LAS VEGAS — Would-be Canadian visitors to Sin City won’t get a vote in Nevada’s gubernatorial election. But they could influence it in a profound way.Canadian tourism to Las Vegas, long a staple of the local economy, is way down amid President Donald Trump’s tariff regime and taunts against the Great White North. The visitor drop began shortly after Trump took office for his second, non-consecutive term, and has been a recurring theme of his administration over the past year and a half.Tensions between the once-tight North American neighbors, sharing a 5,525-mile boundary, continue to rise with less than four months to go before the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections. The Nevada governor’s race is emerging as a piece of political collateral damage, with Gov. Joe Lombardo (R-NV) running for a second term against Nevada’s attorney general, Aaron Ford, the Democratic nominee.
Lombardo, on the campaign trail, talks up Nevada’s growth. Including its likely status as home to four major league sports teams. In addition to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders and NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights, the former Oakland Athletics are relocating to Southern Nevada, with their new $2 billion, 33,000-seat stadium on the Las Vegas Strip (at the former Tropicana hotel site) scheduled to open for the 2028 season, following a three-year temporary stint playing home games in California’s state capital, Sacramento.Meanwhile, the NBA is actively exploring a Las Vegas expansion franchise, with a team expected to begin play in the 2008-29 season. The league plans to finalize the addition of a 32nd team (alongside Seattle). Franchise valuations for the putative Nevada and Washington state teams are estimated to range between $7 billion and $10 billion.Gov. Joe Lombardo (R-NV), left, is running for a second gubernatorial term against Nevada’s attorney general, Aaron Ford, the Democratic nominee. (Evan Vucci/AP; Jae C. Hong/AP)
