(The Center Square) – Another challenger has tossed her hat in the 2026 Nevada gubernatorial election ring.
Irina Hansen, a former small business owner and Republican who unsuccessfully ran for Las Vegas mayor in 2024, announced her campaign for governor amidst what is expected to be a high profile race.
Hansen described herself as an outsider candidate who is separate from the corruption she said is common in Nevada politics.
“What I offer is something money and political favors can’t buy, character, conviction, integrity, and a fearless commitment to the people of Nevada,” Hansen told The Center Square. “I don’t owe lobbyists, unions or backroom deals. I answer only to God and the people.”
Hansen is the third candidate to declare her campaign for 2026 and the only other Republican candidate behind current Gov. Joe Lombardo.
On the other side of the aisle is Nevada’s Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat whose campaign has been widely critical of Lombardo’s time in office.
In an April interview with the New York Times, former Democratic Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said he might challenge Aaron Ford in the primary. “I’m looking into it. I’ve been encouraged by a lot of people to run again, and I’m considering it.” Sisolak was governor from 2019 to 2023.
Hansen has firmly aligned herself with the fringe of Nevadan politics when it comes to voting integrity. Asked on her failed 2024 Las Vegas mayoral campaign that saw her win just over 1% of votes, Hansen said the vote was rigged.
“Let’s be blunt,” Hansen said. “Those numbers were a product of a broken and manipulated election system, and I’m not the only one saying it.”
The election results were widely accepted across the political sphere, with the majority of complaints coming around the timeliness of vote counting, not the votes or voting system itself.
The two big candidates in the election, Lombardo and Ford, have focused attention on their efforts to create economic growth in the Silver State and their contrasting relationships with the federal government.
Hansen said on her first day in office she would create a State Integrity Task Force with “full authority to audit, investigate, and expose every corner of corruption in Nevada government … no more secrecy, no more kickbacks, no more immunity for those who sold out this state.”
Hansen said she would also look to defend parental rights, and expose activist judges and public officials.
Hansen has no experience in office but said her time as a small business owner of a salon and spa gives her insight into tricky regulation and taxes, saving money “with skin in the game,” and helping Nevada’s current and future small businesses. Hansen has also been a real estate agent for over 21 years.
Nevada’s gubernatorial election will take place Nov. 3, 2026.
