2 News Nevada: Leaked audio of Governor Lombardo about recent protests, unemployment, and the Legislature

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Jaden Urban Apr 10, 2025 Updated Apr 10, 2025

On Wednesday, audio had leaked of Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo's comments during a Republican dinner.

The audio first leaked on the social media website, Bluesky from MediasTouch.

We since have obtained the full clip from someone who was at the event.

The event was the Lincoln Day Dinner in Carson City on April 5, a Republican fundraising event hosted by the Carson City Republican Party.

Lombardo was a keynote speaker.

"Here in the state of Nevada we professed for the past decade that we are a purple state and currently we are a red state," he said.

Strengthening the Republican Party was a huge focal point of the Governor's speech.

During the nearly 30 minutes of remarks, there was a lot of laughter and cheering.

On the same day were the Hands Off protests at State Capitols across the country, including here in Carson City.

"It's just really troubling for me that would be the title of their protest, Hands Off, because in my opinion the theme of the democratic party is hands out," Lombardo said. 

He also questioned the validity of the rally.

"Those stupid protests that occur in state capitol and is paid by the democratic party," he said.

"That momentum and those crowd sizes isn't because they're pissed, because they want to make a difference, it's because they're getting paid."

The Nevada State Democratic Party have since responded to this claim.

“It’s a desperate and pathetic lie suggesting angry Nevadans practicing their first amendment rights are paid protestors," they said.

Another portion of the Governor's comments centered around the legislature.

"Unless you have that majority, you can't make a difference," he said. "Can't make a difference then, which puts me in the situation that I'm dealing with, with our state legislature, right? We have a majority democratic legislature... Right now, the only authority I have is veto, and veto is bad government."

The Governor also discussed how only two bills have hit his desk since the legislature started.

He says he wants more efforts from lawmakers to move things along.

He also addressed the fact Nevada ranks number one in unemployment across the entire country.

"We're number one in job availability, but we're number one in unemployment, you know why? Because they're not quality jobs," the Governor said. "People rather manipulate the government process and receive unemployment or to sit at home versus occupying the job that's available."

Lombardo did say afterwards he's trying to change that by incentivizing companies to come to Nevada to bring more of those jobs.

We did reach out to the Governor's Office for a statement, and all they said was, "No comment here."

We also reached out to local Republican leaders and we have not heard back.