Harris energizes voters in Nevada, but the state is still up for grabs

LAS VEGAS — Democratic volunteers bustled in and out of a crowded room with a buzz of excitement last week, swapping their Biden-Harris signs for ones that read “Harris for President.” The campaign’s southwest Las Vegas office was reopening, just days after an embattled President Biden dropped out of the race to an outpouring of enthusiasm for the vice president.

“It’s good to finally see this place full again,” one volunteer said, holding her new “Stop Trump” sign as she tried and failed to find a seat.

Democrats here hope that “Kamala-mentum,” as the internet has dubbed it, has changed the 2024 presidential race so much that they will be able to hold on to swing states like this one, which recently seemed to be slipping from their grasp as prospective voters dismayed with Biden’s handling of the economy looked to Donald Trump.

Though Nevada has not voted for a Republican president since 2004, Biden’s support among Latino and young voters had been ebbing here, according to a June Fox News poll. That poll and others found Trump with small leads over Biden. But in this young, diverse swing state, Democrats hope that Harris may appeal to voters who felt unrepresented by two elderly White male candidates.

“I’m hearing a lot of newfound excitement,” said Maria Nieto Orta, 24, president of the Young Democrats of Nevada. “I think that is really coming from the vice president not only being a woman, but a woman of color and being younger. I think we really resonate with that a lot.”

More than 3,000 Nevadans have signed up to volunteer for Harris since she became the likely nominee. Nationally, the campaign has raised $200 million and recruited over 170,000 new volunteers, according to an internal campaign memo seen by The Washington Post.

Harris campaign staff are delighted by the infusion of energy and hope that the vice president’s outspoken stance on abortion rights also could help swing female suburban voters who might have otherwise voted for Trump. But Harris aides here acknowledge they have a big task ahead translating that enthusiasm into votes.

The Post interviewed more than two dozen voters in Las Vegas and found that, though their politics were split, almost all wanted to see a major change in November. Votes are still up for grabs across Vegas, a heavily working class city grappling with what people here describe as deep economic problems: an unemployment rate that is still among the highest in the country, rising housing costs and some of the highest gas prices in the nation.

Political operatives on both sides of the aisle believe the presidential race in Nevada will be close, and although some polls have shown Democrats regaining ground among young people and Latinos, they also continue to suggest that Harris is widely unpopular.

Nevada operatives point to nonpartisan voters — independents who have chosen not to tie themselves to any party and who represent a bigger portion of the electorate than either party — as key targets.

“This nonpartisan group is very diverse and young,” said Sondra Cosgrove, a professor at the College of Southern Nevada and executive director of the civic engagement nonprofit Vote Nevada. “So any party that reaches out to them and really listens to their issues could benefit in a big way.”

The Harris campaign has made a concerted effort to piggyback on the vice president becoming the Gen Z meme sensation of the month. She launched a TikTok account last week and embraced “Brat” summer in a bid to engage younger voters.

“She has literally been trending on Twitter for the past five days and to me that is so insane,” Nieto Orta said. “Even my nonpolitical friends are sending me these tweets and TikToks.”

A lot of people her age simply feel that it would be “really cool” to say that they voted for the first female president, she added. “I feel like the excitement that was felt for Obama back in 2008 is being felt for the vice president in our generation now.”

While there is palpable enthusiasm from younger voters online, some said that they still feel “deeply let down” by the Democrats.

For Ashley Hart, 26, who spoke to The Post while having drinks with her sister in downtown Las Vegas, Biden abandoning the ticket has given her “a little bit of hope” that Democrats might win, “but not enough.”

Hart sees a growing sense of anger over the political system as a whole, particularly among younger voters.

“This year it feels like it’s becoming more of a statement to not vote,” which she hears around her a lot — she said, before acknowledging that she does feel as though Gen Z may turn out to vote more strongly for Harris than they would have for Biden.

The meme-ization of the vice president feels “silly” to those in Hart’s friendship group, which she says care more about the policies on the table, but does seem like “smart marketing” to get younger people to the ballot.

Others, including 21-year-old Jaden Allen, said that they would rather vote for an independent than Harris, despite not wanting another Trump term. “Who wants a meme of a president?” he asked. “We need someone who is less hated if we want to beat him.”

Vegas’s reliance on tourism gutted its economy during covid, and the city was particularly slow to bounce back. Though the economy is growing again, some working people here say they are still not feeling the effects. Unemployment here is half of what it was when Biden took office, but Nevada is still tied with California for the second-highest unemployment rate in the country.

Inflation has also hit voters here hard. Packing away her groceries in a Costco parking lot under 108-degree heat, Raeshawn Gaines bemoaned the state of the economy. Her bimonthly shop was $200 more than last time, and her utility bills have risen “astronomically,” she said. This month Las Vegas saw a seven-day streak in which it broke its record for highest daily temperatures. “I’ve even had someone out to check the AC unit to see if that’s why it’s costing more — even though I leave it at 78 year around — but it’s not that,” she said. As a voter who says she has always prioritized issues of the day over loyalty to one party, she represents a key target for Republican campaigners who blame Biden for the state’s economic problems.

Though Gaines had been leaning toward not voting for Biden, she now firmly believes that come November she will vote for Harris.

“Just for the historical win,” she said. “For a face that looks like mine to be in the White House. For someone that understands what I go through as a woman. I would definitely vote for her,” said Gaines, who is Black.

In interviews, several Nevada voters who are considering Trump cited the state of the economy.

Maria Rubi, 52, said she voted for Biden in 2020. But as she tries to grapple with what she describes as ever increasing prices for her desserts business, her choice in this election is clear: “I want Trump,” she said as she left a supermarket in the Las Vegas suburbs. “Things were supposed to be good under Biden, but no. Everything is always going up.”

Sam Brown, the GOP nominee to face incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen in November, has argued that the Biden-for-Harris swap makes no difference in his race, which could determine which party controls the Senate.

“It doesn’t matter who the Democrats put at the top of the ticket — the truth is that their radical, destructive policies put them completely out of touch with Nevadans, and Americans around the country,” he posted on social media this week.

But some Republican voters may be more motivated to vote against Harris than they were to turn out against Biden.

Harris is a bigger threat to the future of the country than Biden, according to Chris Rumar, 87, a lifelong Republican. “She believes in everything that would ruin this country,” she said, without elaborating, as she shopped in Spring Valley. “More so than Biden. I at least had some sympathy for him,” she said, “and he put us in inflation.”

In a state that can be swung with just a few thousand votes, Nevada’s Culinary Union — 60,000 people strong — is a political powerhouse. Come September, when the union’s organizers start their door-knocking campaign, they hope to be able to harness the new energy behind Harris to draw nonpartisan voters to the polls.

Biden’s decision to abandon the race was “unsettling” for the union, said Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer.

But Harris “is dynamic,” he added. “She just is. Nobody can deny that.”

For the Democrats to win, particularly in Las Vegas, they must stay focused on a strong economic message — one that offers answers to the housing crisis embroiling the city, Pappageorge argued.

“She has got to stay very tough on this economic message that she is going to be the ‘Housing President,’ the president that is going to make sure that people can afford their rents and they can afford to own their own homes,” he said.

Cosgrove, the College of Southern Nevada professor, said that housing is one of the main issues her students bring up.

While the two parties trade attacks on the economy, abortion and immigration, her students ask: “Who is talking about the fact that my rent keeps going up? Why can’t I get a lease that is longer than six months?”

Most polls have shown that Latino voters in particular, who make up 20 percent of the electorate in Nevada, are still making up their minds.

Housing “is not one of those pressure point ‘be angry or be afraid’ type issues,” Cosgrove said of the parties battling for votes. “They need to come in with something concrete.”