Soros Cash Flows to Newsom-Endorsed Aaron Ford, Architect of Failed Criminal Justice Reforms

A California Globe review of campaign finance records has identified recent maximum contributions to Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford’s gubernatorial campaign from members of the Soros family. Ford’s latest quarterly contribution report lists two $10,000 donations—totaling $20,000—from two relatives of billionaire George Soros, including Jonathan Soros. These are the maximum individual contributions allowed under federal limits for the period.

Jonathan Soros and his wife, Jennifer Allan Soros, have a documented history of supporting progressive prosecutors and attorneys general. According to New York state campaign finance records, the couple combined to give $20,000 directly to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s 2021 campaign. Family-linked contributions, including from Jennifer Allan Soros, have also gone to New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Soros and his heirs have long funded soft-on-crime criminal justice reform efforts that emphasize reduced penalties for theft and drug offenses and lower incarceration rates.

His network previously directed significant resources into the campaigns of progressive prosecutors, including former Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón and former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Both oversaw sharp rises in crime during their tenures; Gascón was defeated for re-election in 2024 and Boudin was recalled by voters in 2022 amid widespread backlash over public safety failures.

Ford, the Democratic nominee seeking to unseat Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, has received the public backing of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom has campaigned alongside Ford in Nevada and formally endorsed his candidacy.

As Nevada’s then-Senate Majority Leader and later as Attorney General, Ford was a key backer of Assembly Bill 236, the 2019 criminal justice overhaul led by the progressive Democratic majority in the state legislature. His office described him as “intimately involved” in the bill’s creation, and he personally testified in favor of it. 

Among its provisions, AB 236 raised the felony threshold for retail theft and other property crimes from $650 to $1,200, higher than California, and reclassified many lower-value thefts as misdemeanors. 

It also restructured penalties for certain drug offenses, reducing some possession and lower-level trafficking charges from felonies to misdemeanors or making them eligible for probation, while adjusting quantity thresholds that critics say softened penalties for significant amounts of controlled substances, including fentanyl.

According to DEA estimates, one gram of fentanyl can kill between 300 and 500 people. Under the adjusted thresholds, individuals could possess quantities capable of causing thousands of deaths without automatically triggering the most serious trafficking charges that existed prior to the reforms.

Governor Joe Lombardo, former Clark County Sheriff, repeatedly criticized AB 236 as a failed progressive experiment that weakened public safety. He has made rolling back its effects a centerpiece of his administration, signing tougher crime packages that increase penalties for retail theft involving property damage, strengthening fentanyl trafficking laws, and restoring accountability for repeat offenders—measures he frames as correcting the soft-on-crime policies enacted by Nevada Democrats under former Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak.

Ford’s record on drug and property crime penalties aligns closely with the failed policy priorities long advanced by Soros-funded groups, candidates, and elected officials.

The recent Soros contributions, coming as Ford seeks the Nevada governorship, underscore concerns that those priorities could shape state policy, with the help of a Democratic legislative majority, if he is elected.