Move over 2026, 2028 hopefuls are already swarming Nevada.

Indy Elections takes you behind the headlines of Nevada politics, delivering scoops and smart analysis on the races that could reshape our lives. You can change your newsletter settings here.

In today's edition: Why we're already talking about the 2028 presidential election. Plus: Obama weighs in on the governor race; a Trump-funded group backs out of ad spending in the 3rd Congressional District; and The Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), along with the Nevada Catholic Conference, speak out against Nevada's abortion ballot question.

Former President Barack Obama (D) urged Nevadans to vote for Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) on Wednesday. The gubernatorial endorsement comes as Obama has backed several Democratic gubernatorial candidates leading up to the midterms.

The message arrived the same day President Donald Trump (R) stumped in Arizona. No word yet on an official Trump visit to Nevada (or an Obama/Boyz II Men encore in Vegas), but rumors are swirling. 

Stay tuned for more updates. Nineteen days to go.

This newsletter is published every week. We want to hear from you! Email your temporary newsletter editor, Tabitha Mueller, at [email protected]. 

Exclusive: How much did TBT and Susie Lee raise?

Third-quarter fundraising totals (covering July through September) for Democrats running in Nevada's most competitive congressional races, shared first with The Nevada Independent, signal Democratic enthusiasm ahead of Election Day. 

In the 2nd Congressional District, former Assembly Majority Leader Teresa Benitez-Thompson (D) brought in $533,000 going into the fall. That's the largest three-month fundraising number for a NV-02 Democratic nominee since the 2011 special election that first sent Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) to Congress. It's more than 2006 NV-02 nominee Jill Derby (D), who made the race the closest it's been this century, ever raised in one quarter. 

In the 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) raised $1.2 million last quarter, bringing her fundraising total for the cycle to $5.6 million, the most she has ever raised at this point before an election. Her campaign said her median donation was $10 and that she had more than 1,800 donations in total. 

— Mini Racker

I'm so 2028, you're so 20-late

You may be focused on the midterms, but some presidential hopefuls are already looking to 2028.

Since we introduced our 2028 candidate visit tracker in April, 13 potential presidential candidates have made 21 trips to Nevada, and more will be here soon. 

Two big names are coming: former Vice President Kamala Harris (D) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who will visit during early voting.

The tracker also shows which candidates have traveled here most, hinting at who is paying the most attention to Nevada. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D), former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg (D), Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) are among the most frequent visitors. 

If you'd like to see the potential 2028ers in-person, you can catch not just one but four at IndyFest next Thursday. I'll be interviewing Beshear, Khanna, Kelly and Emanuel alongside Nevada Independent CEO Jon Ralston. I'm drafting questions this week — email me at [email protected].

— Mini Racker

What we're reading and writing

Lombaro's education report card is here.  

Liens and code violations and enforcement penalties, oh my! 

Know your judicial candidates.

Woke up in Vegas but decided to go to Bullhead instead.

Indy Ad Watch: Trump pulls back

Safety and Affordability PAC, which is financially backed by President Donald Trump's MAGA Inc., had planned to pour $3 million into TV ads supporting video game composer Marty O'Donnell's (R) bid to oust Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV). 

On Tuesday, the Trump-funded group canceled $1 million in ad reservations. It's unclear what will happen to the ads reserved after that.

It comes after The Cook Political Report moved the seat toward Democrats and Politico reported that MAGA Inc. "is planning to trim the map in a homestretch bid to cling to power in November," including "cutting off spending to a group of less attainable House races." 

The race is still considered the GOP's best chance to flip a congressional seat in Nevada. O'Donnell and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) have together spent more than $2 million this fall. Last week, NRCC communications director Will Kiley named the district a top seat to watch for an upset, telling Politico, "The resources are coming in to flip this seat because the GOP ecosystem can see how big of an opportunity it is." 

Other ad news to watch:

• Speaking of at-risk Republicans in redder seats, Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC has begun its planned ad spend targeting David Flippo (R) in the 2nd Congressional District, and it's big.
  • The clean energy super PAC has reserved more than $1 million in ads beginning this week and running through Election Day, making it the biggest spender in the race, per AdImpact. 
  • It's the first time in at least 20 years a Republican nominee in the district has been targeted by seven figures of outside spending. And it shows that Democrats' arguments that the map has expanded into deep red seats are more than just talking points, they're backed with real dollars.
• Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D) hit the Nevada airwaves for the first time this week with the release of four new ads for his re-election.
  • Aguilar had already spent money on digital ads, but this is the first time on broadcast. His campaign is planning a seven-figure ad buy this cycle, while his opponent, Jim Marchant (R), has not reserved any ad space, according to AdImpact.

— Mini Racker and Eric Neugeboren

Mini Series: Mormons stormin' to stop Q6?

Churches in the Silver State — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), as well as the Nevada Catholic Conference, are speaking out in opposition to Nevada Ballot Question 6, protecting the right to an abortion until fetal viability in the state Constitution. Organized religious opposition to the measure, which passed with 64 percent of voters in favor in 2024, prompted a lookback to a similar ballot question fight two decades ago, according to Dennis McBride, historian and queer rights advocate in Las Vegas.

• The last time the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints weighed in on a Nevada ballot measure was more than 20 years ago when the church supported banning same-sex marriages — a successful constitutional amendment made moot by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing the practice in 2015. A Deseret News article from 2000 said that the question was particularly helped by "grassroots" organizing from the Latter-day Saints and other religious groups. They also opposed an abortion ballot question passed in the 1990s. 
• "There are more Catholics in Nevada than Mormons, I believe, but Mormons are more likely to vote as a bloc than Catholics are. And while there are fewer Mormons than Catholics, Mormons tend to hold more positions of political influence in state and local government," McBride told The Indy in an email. He moved away from his hometown in Boulder City due to the passage of Ballot Question 2. "So their approach to political issues can be twofold: from within by individuals in influential positions, and without, by speaking out to their congregations." 
• If Ballot Question 6 passes, McBride said it would be a tough blow to the Latter-day Saints political apparatus. "The Mormon and Catholic Churches are fighting harder this time because if the state constitution is amended to secure and protect abortion rights in Nevada, it will be a slap in their face from which they will not recover," McBride said in an email. 
• The church counsels its followers to "opposes elective abortion for personal or social convenience," though it makes exceptions for rape, incest or if the mother or the baby's health is in serious jeopardy. The Church of Latter-day Saints was not immediately available for comment.

Beefing up resources — Central to the race for Nevada controller is the time it takes to release Nevada's annual financial reports. The time for the most recent report decreased for the first time in years but was still the second highest on record. This week, state officials took steps to right the ship, approving a $2.1 million contract with a financial reporting firm to speed up the release of the reports. Controller Andy Matthews (R) said in a statement that the contract "will not only allow us to continue to make progress toward getting our reporting back on time, but accelerate that progress." 

Attorney vs. Attorney — State Sen. Melanie Scheible (D) is taking swings at her challenger, attorney Maria Thompson (R), for representing a hotel company against claims that it turned a blind eye to sex trafficking. Thompson's firm represented Highgate Hotels in a 2023 federal lawsuit alleging the company knew a young woman was being sex trafficked at two of its New York City properties in the early 2010s. She was one of two attorneys for Highgate, which in 2025 was dismissed as a defendant (with prejudice, meaning the same claims can't be brought forth again). 

• Scheible's campaign sent voters pamphlets that state, "When a victim of sex trafficking demanded accountability, Maria Thompson fought the survivor's claims in court." 
• In a statement to The Indy, Thompson said the ads misrepresent the truth about the lawsuit and stressed that she cannot control what clients she represents, nor could she have removed herself from the case. 
• Thompson also said it's hypocritical coming from Scheible, a former Clark County prosecutor who's now a defense attorney at a personal injury firm. "She spends her time in court fighting to free killers, reckless drivers and other criminals," she wrote.

The "Chosen One" — Assembly District 9 candidate Ryan Hampton (D) said that he received a package from his opponent, Erica Neely, full of articles written by the Nevada conservative politico Chuck Muth. Hampton told The Indy that it was "intimidation 101" and "a way of saying we know where you live and who you live with." 

• The situation provoked some back-and-forth on X. Muth came to Neely's defense after Hampton posted about the incident and a photo of an AI-generated mailer that Neely is sending out calling herself "the one." In response, Muth called Hampton a "snowflake" and said that Hampton is jealous that Neely "looks better in an evening gown than he does."
  • Hampton said that extremist accounts on X have come after him, calling him names and homophobic slurs.
• Neely did not immediately return a request for comment. 

— Oona Milliken, Eric Neugeboren, Kate Reynolds and Isabella Aldrete

Looking Ahead

• Saturday, Oct. 17  — Early voting begins
• Thursday, Oct. 22 — IndyFest is here!

A post that caught our eye: 

Dana White endorsed Lombardo. If there's no Ford-Lombardo debate, could we at least get a UFC fight?