Saturday, March 9, 2024 | 4:38 p.m.
Vice President Kamala Harris zeroed in on economic issues during a campaign event in North Las Vegas Saturday, hoping to ignite a Latino voter base that is slipping in its support for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, according to recent polls.
The campaign’s focus on Latino voters in Nevada comes as recent polls show almost 44% of Latino voters favor former President Donald Trump over Biden, according to a poll from Emerson College. Just over 41% favor Biden.
It’s a noticeable shift from the 61% of Latino voters in Nevada that chose Biden in the 2020 presidential election, according to a CNN exit poll. Almost 19% of registered voters in Nevada identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
Most of the speakers during the event at Mojave High School criticized several of Trump’s policies, chief among them his handling of the southern border. “We can secure our border and also fix a broken immigration system,” Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said during the event.
Harris called Trump’s border policy “cruel and ineffective” and lambasted him for trying to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
“It is clear we want to fix this problem, but the former president wants to run on it, because he ain’t got nothing else to run on,” the vice president said.
Maria Teresa Kumar, co-founder and president of advocacy group Voto Latino, announced the organization’s endorsement of Biden — just the second time they’ve backed someone for president in their 20-year existence, she said. They also backed Biden in 2020 over Trump.
The group plans to invest $44 million in Democrat campaigns ahead of the November general election.
Kumar said Biden’s policies reflect a care for a “multicultural America,” something she said former president Donald Trump “is afraid of.”
Iraq war veteran Jessica Vargas spoke about her experience with toxins from burn pits during her service, and the Biden Administration’s efforts to assist her and others with healthcare through the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act.
The PACT Act, which was expanded Tuesday, allows veterans to receive health care for the effects of exposure to hazardous materials during their service.
Harris expressed support for codifying abortion access to law, repeating a promise President Biden made during his State of the Union address that if Congress passed such a law, he would sign it.
Laura Campbell, director of actions for local advocacy group Nevada NOW, spoke about abortion access, sharing her personal experiences with her abortion and miscarriage. Campbell previously met with first lady Jill Biden after her campaign event here March 2.
