LAS VEGAS — The Retail Association of Nevada has yanked its endorsement of Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican it backed in the 2022 election, saying someone needs to pay a political price for President Trump’s tariffs that are walloping the business sector.
Their endorsement of Democrat Aaron Ford for governor this year ends nearly three decades of the association’s allegiance to the Republican Party.
The association announced the endorsement this week at a press conference at Firefly, a restaurant near the Las Vegas Strip, where owner Joe Simmons said tariffs raised his costs, slowed his business and forced him to lay off employees.
“These tariffs are insane,” he said. “Again, they’re hitting us from all directions. Our prices are higher, consumers’ prices are higher, and then the countries that we’re putting the tariffs on are not coming to Las Vegas.”
And yet, the Nevada retailers’ defection from the Republican Party is a relatively isolated event, even as business owners complain about the tariffs that economists say have driven up prices and squeezed businesses.
The only other notable business organization to abandon its support for Republicans was the California Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest business association, which endorsed Democrat Xavier Becerra over Republican Steve Hilton. It is believed to be the first time the organization endorsed a Democrat.
However, the Chamber did not mention tariffs in its endorsement, saying Mr. Becerra would restore “predictability” to the business community. A chamber official said the group was focused on issues other than tariffs in the election.
The vast majority of retailer associations and other business groups say they are sticking with Republicans because the party is more pro-business than Democrats, regardless of a temporary detour by the current occupant in the White House.
“The truth is, whoever becomes the next senator from Michigan is going to be in that office after the president has left,” said Drew Beardslee of the Michigan Retailers Association, which endorsed Republican Mike Rogers in the state’s U.S. Senate race.
“We’re hopeful that by taking the long view and building a relationship with someone who has a history of support for Michigan’s retail and small business community, we can be part of that conversation for a long time,” he said.
A new UBS research note projected that more than 40,000 brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. could close in the next five years because of the tariffs or duties on foreign goods paid by importers.
UBS also estimated that retailers could absorb more than $100 billion in increased costs.
Tariffs have been used for centuries to protect domestic industries, but Mr. Trump supercharged the duties by making them central to his trade agenda.
He hit dozens of trading partners with blanket levies ranging from 10% to 50% to close trading deficits with countries that tapped into the rich American market but didn’t buy U.S. exports.
Mr. Trump hailed the billions of dollars in added revenue for Treasury. He also celebrated tariffs as a big win for U.S. workers, as countries from the U.K. to Indonesia to Japan pledged to purchase American products and invest in American factories as part of trade deals.
Consumers are estimated to have absorbed around 55% of tariff costs, according to Goldman Sachs. It concluded that consumers could absorb as much as 70% of the tariff costs by the end of this year, noting that middle-income Americans are either looking for cheaper goods or putting off purchases.
Still, retailer groups across the country are not abandoning their longtime support for GOP candidates.
In Michigan, Mr. Rogers has walked a tariff tightrope in the Senate race against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. He argues that some of the tariffs, including those imposed on Michigan’s close trading partner Canada, are “necessary.” He also promises to bring an end to the trade war with Ottawa.
Michigan’s trade with Ontario, Canada, totals about $80 billion a year.
Mr. Beardslee, the vice president of government affairs at Michigan Retailers Association, said trade was a factor in its endorsement decision, but it wasn’t the only consideration.
“While MRA has been public about the fact that we’ve opposed much of the administration’s agenda when it comes to trade and tariffs, especially with the latest round with Canada. But I don’t know if there’s ever been a candidate who is 100% aligned with our priorities,” he said.
He wasn’t surprised that MRA’s Nevada counterparts want to punish local politicians for Mr. Trump’s tariffs, but said Democrats “don’t have a clean record when it comes to the use of tariffs.”
Indeed, before the Trump era, the Democratic Party generally supported tariffs and protectionist trade policies since the 1970s as it sided with the labor unions.
“Mike Rogers’ political history predates this latest increasingly toxic era, and I think that was a factor for many of our members. He served in the state senate here in the 90s, he represented Michigan in Congress for 20 years, and in that period of service was a consistent supporter of business-friendly priorities,” he said.
The Alabama Retail PAC, the political action committee for the Alabama Retail Association, endorsed a lengthy list of GOP candidates for local offices, including Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor.
The ARA did not mention tariffs when issuing its endorsements, simply saying the endorsed candidates are “familiar with the challenges facing Alabama’s retail industry.”
Other Republican gubernatorial candidates who won the backing from their state’s retail associations include Rep. Byron Donalds in Florida, Ty Masterson in Kansas and Greg Abbot in Texas.
State chambers of commerce also remain loyal to the Republican Party.
For instance, the Ohio Chamber endorsed Republican incumbent Sen. John Husted over Democrat Sherrod Brown in that state’s U.S. Senate race. The chamber also backed Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for governor.
And while the Nevada Retail Association shunned Mr. Lombardo, he did pick up an endorsement from his state’s chamber of commerce.
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