Nevada governor race tightens as Election Day nears
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo joins ‘Saturday in America’ to discuss his closely watched race against state Attorney General Aaron Ford. Lombardo also criticizes Ford over his support for clemency in a convicted killer’s case and outlines the issues shaping the race.
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Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford voted to support clemency for several convicted murderers, including men responsible for the kidnapping and execution-style killing of a teenager, the “thrill killing” of a Pizza Hut worker and the beating death of another victim with a cinder block.
Ford is currently facing backlash over his clemency bid for a convicted killer who took the life of a pregnant woman while out on bail for a series of armed robbery attacks on Vegas tourists. Now, a Fox News Digital review of state pardon hearings that took place during Ford’s nearly eight years as attorney general show him supporting clemency for dozens of other violent offenders, with some convicted killers receiving reduced sentences, pardons or earlier parole eligibility while others had their requests denied.
Ford is running to be Nevada’s next governor, seeking to oust incumbent Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. His race is shaping up to be one of the most competitive gubernatorial elections of the cycle.
Unlike governors in most states, Nevada’s governor cannot unilaterally grant pardons or commute prison sentences, with those decisions instead resting with the state’s Board of Pardons Commissioners, made up of the governor, attorney general and Nevada Supreme Court justices.
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Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford smiles during his governor campaign kick off event at the East Las Vegas Community Center Monday, July 28, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Madeline Carter/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Since becoming the state’s attorney general, Ford has voted to pardon or significantly reduce the sentences of 30 people convicted of murder, Fox News Digital found. While Lombardo has joined Ford on some of these votes, the Democrat broke with the Republican in supporting mercy for some of the most brutal killers.
Ford, for example, supported a convicted kidnapper and murderer eligible for parole when Lombardo voted against.
Michael Cu, the convict in question, kidnapped a 16-year-old in 1996, forced him to drive out to the desert, then killed him execution-style — all to steal the rims off his car. The victim was shot seven times with a rifle, with the fatal shot being fired at nearly point-blank range into his head.
“Mr. Judge I would like to tell you these people, I don’t want them to be free,” the deceased’s mother pleaded with the judge at Cu’s sentencing in March 2000. “There’s a lot of people outside, a lot of mothers outside … I’m afraid because I have more children.”
Cu could eventually make it back onto the streets after the board commuted his sentence, making him eligible for parole in 2035 — though his release would still require approval from the state’s parole board.
Ford has made his experience as Nevada’s top law enforcement official a focal point of his gubernatorial campaign.
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Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford speaks during his governor campaign kick off event at the East Las Vegas Community Center on Monday, July 28, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Madeline Carter/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“As Attorney General, Ford has worked with federal and local law enforcement to prosecute criminals and protect our communities,” his campaign website reads. “He’s gone after corporate landlords who are illegally jacking up prices, taken on big drug companies, prioritized putting child predators in jail, battled fentanyl being trafficked across our borders, and fought to keep dangerous untraceable ghost guns off of our streets. He ended a decades-long rape kit back log and has prosecuted human traffickers who threaten the safety of our communities.”
Republicans may seize on some of Ford’s pardon votes to challenge the image he’s cultivated of a crusader for public safety.
While Ford offered no substantive remarks in most of the pardon hearings, he occasionally had something to add.
“I gleefully vote yes for this motion,” he said, explaining his June 2022 support to make a man who killed someone in an armed robbery when he was 15 eligible for parole. Ford talked to the man, Shaquille Hazelwood, on the importance of the moment and advised him to live up to the faith the state was placing in him.
He called his decision to grant parole eligibility to an individual who stabbed a 17-year-old to death a “no-brainer” in September 2025. Ford sponsored the hearing where witnesses spoke to the character of the murderer, Bobby Thomas.
Ford also supported a commutation for Anthony Amati, whom police and prosecutors described as a “thrill killer,” in a June 2025 decision that allowed the convicted murderer to become immediately eligible for parole.
Amati was convicted of ambushing a 22-year-old Pizza Hut worker as he walked a co-worker home. The co-worker, who was at the trial, testified that Amati and his friends “cackled … laughed like it was a big joke” and jumped around while firing multiple bullets into the victim.
Deputy District Attorney Christopher Lalli argued at the time that Amati should never be eligible to walk free because his crime was a “thrill killing … for the mere pleasure of it.”
Amati became immediately eligible for parole following the board’s decision, although his release was not guaranteed.
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Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo secured the Republican nomination for a second term. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Ford also supported clemency for Arlander Givens, who beat his victim to death with a cinder block and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms, but the board ultimately denied his application, Fox News Digital found.
Other convicted killers Ford voted to grant clemency included a murderer involved in a carjacking, a man who stabbed a 17-year-old to death over a basketball game and another who lured his victim into his home with the promise of a drug deal before shooting him dead, Fox News Digital found.
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Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford speaks about 2024 election security at the Clark County Election Department on Jan. 10, 2024, in North Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) (Getty)
Lombardo and Ford did vote together for leniency in some cases. For instance, the duo both voted to pardon a man found guilty of masterminding a contract killing after he was exonerated by DNA evidence.
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Ford’s office and his gubernatorial campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.