LAS VEGAS — In a wide-ranging and largely civil debate in Las Vegas, Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak and Republican challenger Joe Lombardo, the sheriff of Clark County, duked it out over schooling, taxes, inflation and abortion.
Notably, they agreed on just one difficulty: that the 2020 election was not stolen.
Requested by moderator Jon Ralston whether or not he agreed with former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the final presidential election in Nevada was “rigged,” Lombardo mentioned, “No, I don’t.
“There was modicum of fraud, however nothing to vary the election,” he mentioned.
Requested whether or not he thought Trump was a “nice president,” Lombardo mentioned, “I wouldn’t use that adjective.
“He was a sound president,” he mentioned, with insurance policies that had been “helpful” to the nation that helped “transfer it forwards versus backwards.”
However about Trump’s claims of 2020 election fraud, Lombardo mentioned, “It bothers me.
“I’m not shying away from that,” Lombardo mentioned. “I don’t stand by him in that facet.”
Requested whether or not Trump, with such claims, “undermined confidence” within the system, Lombardo replied, “Sure, he did.
“You’re by no means going to agree with anyone 100% and every part they do. Even in my very own occasion, there’s those who don’t agree with 100% of what I current ahead, however you understand, you gotta have a look at the totality of the individual and their management,” Lombardo added, in reference to Trump.
Lombardo, whom Trump endorsed, has mentioned that he didn’t suppose there was widespread fraud within the 2020 election in Nevada and that Joe Biden was legitimately elected president.
However his newest feedback marked a shift additional away from Trump, placing extra political distance between them lower than every week earlier than he’s set to marketing campaign with the previous president and Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt at a big rally in Reno.
Elizabeth Ray, a spokesperson for the Lombardo marketing campaign, mentioned Lombardo had been “very constant on the place he has stood with election integrity and election fraud.”
In the meantime, Sisolak, in a short interview with reporters after the controversy, criticized Lombardo for suggesting there was even a “modicum” of fraud in Nevada elections.
“There’s no fraud,” Sisolak mentioned.
Sunday’s 90-minute showdown, organized by the Nevada Impartial information group at a studio in Las Vegas, was anticipated to be the candidates’ solely faceoff earlier than Election Day. Lombardo and Sisolak, thought of probably the most weak Democratic governors within the U.S., haven’t agreed on any extra debates or city halls, though a number of have been proposed.
The pair are locked in a decent race within the intently watched battleground state.
The nonpartisan Prepare dinner Political Report has rated the race a “toss-up,” and RealClearPolitics’ newest polling common reveals Lombardo main Sisolak by 1.6 share factors within the state, which Biden gained in 2020 by 2.4 share factors — or rather less than 33,600 votes. Sisolak gained his first time period in 2018 in opposition to Laxalt, who’s now operating for the Senate, by about 4 share factors.
Sisolak was requested whether or not he thought Biden — whose approval ranking in Nevada has slumped beneath 40% — is a “nice president.”
He referred to as Biden a “superb president” who “inherited lots of issues from Donald Trump that he’s working via.”
“A number of what he’s being accused of — this inflation state of affairs — [is] not essentially his fault,” Sisolak mentioned. “He doesn’t management the value of gasoline, not more than I management the value of a hen and floor beef on the shops. So I feel that the president has achieved nicely with what he’s been offered with.”
Sisolak and Lombardo additionally sparred over schooling and abortion — a problem on which Sisolak has accused Lombardo of ceaselessly altering his positions.
Requested to make clear his place on abortion, Lombardo maintained that, despite the fact that his “private perception is pro-life,” abortion is authorized beneath Nevada legislation till the twenty fourth week of being pregnant.
“It’s codified in legislation,” he mentioned. “There’s nothing that the governor can do to vary it.
“I’ve no intention of re-addressing the problem,” he mentioned.
In Could, Lombardo mentioned he would help a voter referendum that might suggest altering the legislation to ban abortion after the thirteenth week of being pregnant — a place he has since disavowed.
He has additionally mentioned at numerous factors that he would help parental notification measures and ready intervals for abortions. He mentioned this yr that he would, as governor, take into account repealing an government order applied by Sisolak that created protections for ladies from out of state searching for abortion care in Nevada — however final week he mentioned he would decide to not repealing the order if he’s elected.
Requested about his altering help for the 13-week ban, Lombardo mentioned he had “considered it extra and evaluated.”
Requested whether or not, if he’s elected, he would suggest or help any measure that might “weaken” the correct to abortion, Lombardo mentioned, “I’d help the vote of the folks.”
However after Ralston identified that the governor nonetheless has energy to “erode” abortion protections, Lombardo requested the moderator to undergo an inventory of particular measures — together with ready intervals and obligatory ultrasound scans — and responded with a distinct reply to every one.
“I’m supportive of no matter’s the profit to a girl and her child,” Lombardo mentioned through the alternate.
In a short interview, Ray, the Lombardo marketing campaign spokesperson, mentioned Lombardo’s place was that specifics about abortion entry had been points that “have to be determined by Nevadans and Nevadans alone.” She mentioned Lombardo would “be supportive of anybody bringing ahead a poll measure” about abortion restrictions, as a result of Lombardo helps “the vote of the folks.”
