We are continuing our personal stories with political candidates in the two biggest races.
We’ve took a deeper look at both nominees in the Nevada Congressional District 2 race, now we turn to a gubernatorial candidate.
We sit down with democratic nominee, Attorney General Aaron Ford.
As a disclaimer, we sat down with Ford last month, before the Pardons Board situation became a hot topic for the campaign cycle.
Ford spoke with us at a union food pantry, signifying the programs and jobs that helped raise him.
Aaron Ford
If you’ve ever met or been in the same room as Ford, he’s always correcting people with the pronunciation of his name.
He pronounces it “A-Rin” not how it’s commonly said as “Air-uhn”.
That was the first question I asked him, why he says it that way.
He simply responded, that’s what his mama calls him. He also pointed that it’s not uncommon to hear Aaron pronounced that way where he grew up in Dallas, Texas.
“So, my earliest memories of growing up in Dallas, are honestly of rules my mama would tell me about filling up the milk jug with water after the milk was gone. Never really understood the reason behind that kind of rule."
That rule, was creating a safety net.
When the water would get turned off they would use the water to cook and clean themselves.
Ford’s told another story in commercials, but one time his dad came home with a box of stale candy bars, and that’s what they had for dinner.
The attorney general keeps a Skor candy wrapper in all of his offices and at home.
“It's the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I see when I go to bed at night, all throughout the day,” he said. “And so when times get tough, I have a visual reminder of what real tough times are. And it continues to motivate me.”
While growing up Ford always looked out for his two younger brothers.
"My parents divorced when I was around ten years old. My mom told me I had, two jobs at that point. One of them was to keep my head in the books. And the other is I had to take care of my little brothers when she would have to go to work."
Ford’s father and stepfather also played crucial roles in his life, both for separate reasons.
"My father, my biological father showed me what hard work looked like, and my stepfather showed me what accepting responsibility and fulfilling your responsibilities looked like when he married my mom and took on the responsibility of a ready made family,” he said.
Ford would eventually enroll at Texas A&M University, but one moment changed the rest of his life.
"I became a parent,” he said. “My then girlfriend and I had a baby boy and I was a parent. Six months later, I was a single parent."
Luckily, it didn’t keep him out of pursuing his passion.
"Number one, I had a mama who was willing to help out until number two came around my welfare,” Ford said. “I got on a section 8 housing. I got on food stamps. They call it SNAP now, they got the little fancy credit card. I had that fake money, you had to tear up a little book.”
Now things have come full circle with his eldest son.
"My son that I had in college, we were on Medicaid. We have a hashtag we use. It is from Medicaid to medical doctor. You see, my son I have in college is a medical doctor now. He went to Georgetown Medical School, three time president of his class."
Ford would go on to get five degrees, including a law degree and a PhD. Getting those degrees did come with a lot of jobs.
"I was married with a child and I worked five jobs in order to make ends meet." he said.
He worked at a law firm, the school, served at Outback Steakhouse and was a teacher.
Ford’s original intention was to work in the education sphere. He got his law degree with the thought of defending school districts.
However, he would go on to serve in politics, starting at the Nevada Legislature before being elected to Attorney General.
Politics did teach him one thing.
“It's like Kendrick Lamar says, in his song Wacced Out Murals, he has a lyric that says, keep your head down and work like I do. Just understand everybody's not going to like you. And that's a very real lesson to learn in politics."
I asked Ford what were things that not many people may know about him, one was playful, and the other centers around his faith.
"I do a mean karaoke. I got me a nice little repertoire. I have a handful of songs I can get down with. You won't ever see it, though, because, you know, I've hung my mic up until the next karaoke song come on…”
“On a serious note, I am grounded in the book I referenced earlier, my Bible right."
Ford says his wife is his backbone.
When the two went on their first date, they went to Outback Steakhouse.
Ford went to put his name on the waiting list, and after several times the hostess kept messing up his name.
His wife, then corrected her a final time and then the two left to have dinner somewhere else.
"That's when I knew I had to ride or die,” he said. “That was my first date, and she stood up and and would not anybody call me not my name after I'd already told them twice what my name was. That's my wife, and I love her with all my heart.”
Ford is now running for the highest elected office in the state.
We also did similar stories like this with Nevada Congressional District 2 candidates Teresa Benitez-Thompson and David Flippo.
