We're currently in the middle of campaign season, so it's common to see attack ads on air or social media.

What may be a bit more surprising is to see an attack on a sitting official who isn't even up for re-election.

The Nevada Democratic State Party posted an attack or, more aptly, an "attack meme" against Republican Governor Joe Lombardo on X on Tuesday.

"Yesterday, the Democrat state party decided it was a good idea to post a picture of the Governor, with the claims that he is engaged in bribery, without any evidence," said (R) Las Vegas Assemblywoman Danielle Gallant.

The meme posted by NVDems on X featured a picture of Governor Joe Lombardo and the following message: "The bribes I took did not influence me to be evil. I was evil from the beginning, and the bribes were merely a bonus."

It created a backlash, particularly among Republican state lawmakers.

"I was one of the first people to retweet that tweet and call for the Democrat state party to issue an apology because it was so over the line," said Gallant.

Jon Ralston, the founder of the Nevada Independent, a highly regarded political news and opinion website, called on the Nevada State Democratic Party to walk back the post.

On X, Ralston wrote, "Really, @nvdems? Accusing the Governor of taking bribes? What in the world is this?"

Ralston wrote a more extended criticism in his newsletter, which is behind a paywall. In it, he addressed the situation from a zoomed-out lens, touching on the core reasons behind the division between both parties in Carson City.

"It was after hours of criticism that they finally decided to quietly delete it," said Gallant.

The Nevada Democratic State Party deleted the post hours later because they said the picture of Governor Lombardo used in the post had copyright issues. We called the photography company to confirm but have yet to hear back.

Nevada Democratic State Party representatives provided 2 News Nevada with screenshots of the photographer's request to delete the post. 

"We shared a meme based on a viral trend to call to attention Governor Joe Lombardo's long record of political donations from corporate and special interests, and then acting on their behalf, not Nevadans," said Nevada Democratic State Party Communications Director Tai Sims.

"To be clear, we stand by that message but had to delete the tweet because the person who owned the copyrighting of the photo asked us to delete it," Sims stated.

In the meantime, lawmakers call for more civil dialogue and transparency in Nevada politics.

"We're human; we all mess up. I mean, I recently had a very public mess up on X, and the very next day, I issued an apology and a correction," said Gallant.

We contacted the Governor's office about the attack meme, but they do not wish to comment.

On Friday, we are talking with a University of Nevada Reno political science professor about the legality, or lack thereof, of this level of mudslinging.

We'll also examine the issues each party is using to fuel its divisive language.

The Nevada Democratic State Party is frustrated at Governor Lombardo because his team accuses legislative Democrats of holding a "culture of corruption" as the party in control. They contend that Governor Joe Lombardo has a long record of taking political donations from corporate special interests and acting on their behalf, mainly through vetoes.

However, the Nevada Republican Party takes issue with Legislative Democrats after three members were accused and chose to step down after the Christmas Tree bill at the end of the 2023 Nevada Legislative Session for doling out funds to the organizations they and their families are affiliated with. Each member who resigned maintained their innocence and stated that their decision to step down was not influenced by the criticism they faced after voting on appropriations in the Christmas Tree Bill.