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Nevada Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony has an unusual plan to rev up the Silver State’s entertainment business: space tourism; and with Elon Musk having significant business interests in the state, he won’t have to look far to find the man to do it.
Anthony’s background has been anything but boring: he had a nearly three-decade career in law enforcement, was a regent in the state’s higher education system, and served as a longtime Las Vegas city councilman.
He ran a spirited campaign for mayor of Las Vegas, and since 2022 has served alongside Governor Joe Lombardo, leading the Silver State. The Lombardo/Anthony ticket was the only one in America in which Republicans defeated an incumbent Democratic governor and lieutenant governor.
Recently, Anthony sat down with Digital at FreedomFest in Las Vegas to discuss his career, the Nevada economy, and electoral prospects in 2026, in what is shaping up to be one of the tightest gubernatorial races in the country.
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Nevada Lieutenant Gov. Stavros Anthony delivers remarks during the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on the West Front Lawn at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Anthony promotes the state as a mecca for the entertainment business, touting a light regulatory touch and a thriving climate for entrepreneurship. He’s particularly bullish on professional sports, and the nascent space tourism industry.
“If you look at 10 years ago, we didn’t have one major sporting activity here in Nevada. They actually would not come here because they thought there would be illegal gambling and corruption and bribery and so on and so forth. In 10 years, we’ve become the sports capital of the world. Baseball is coming. We have hockey. We have football. We’re going to have basketball coming. F1. NASCAR, we have women’s basketball on and on and that just kind of cropped up.
“The thing about Las Vegas is anything can happen here, so it’s really not up to me as a lieutenant governor to decide what’s the next big thing in tourism. It’s the tourist industry that has to decide what’s the next big thing.
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“One thing that is of interest is space tourism. I think that might be a future here in Nevada because we have a lot of open land where… somebody like Elon Musk can shoot rockets up into outer space, hang out up there for a while, have some drinks. Hang out with friends.
“What an experience that would be to see the Earth from up there and actually make it a tourist kind of an adventure. So those are the kind of things that we’re constantly thinking about, but it’s the private sector that needs to do it, and I am very much in favor of allowing our entrepreneurs to come up with the next best thing and to support them.”
Elon Musk speaks at the Viva Technology conference focused on innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 16, 2023. (Chesnot/Getty Images)
Anthony credits his lengthy career with Las Vegas Metro Police for giving him the problem-solving foundation to launch a successful political career:
“You know, most people think of the policing that they see on television. High-speed pursuits, gunfights, bar fights, chasing people down dark alleys, and arresting serious criminals. And that is a big part of policing. But really, 90% of police work is really solving problems. Going into neighborhoods, finding out what are the issues in those neighborhoods, helping those neighbors solve issues to make their quality of life a lot better.
“I’ve learned that that’s really what I should be doing as an elected official. My job is to go out there and talk to people and find out what the state can do, what a county could do, what a city could do to make their lives better: helping folks live the American dream and not causing problems like higher taxes, higher regulations, getting in their way, those sorts of things. So that’s really what I learned about police work.”
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo speaks onstage after a parade for Bruno Mars honoring his impact on Las Vegas entertainment at Toshiba Plaza on April 10, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for MGM Resorts)
President Trump has endorsed the Lombardo/Anthony ticket, and he believes that the new no tax on tips policy will prove to be a major electoral boost come November.
“Well, President Trump has endorsed the governor. President Trump has endorsed me. He was just here a couple of months ago to talk about his no taxes on tips, which was a huge thing here in Nevada.”
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“I think President Trump will be here. He’s welcome anytime to come to the great state of Nevada and talk to folks in Nevada. When he was campaigning, he would have events with 5,000 or 6,000 people attending. So we have a good relationship with him. We want to have a relationship with him, and I believe he’ll be here to talk about some of the great things his administration is doing, not only in the country, but how it’s impacting Nevada in a positive way.”
President Donald Trump speaks about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Finally, Anthony notes that his political philosophy is heavily shaped by his immigrant parents from Cyprus who instilled the values of hard work, self-reliance, and fiscal responsibility.
“When they came to the United States, and they didn’t have anything, all they could do was find a job and get married and raise a family… number one: you work hard.
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“Number two: you don’t ask the government for anything. You want them to protect you, you want to have roads. But you don’t ask them for welfare, you don’t ask them for unemployment checks, you don’t ask them for food stamps. So that’s not something that they thought the government would do.
“Their responsibility was to work hard, raise a family, buy a home and live the American dream. That taught me a lot. And that’s really how I’ve continued my public service. I am here to support Nevadans in ways that they want support, but I’m not here to carry them. They need to carry themselves, and I think they understand that.”
