Carson City, NV (AP) - A northern Nevada attorney who has questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election and was outside the U.S. Capitol the day it was stormed has announced he’s running for governor.
Republican Joey Gilbert told an applauding audience at the Ahern Hotel in Las Vegas over the weekend that he planned to challenge Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak in Nevada’s 2022 gubernatorial race, according to a video of the event posted on Facebook.
Gilbert’s assistant Andrea Wexelblatt confirmed his campaign announcement to The Associated Press.
Gilbert, a former professional boxer, said in his remarks Saturday that he believed Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election and was “still our president.”
“Let me say this: If election integrity is not the No. 1 issue of these guys running, then they’re either lost, confused, or too stupid to be running,” he said, referencing other Republicans who intend to run.
He positioned voter fraud allegations at the center of his campaign, claiming COVID-19 vaccines were unproven and urged people not to take them. He also referred to the coronavirus as a “plandemic,” using a term that suggests the pandemic was intentionally created.
Gilbert joins Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee and Gardnerville doctor Fred Simon in the Republican primary field. U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei has said he’s mulling a run against Sisolak and that former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller informed him that he was considering it as well. Amodei and Heller, both Republicans, have not announced any decisions.
Gilbert was advertised as a speaker for a “MAGA Freedom Rally,” organized by the anti-vaccine political action committee United Medical Freedom, one block from the U.S. Capitol the day of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The Reno Gazette Journal reported in January that Gilbert had also gone to the Capitol after barricades were torn down and the building was overrun by hundreds of Trump’s supporters. Gilbert said in a video on his Facebook page that he had not gone inside the Capitol. Gilbert did not respond to emailed questions about actions on Jan. 6. He has not been charged with any crime related to the insurrection.
In addition to advertising his legal practice on billboards throughout the Reno area, Gilbert is a fixture at rallies for right-wing causes in northern Nevada.