Go to Danny Tarkanian’s campaign website for Nevada Attorney General and you’ll see him standing at a Trump podium, using MAGA imagery.
Then read what he wrote about Trump on November 16, 2024.
Eleven days after the election, Tarkanian took to X to share an opinion piece titled: ‘I hate Trump, but I’m glad he won‘ — and called it ‘right on the money!’
The point is this: the moment the election pressure was off, Tarkanian exhaled and said what he really thought.
The Blog
Tarkanian wrote a full-length essay on February 8, 2024, during the heat of the presidential campaign.
He called Trump’s behavior “childish.”
He said Trump’s:
“continual praise for himself and exaggerated claims of popularity is unnecessary.”
He flatly declared that:
“Trump is not a loyalist” but rather “a pragmatist” who “will do whatever it takes to be successful. Loyalty comes with a steep price.”
He even questioned Trump’s conduct around January 6th.
While he stated Trump “did not incite an insurrection,” he then wrote:
“why didn’t he do more to stop the mayhem after it occurred?”
He speculated that if Trump had rushed to the Capitol and told demonstrators to stop:
“Trump would have won the 2024 election in a landslide. Instead, he sat in the White House and watched it unfold.”
He is essentially playing armchair quarterback while saying Trump failed a critical leadership test at the most important moment of his presidency.
He did acknowledge some of Trump’s genuine accomplishments: NATO burden-sharing, the strong pre-COVID economy, and standing up to China on trade. But even those were buried inside a structure that felt more like a prosecutor’s brief than a campaign endorsement.
Then came the closing paragraph. After all that criticism, Tarkanian didn’t close with a firm “vote for Trump.”
Instead, he wrote:
“Who will make our country better four years from now!”
Yes, he used an exclamation point instead of a question mark. A truly awe-inspiring non-endorsement.
Verdict First, Evidence Later
Tarkanian also weighed in on the classified documents case, writing that even though other politicians had done the same, “it doesn’t make it right” — rendering his own guilty verdict on Trump in February 2024.
Five months later, federal Judge Aileen Cannon threw the entire case out, ruling that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional. The case never reached a jury. It never produced a conviction.
Tarkanian looked at an unproven federal case and declared Trump guilty anyway.
A prosecutor who renders verdicts before the evidence is in isn’t following the law; he’s following his feelings. And in this case, his feelings tracked pretty closely with the Democrat narrative that dominated cable news at the time.
Nevada conservatives should ask themselves a simple question:
If Danny Tarkanian was willing to pre-convict a Republican president on charges that were ultimately dismissed, what would he do with the power of the Nevada Attorney General’s office behind him?
Danny Tarkanian, licensed attorney, apparently never got the memo about innocent until proven guilty.
The Family Track Record
In 2022, his wife, Amy Tarkanian, actively campaigned to keep Democrat Aaron Ford as Nevada Attorney General. She joined a group called “Republicans for Ford” and endorsed Ford over the Republican nominee.
Amy also endorsed Nikki Haley over Trump in the 2024 presidential primary.
Aaron Ford hasn’t just been a passive occupant of the Nevada Attorney General’s office. He has signed onto more than 40 lawsuits against the Trump administration since January 2025 alone, challenging immigration enforcement, tariffs, education policy, election administration, and federal funding.
He called Trump’s actions :
“not only illegal and unconstitutional but entirely immoral.”
The Nevada AG’s office has become one of the most aggressive anti-Trump legal platforms in the western United States.
The Case That Should Keep You Up at Night
Aaron Ford isn’t just suing the Trump administration. He is actively prosecuting six Nevada Republicans — including state GOP chairman Michael McDonald — for their role as alternate electors in the 2020 election. Tarkanian, in a dystopian plot twist, would inherit the decision of what to do with Ford’s prosecution of Nevada Republicans for signing documents supporting Trump in 2020.
Michael McDonald has held the Nevada GOP chairmanship since 2012. He is the longest-serving state Republican chairman in Nevada history. He took that seat after Amy Tarkanian resigned after just a few months on the job. The bad blood between the Tarkanians and McDonald has never gone away.
Amy endorsed the man who is now prosecuting McDonald. Danny enabled it through silence and his own crossover endorsement of Democrat Zach Conine. Both were expelled from the Douglas County Republican Central Committee by unanimous vote.
Now, Danny wants conservatives to hand him the keys to that same office.
For most Nevadans, that is just a complicated political story. For anyone who has watched Nevada Republican politics up close for the last decade, it is something that turns your stomach.
What the Rest of the Field Looks Like
Danny Tarkanian isn’t the only Republican in this race. Adriana Guzmán Fralick is also running. 
She has 20-plus years of legal experience. She served as general counsel for Republican Governor Jim Gibbons. She chaired the Cannabis Compliance Board under Governor Lombardo. She previously served as Carson City’s chief deputy district attorney.
Governor Joe Lombardo endorsed her in December. The Frontline Victory Fund, a national conservative PAC focused on attorney general races, backed her with a six-figure commitment in February 2026.
They called her:
“the most qualified candidate to ever seek election to Nevada Attorney General.”
Tarkanian responded to Lombardo’s endorsement by calling the governor’s allies:
“the deep-state consulting class.”
Someone who has banked on his family’s name throughout his political career, now positions himself as an outsider.
What You Can Do
The Republican primary is June 9, 2026. Do your homework on both candidates. Ask yourself who is more likely to actually govern as a conservative, not just campaign like one.
The Nevada Attorney General’s office is not a consolation prize for a famous last name. It is one of the most powerful legal positions in the state. Whoever holds it in 2027 will decide whether Nevada fights for Trump’s agenda or quietly works against it from the inside.
That is not a decision to make lightly. And it is not a decision to make based on a campaign website photo in front of a Trump podium.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
