With Reid gone, Democrats turn to union to turn election

By Casey Harrison (contact)

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022 | 2 a.m.

The Democratic political machine the late Sen. Harry Reid built in Nevada during his decades in office may well be on its heels. That is, unless, a key constituency group he leaned on for so many years comes out to the polls as enthusiastically as it has in elections prior: labor unions.

From U.S. Senate to the gubernatorial race, recent polling shows many Nevada Republicans deadlocked — if not ahead — of their Democratic rivals with a bit more than two weeks before the Nov. 8 midterm elections. Many politicos view Nevada as Republicans’ best chance to flip the Senate by unseating incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto In the U.S. House of Representatives, the GOP needs to net five seats in November to reclaim a majority.

Democrats in recent months have been focused largely on addressing economic and social inequalities after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that guaranteed the right to an abortion. They’ve also blamed corporations for hoarding profits, exacerbating inflation, they say.

Republicans, meanwhile, have been able to gain favor among the electorate as the country gripes with record inflation and the prospect of an economic recession looms larger.

Still, Democrats have stood with laborers as the union movement has seen somewhat of a resurgence under President Joe Biden, said Vicki Lamb, a valet associate at Caesars Palace and a member of Teamsters Local 986. Employees at nationwide retailers like Amazon, Target and Starbucks have spurred a cascade of organizational efforts, and legislation passed since Biden took office — with the help of Cortez Masto — have brought jobs to Nevada, she said.

“She stands with workers and with what workers need,” Lamb, a self-described lifelong Democrat, said of the first-term Senator. “She meets with us to make sure that our voices are heard. She’s a strong ally of labor who fights for Nevada workers, and she’s passed bills like the bipartisan infrastructure law that are creating union jobs and bringing funding to our state.”

Statewide, Democrats like Sisolak have endorsed provisions like project labor agreements, which mandate certain public projects use a certain number of union laborers.

Many of the area’s most powerful labor groups — the Culinary Union, Service Employees International, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, among others — have still endorsed Nevada’s highest-profile Democrats like Cortez Masto, Gov. Steve Sisolak and three of the valley’s incumbent U.S. representatives, but low voter turnout, especially among rank-and-file workers, may tip the scales in the GOP’s favor.

Voter turnout during the June primaries were down about 4 percent from the 2020 primaries, according to secretary of state figures. This year, 469,209 of the state’s 1.8 million registered voters cast a ballot, compared to 481,172 who voted in 2020, when the state had 1.6 million on its voter rolls.

And among Democrats, only 135,296 voted in the primary, about 18% of the party’s registered voter base. But given how close some of the races are here, turnout in the midterms could set a record, UNLV political science professor David Damore told the Sun in June.

It’s likely many liberals didn’t participate in the primaries because the slate featured mostly high-profile incumbents, Damore said.

In an email last week, Damore said the “union vote,” however, shouldn’t be confused for a monolith. Just recently, the Nevada Police Union and the Clark County Educators Association declined not to endorse Sisolak, another pro-union Democrat who’s been endorsed by many of the same groups Cortez Masto and others have.

There are also police unions, which have largely endorsed Republican candidates. Some of the largest police unions in the state and country have endorsed GOP gubernatorial contender Joe Lombardo and Senate challenger Adam Laxalt.

“Food prices, gas prices, keeping the work in Nevada for Nevadans,” are all issues that have been top-of-mind for Chris Tolson, the assistant director of training at the Southern Nevada Operating Engineers joint training academy. He and his fellow laborers met with Cortez Masto earlier this month when she toured the newly-completed North Las Vegas training center.

“We support everybody that supports us,” he said, adding that Cortez Masto has his vote. “And she supports the working people. She has a background in which she comes from a union family. So that speaks volumes to us.”

There, she spoke with many of the union’s rank-and-file outside a practice worksite, where apprentices can learn to operate heavy machinery. Most of them asked how she would address rising gas and food prices, but also how she would help address declining water levels in Lake Mead.

The senator touted her votes that helped Nevada secure millions in federal monies that came from COVID-19 relief packages, as well as the American Rescue Plan and bipartisan infrastructure act. Part of that is bringing trade programs back into public schools, she told the Sun.

“I went through the public school system here and I remember shop classes, I remember giving those options to students,” Cortez Masto said. “We don’t have those classes anymore in public school. So there’s a whole group of our younger generation that is missing out on this opportunity.”

Cortez Masto’s father, who for years was chief of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, was also a member in Teamsters for many years, meaning securing the union vote, and energizing them to the polls, is a personal matter for her.

“Not only do they build our community, but for many, they are the first person some of our incredible tourists that we want to bring into this community see,” she said. “And so I do think it is important that at the end of the day, we’re supporting the men and women in our organized labor.”

Damore noted many labor groups still have great success in getting its members to canvas and phone bank for politicians they endorse. Ahead of the start of Nevada’s open voting period, which began Saturday, Culinary members launched what it claimed to be the largest get out to vote program the state has seen.

The union reported Monday that canvassers had surpassed its previous record by knocking on over 650,000 doors so far and were on track to hit a million doors by Election Day, Nov. 8. In the 2020 cycle, canvassers knocked on 650,00 doors by Election Day.

Culinary continues to run the largest political statewide program in Nevada for the 2022 midterms. Statewide, 400 Culinary Union canvassers have knocked on more than 650,000 doors and had over 113,000 conversations. The political team is knocking on the doors of more than half of Black and Latinx voters and more than a third of the AAPI voters. The average Culinary Union canvasser knocks on 60+ doors during their shift, with the entire team knocking on 16,400+ doors in Las Vegas and Reno everyday, 7 days a week. Canvassers are on track to knock on 1 million doors in Reno and Las Vegas.

Hospitality workers with the union are on a political leave-of-absence to canvass statewide and talk to voters about Democrats Sisolak, Cortez Masto, Congressional Reps. Dina Titus, Steven Horsford and Susie Lee, Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom and North Las Vegas mayoral candidate Pat Spearman.

“We are proud to get out the vote for political leaders who will continue to fight to protect working families,” said Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer for the Culinary Union.

Still, pinning down the electorate, especially in Southern Nevada can be difficult because of the transient nature of the populous, Damore said.

“That canvassing energy is one of the contours of the Nevada electorate that differs from the other Sun Belt swing states, Damore said. “At the same time, not all unions are created equal. Obviously, Culinary has the track record of delivering not just its members to the polls but through its canvassing efforts, voters who might not (otherwise) turn out.”