1. Joseph Michael Lombardo is an American politician and former law enforcement officer serving as the 31st governor of Nevada since 2023.
36 Facts About Joe Lombardo
1. 2.
Joe Lombardo served in the United States Army before becoming an officer in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in 1988.
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Joe Lombardo was elected sheriff in 2014 and reelected in 2018.
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Joe Lombardo won the Republican nomination for governor of Nevada in 2022 and defeated incumbent Democratic governor Steve Sisolak in the general election; he took office on January 2,2023.
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The son of a United States Air Force veteran, Joe Lombardo was born in Sapporo, Japan, on November 8,1962.
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Joe Lombardo lived in Japan for over a decade before moving to Las Vegas in 1976.
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Joe Lombardo attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, from which he received a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering and a Master of Science in crisis management.
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Joe Lombardo completed the 227th session of the FBI National Academy in 2006.
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Joe Lombardo joined the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as an officer in 1988.
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Joe Lombardo rose through the ranks, becoming a sergeant in 1996, a lieutenant in 2001, and a captain in 2006.
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Joe Lombardo sat on the board of directors of the LVMPD Foundation from 2007 to 2014.
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Joe Lombardo retired from the police force after 26 years of service and stepped down from the foundation's board of directors in 2014 after being elected sheriff.
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Joe Lombardo made appearances on the TV show Cops between 1991 and 2020.
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On December 4,2013, Joe Lombardo announced his candidacy for sheriff of Clark County to succeed the retiring Doug Gillespie.
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In 2016, Joe Lombardo connected the Las Vegas crime increase to a California law called Proposition 47, which is meant to reduce prison overcrowding.
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Joe Lombardo later disagreed with FBI director James Comey's statement attributing a recent spike in violent crimes in Las Vegas to a so-called Ferguson effect.
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In December 2016, Joe Lombardo supported a high-capacity magazine ban, a call supported by the Las Vegas Sun editorial board.
18.
Joe Lombardo was sworn in to a second term on January 4,2019, and during the ceremony touted an expansion of the LVMPD's staff levels during his tenure.
19.
Later that year, Joe Lombardo's department issued a report recommending many changes to improve the police response to future critical incidents.
20.
Joe Lombardo defended the department's actions by releasing body-cam videos of the six engaging in "antagonizing behavior" and obstructing officers.
21.
In lieu of running for a third term, Joe Lombardo ran for governor of Nevada in 2022.
22.
Joe Lombardo announced his candidacy for governor of Nevada on June 28,2021, to challenge incumbent governor Steve Sisolak in the 2022 election.
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Joe Lombardo faced 11 other candidates, including the presumptive front-runner, Dean Heller, a former US senator.
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On November 12,2022, several days after election day, Joe Lombardo was projected to win, having defeated Sisolak by roughly 16,000 votes.
25.
Joe Lombardo was sworn in on January 2,2023, the same day Cisco Aguilar became Nevada Secretary of State and Andy Matthews became Nevada State Controller.
26.
On his fourth day in office, Joe Lombardo signed two executive orders to remove remaining COVID-19 mandates and address workforce vacancies and wages.
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Joe Lombardo promised to restore funding to the state's higher education system and proposed adding $313 million into what he announced as the "Nevada Way Fund", a savings fund to be used for infrastructure and development projects.
28.
In June 2023, Joe Lombardo signed a bill to provide $380 million in public funding for the stadium.
29.
Joe Lombardo has said he opposes the "defund the police" slogan.
30.
On May 30,2023, Joe Lombardo signed into law a bill enshrining protections for out-of-state abortion seekers and in-state abortion providers.
31.
Joe Lombardo was endorsed by National Right to Life, a Political Action Committee that opposes abortion rights, but, as of May 2023, he was one of three Republican governors, along with Phil Scott of Vermont and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, to have signed legislation protecting access to abortion services.
32.
In October 2024, Joe Lombardo expressed his support on social media for the University of Nevada, Reno's women's volleyball team boycotting future games with San Jose State.
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Joe Lombardo originally decried Nevada's public option, calling it "political theater", but more recently has accepted that it will be enacted.
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Joe Lombardo has sought to alter the proposal by adding a market stabilization program to it.
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Joe Lombardo was divorced and has one child from his previous marriage.
36.
Joe Lombardo married Donna Alderson, a commercial real estate broker, in 2015.