Judicial Watch: Records Show Nevada Attorney General’s Office Coordinated with Leftist NGO and AGs on Election Issues

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it received 238 pages of records from the State of Nevada Office of Attorney General in a Nevada Public Records Act lawsuit that show the state’s close coordination with the nonprofit States United Democracy Center, which has pushed indictments of President Donald Trump’s supporters, lawyers, activists, and Republican Party officials who challenged the results of the 2020 election.

Judicial Watch sued the state of Nevada Attorney General’s office after it failed to respond to a February 2025 records request for documents and communications involving the States United Democracy Center (SUDC) and the Voter Protection Project (VPP) (Judicial Watch Inc. v. State of Nevada ex. rel. Office of the Attorney General (No. A-26-941044)).

The States United Democracy Center was accused of helping to develop legal theories and materials related to the prosecution of alternate slates of Republican electors in the 2020 election. The Voter Protection Project is a left-wing political action committee that donates to far-left candidates who support eliminating many U.S. election security laws.

The records include a January 2021 internal email from States United Democracy Center’s Fiona Dwyer-McNulty referencing a one-hour “AG Briefing” featuring outside participants, including Mary McCord; representatives from 21CP Solutions; Jared Holt of DFR Labs; Shannon Hiller of the Bridging Divides Initiative; and Norman Eisen.

In an April 15, 2021, email chain labeled “Bipartisan Sign-on Letter re Corporate Leadership,” Joanna Lydgate, president and CEO of Voter Protection Program/States United Democracy Center, writes to Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford:

As you know, I’m the CEO of the Voter Protection Program … As of Monday, VPP will become a project of our new umbrella 501(c)(3) organization, the States United Democracy Center, but our mission will remain the same. We are looking forward to continuing our work with you under our new name.

One of the first projects of the States United Democracy Center is organizing an open letter to the business community from a bipartisan coalition of current and former state officials — governors, lieutenant governors, attorneys general, and secretaries of state — urging businesses to continue to speak out in support of voting rights and applauding those who have done so already. [Emphasis in original] I have attached a PDF of the letter, which is co-sponsored by current Governors Roy Cooper (NC) and Gretchen Whitmer (MI) and former Governors Arne Carlson (MN), Bill Weld (MA), and Christine Todd Whitman (NJ).

I’m writing to ask you to join these governors in expressing your support for the freedom to vote and your concern about the voting restrictions being proposed across the country.

Lydgate welcomes Nevada General Counsel Leslie M. Nino Piro to the email chain and Piro responds: “It’s great to meet you, Joanna! I look forward to working with you as well.” Later, Attorney General Aaron Ford writes that Piro will “be attending with and/or for me going forward.”

Renee D. Carreau, executive assistant to the solicitor general, writes to Lydgate and others: “Nevada would like to sign on to this letter. Please see our signature block attached. Please let me know if you need anything further & send us the final letter after it has been sent.” She later writes:

Ms. Lydgate & Dwyer-McNulty,

I would like to request to add our Solicitor General, Heidi Parry Stern, cc’d above, and me to any of these types of communications. We handle all multistate litigation and sign-ons to Amici briefs and letters. Either Ms. Stern or I will be responding to the below request, before COB tomorrow. Please let me know if you any questions.

The letter, addressed to “Dear Business Leaders,” opposes a “a wave of voter restrictions sweeping the country.”

In a February 2025 email to Dwyer-McNulty, Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General Greg D. Ott asks to have Deputy Attorney General Devin Oliver added to States United Democracy Center’s monthly conference calls as “He’s coordinating much of the multistate litigation here and I think it would be beneficial for him to hear the litigation summaries that your team provides.” Dwyer-McNulty responds that Oliver was added to the list.

“These records further expose a coordinated leftist lawfare machine—leftist state attorneys general working hand-in-glove with allied activist groups to target political opponents and undermine our election system,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

In November 2025, Judicial Watch received 5,789 pages of records from the Michigan Department of Attorney General in a Michigan Freedom of Information Act request that show the state’s coordination with States United Democracy Center. 

Judicial Watch continues to work to obtain records from Arizona, and Wisconsin, which appear to have been part of the same coordinated efforts led by States United Democracy Center.

In July 2025, Judicial Watch filed a Georgia Public Records lawsuit against Fani Willis in her capacity as district attorney for the Atlanta Circuit for communications and agreements with the States United Democracy Center and/or the Voter Protection Project regarding the investigation and prosecution of Republican state electors for the 2020 presidential election and/or anti-racketeering for conspiring to nullify the election. 

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