As DNC kicks off, Nevada delegates share enthusiasm for Harris-Walz ticket

Even before she votes in her first presidential election, 20-year-old Las Vegas resident Carolyn Salvador Avila will travel to Chicago for “the opportunity of a lifetime” to represent Nevada as a delegate at this week’s Democratic National Convention.

Salvador Avila is among a group of 17 delegates from Nevada under the age of 36 who are responsible for making the 49-member Nevada delegation the youngest at the convention, convention officials said.

“We’re kind of living through these unprecedented times, and Gen Z has a very strong, loud voice that we’re sharing. Seeing it represented at the DNC (will be) so beautiful,” Salvador Avila said.

The delegates will also represent the state party at convention programming, including the Black caucus, senior council, youth council and labor council.

Donna West, who chairs the Nevada Democratic Party’s senior caucus, said President Joe Biden’s administration “has done more for seniors than any president in decades.” For West, the rights for seniors are one of the many liberties she says are at risk this presidential election when Vice President Kamala Harris faces former President Donald Trump.

“We have savings on our prescription drugs, access to shingles vaccinations for free under Medicare and our very retirement and health care on the line, and so we’re taking that all very seriously,” she said.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have plenty of momentum heading into the Chicago convention.

There has been record campaign contributions and volunteer engagement since Harris stepped in after the 81-year-old Biden dropped his reelection effort and endorsed Harris as his successor. Polling has flipped from Trump having an edge in the six crucial swing states — Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — to a virtual tie.

West said it would be up to delegates to do their part by knocking on doors, making calls and talking to voters about what they learned at the convention.

“Nevada always has close elections. Even though we’re wildly enthusiastic and energetic right now, we know no matter what, this could be a close election,” she said.

For Salvador Avila, this election is particularly important for gun violence prevention and health care for women, especially reproductive freedoms. She pointed to Harris’ work overseeing the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the White House and her long-standing support for the right to an abortion.

“On the other side, we’ve got somebody who is proud of the fact that he is the reason that women’s reproductive rights have been taken back by over 50 years,” Salvador Avila said. “So not only are we seeing a lack of progress from former President Trump’s side, but we’re seeking a backwards take into times when we didn’t have the rights that we deserve and that we should have as women.”

Earlier this month, Democratic delegates from across the country were part of an online nominating process to vote for Harris, including Nevada delegates like Salvador Avila and West. The Nevada delegates announced in July, the day after Biden announced his decision to leave the race, that they unanimously supported Harris in her bid for the nomination.

The Nevada delegation to the convention made it official two weeks ago when it voted unanimously to nominate Harris and Walz to lead the Democratic ticket.

West said it was always part of the plan to cast virtual votes – even before Biden stepped aside – because of states like Ohio that have a ballot deadline before the convention ends.

“It was a very easy process and we will still have a ceremonial roll call on the floor at the convention, which I’m really looking forward to,” she added.

While Nevada delegates expressed unanimous support for Harris, some delegates in other states spoke against the Biden-Harris administration’s current response to the war in Gaza. Those delegates are part of an “uncommitted” movement, which is urging Harris to support an arms embargo cutting off U.S. weapon supplies to Israeli forces.

Demonstrations are planned outside the convention over the administration’s handling of Gaza.

“Kamala Harris has called for a ceasefire and she’s making sure that we find a resolution to this conflict to stop continuous pain for so many people that are over there,” Salvador Avila said. “But at the same time, we’ve got somebody else on the other side, which is Donald Trump, who has made no such efforts to make anybody think that he’s going to be fighting for any peace anywhere.”

Nevada isn’t just being represented at the convention by its delegates, but also through convention attendees and organization leaders, like A’shanti Gholar.

A Las Vegas native, Gholar serves as the president of Emerge, a national organization dedicated to recruiting and training Democratic women to run for office.

For Gholar, it’s a “full circle” moment since Harris’ election in 2002 as district attorney in San Francisco came the year Emerge was founded in California.

Gholar’s first experience was in 2004 traveling alongside the Nevada delegation, and now she will be hosting events geared toward uplifting women throughout the week to support a presidential nominee that she said was a champion when it comes to supporting other women.

“There are so many women who did the Emerge California program because the vice president recruited them to that program. When I have the opportunity to see her, she will say how pumped she has been to meet so many great Emerge women,” she added.

Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy II says being a delegate this year will be much different from his first time in 2020. Now, he is looking forward to attending the Black caucus and labor council meetings, listening to speakers and showing his pride for Nevada in Chicago.

“It’s something I’ll be able to tell my kids and grandkids, at some point, ‘I was there. I was a part of the group of delegates that made it possible for us to make history in this moment, at a time where things were looking very grim, at a time where people were concerned about the state of our democracy,’” McCurdy said.

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