Nevada AG Aaron Ford’s Office Coordinated with Left-Wing ‘Democracy’ Nonprofit to Push Anti-Election Integrity Agenda

In yet another bombshell exposing the coordinated Democratic “lawfare” machine targeting Republicans and election integrity advocates, Judicial Watch has uncovered 238 pages of records from Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford’s office showing close collaboration with the States United Democracy Center (SUDC)—a leftist nonprofit that has actively pushed for the prosecution of President Trump’s supporters, lawyers, activists, and GOP officials who dared to question the 2020 election results. AG Ford is the leading Democratic candidate for Nevada governor.

The records, obtained through a Nevada Public Records Act lawsuit filed after Ford’s office stonewalled a February 2025 request, detail emails, briefings, and sign-on letters in which Ford’s team worked hand-in-glove with SUDC and its predecessor project, the Voter Protection Project (VPP). The coordination included monthly conference calls on multistate litigation, opposition to “voter restrictions,” and efforts to rally business leaders against common-sense election security measures.

Why would a nonprofit have to sue the “top cop” of Nevada for public records? Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton explains: “These records further expose a coordinated leftist lawfare machine—leftist state attorneys general working hand-in-glove with allied activist groups to target political opponents and undermine our election system.”

Ford on Record: Voter ID Is ‘Unconstitutional’

Nevada AG Aaron Ford has been vocal in his opposition to basic election safeguards. In May 2023, Ford publicly declared that voter ID requirements are unconstitutional, stating: “This attorney general will not abide by an unconstitutional act like voter ID here in this state.” He framed voter ID efforts as a “ruse to disenfranchise” voters from communities of color, veterans, and seniors—rhetoric that directly aligns with the anti-security agenda advanced by the nonprofits his office actively partners with.

Despite Ford’s stance, Nevada voters overwhelmingly approved Question 7, the Voter Identification Initiative, in November 2024 by a resounding 73.23% to 26.77% margin. The measure, which requires photo ID for in-person voting and identifying information for mail ballots, must pass again in November 2026 to amend the Nevada Constitution. Early indications suggest strong support for a second approval.

The Nonprofits and Their Agendas — Ties to the SPLC

At the center of Ford’s scheme is the States United Democracy Center, a 501(c)(3) that bills itself as “nonpartisan.” Its mission statement reads: “The States United Democracy Center is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the rule of law and free, fair, secure elections. We provide direct support to state officials and law enforcement leaders as they uphold the law and our system of checks and balances, protect public safety, and preserve our democracy.” The group claims to offer “legal, research, and communications support” to officials while safeguarding “the freedom to vote” and combating what it calls “election denier rhetoric” and potential violence around elections.

In practice, SUDC has been anything but neutral. It has helped develop legal theories for prosecuting alternate slates of Republican electors in 2020 and has been tied to efforts in multiple states—including Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia—to target Trump allies. Judicial Watch previously obtained similar records from Michigan’s AG office showing the same coordination.

SUDC routinely criticizes Republican-led efforts to tighten identification requirements, framing them as voter suppression tactics within a broader wave of “restrictive” election laws.

SUDC’s work is an outgrowth of the Voter Protection Project (VPP), a left-wing political action committee that became a project of SUDC in 2021. VPP’s own mission is far more explicit and partisan: “The Voter Protection Project (VPP) is one of the largest voting rights organizations in the country, working on the frontlines to protect every American’s right to vote. … We advocate for strong action to expand voting access, stop efforts to make voting harder, and build the majorities needed to pass laws that protect our democracy.” VPP explicitly calls for “the removal of restrictive voter ID barriers” and has supported candidates and policies aimed at the complete elimination of voter ID requirements—along with automatic voter registration, same-day registration, and other measures that weaken election security.

Several key figures in the SUDC-coordinated briefings have documented ties to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the controversial organization recently indicted by a federal grand jury on wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering charges. 

Prosecutors allege the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donor funds (2014–2023) to individuals associated with violent extremist groups—including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, National Socialist Movement, and Unite the Right participants in Charlottesville—while misleading donors about its fight against extremism. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated the SPLC was “manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”

• Mary McCord, a former Obama-era Justice Department official who served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division (2014–2016) and then Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security (2016–2017) during the “Russia Gate” hoax, and has collaborated with the SPLC on reports and initiatives regarding militias, paramilitary activity, and domestic extremism threats.

• Jared Holt (formerly of Right Wing Watch) has been frequently featured and quoted in SPLC’s Year in Hate & Extremism reports tracking right-wing movements.  

• Norman Eisen, who served as President Obama’s White House Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform (the administration’s “ethics czar”) and later as U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, has publicly defended the SPLC amid its indictment, calling it a “beacon” in fighting extremism.  

• Shannon Hiller of Princeton’s Bridging Divides Initiative—who previously advised at USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives—shares overlapping work with SPLC on political violence tracking and has been quoted in related contexts.

Key Players in the Coordination

Leading the charge from SUDC is Joanna Lydgate, President and CEO. A former Chief Deputy Attorney General of Massachusetts under Gov. Maura Healey (Lydgate’s partner), she coordinated multistate litigation before launching the group in 2020. In an April 15, 2021, email chain obtained by Judicial Watch, Lydgate directly pitched Ford’s office on a “bipartisan” sign-on letter to corporate leaders opposing “a wave of voter restrictions sweeping the country.” Nevada signed on, with Ford’s team confirming participation—directly tying into Ford’s own public stance against voter ID.

Also deeply involved is Fiona Dwyer-McNulty of SUDC, who organized AG briefings and added Ford’s deputies to monthly litigation update calls as recently as February 2025.

The January 2021 “AG Briefing” referenced in the records featured the above figures alongside other anti-Trump legal and “disinformation” (censorship) operatives, including representatives from 21CP Solutions—a public safety consulting firm born directly out of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, focused on “constitutional policing” and community partnerships.

These aren’t neutral election watchdogs—they’re part of a network that has spent years labeling legitimate questions about 2020 as “existential threats to democracy” while cheering lawfare against Trump and his supporters.

Ford’s Role and the Bigger Picture

Nevada AG Aaron Ford, a Democrat, didn’t just receive these briefings—he had his general counsel and solicitor general actively engage, sign onto the corporate letter opposing voter ID-style reforms, and integrate SUDC’s litigation summaries into his office’s multi-state work. Ford’s team even requested specific deputies be looped into ongoing calls.

This Nevada effort mirrors similar Judicial Watch-documented coordination in other battleground states. In Georgia, the group has ties to Fani Willis’s disgraced office. 

The pattern is clear: Democrat AGs using taxpayer resources and nonprofit allies to weaponize the justice system against political dissent. In fact, Ford has led or signed on to dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration during his tenure. 

As Judicial Watch continues its FOIA battles in Arizona and Wisconsin, the full scope of this interstate “democracy defense” network—really a shield for one-party rule—will come into sharper focus.

Nevadans deserve elections they can trust, not backroom deals between their Attorney General—who calls basic voter ID “unconstitutional”—and activist groups like SUDC and VPP that are openly hostile to voter ID and other common-sense security measures, while associating with networks tied to the embattled SPLC who funded actual Nazi’s to fight “white supremacy.” 

Despite Ford’s opposition, voters spoke loudly in 2024 and are poised to do so again this November. Aaron Ford’s cozy relationship with SUDC and VPP raises serious questions about whose interests his office truly serves. 

California Globe will continue following this story as more records emerge.