Joe Lombardo, a former sheriff of Clark County, was elected as Nevada’s 31st governor on Monday. He took office with a promise to toughen criminal penalties, diversify Nevada’s economy, and lead the nation’s education system, including by promoting vouchers and substituting discipline in schools for nonpunitive intervention strategies.
The four years of Democratic rule in Carson City, where the party held both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office, will come to an end under Lombardo. Democrats will continue to control both the Assembly and the Senate with a supermajority in Nevada.
In the midterm elections of 2014, the only Republican who beat a Democratic governor was a former police officer who became sheriff. The race for governor was one of many close statewide races in Nevada that led to split tickets.
