democrats faced backlash after Lombardo vetoed other housing bills, including proposals that would have capped rent increases for seniors and changed the state’s eviction process.
On campaign finance reform, Ken Miller said Nevada lawmakers tend to support incremental changes and that large-scale reform has been harder. He said eliminating corporate donations to candidates would likely require a major scandal or a clear disadvantage if one party controlled all levers of state government. McKean added that even if Nevada changed corporate giving rules to candidates, corporations could still donate unlimited amounts to PACs, which are not subject to contribution limits, and those PACs can spend money—such as advertising—to support candidates.
The Associated Press report also described a potential reform Miller and others discussed: using public funds for campaign contributions through matching programs for small-dollar donations. McKean said such an approach is used in dozens of jurisdictions, including New York City, and said, “You increase the power of that small-dollar donation.”
The Nevada Independent is a 501(c)3 nonprofit news organization. We are committed to transparency and disclose all our donors. The following people or entities mentioned in this article are financial supporters of our work:
- MGM Resorts International - $1,000,000
- Station Casinos - $125,000
- Boyd Gaming - $35,000
- Steve Sisolak - $3,700
- Joe Lombardo - $2,174
- Committee to Elect Aaron Ford - $2,000
- Committee to Elect Aaron Ford - $1,023
- Steve Wolfson - $1,000
- Ken Miller - $179
- Alexis Hill - $78
This story was originally published by The Nevada Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.