Las Vegas first-term Democratic candidate for election Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada teamed up with rank-and-file members of the state’s powerful Culinary Union, which represents casino, hotel and restaurant workers in Sin City and Reno.
“It was wonderful to join hundreds of @Culinary226 workers at @MandalayBay this morning. On Tuesday, the senator tweeted that he would always be there for them.
Cortez Masto will need all the support she can get from the politically powerful Culinary Union as she faces a very challenging re-election against Republican nominee Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general – he succeeded Cortez Masto as the state’s top prosecutor – who’s the grandson of former senator and governor Paul Laxalt.
Nevada’s Senate race is one of a handful across the country in the November midterms that may determine whether the GOP wins back the chamber’s majority. Laxalt is currently ahead by 1.7 points in public opinion polls of western battleground states, according to Real Clear Politics. There are three weeks before Election Day. Senate Republicans consider Cortez Masto the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent looking for another term.
THESE SLEEPERSENATE RACES CAN DETERMINE WHETHER PARTY CONTROLS MAJOORITY
Adam Laxalt is an ex-attorneygeneral who ran for Nevada’s representation in the U.S. Senate.
(Adam Laxalt campaign)
But it’s not just the Senate race.
First-term Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak trails slightly Republican nominee for governorIn an average of the most recent surveys, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo was ranked second. And Democratic Reps. Dina Titus in Nevada’s 1st Congressional District and Susie Lee in the 3rd District are fighting for their political lives, with Democratic incumbent Steven Horsford in the 4th District also facing a challenging re-election.
THESE 11 SENATE RACE RACES WILL LIKELY DETERMINE WHETHER PARTY CONTROLS MAJOORITY.
Democrats currently control both U.S. Senate seats, three of the four U.S. House seats, the governor’s office and both houses of the state legislature. But facing historical headwinds – the party that wins the White House traditionally suffers major setbacks in the ensuing midterm elections – and a rough political climate fueled by Inflation record, soaring crime and a border crisis, and accentuated by President Biden’s rebounding but still underwater approval ratings, Democrats are playing defense in Nevada, as Republicans aim to paint the Silver State red in November.
“You should look at the problems we face here. The cost of gas. The cost of food. Michael McDonald, Nevada GOP chair, stated that crime is a significant problem in Nevada. “You have to look at school choice. Education’s very big.”
And McDonald noted that every time voters “go to the gas pump to fill up their car, they’re feeling it. Every time they have to buy groceries for the family, they’re feeling it. It’s all commonsense politics right now.”
Joe Lombardo (the Republican nominee for Nevada governor) joins Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Minden, Nevada, on October 8, 2022.
(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Chris Moyer, a veteran Democratic communicator and operative, and an ex-political aide of the late Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid, pointed to the economy.
“Nevada is the hardest hit state when the national economy struggles. Nevada’s ability to rebound from an economic downturn is often slower than other states. Moyer stated that gas prices in Nevada are more expensive than in other areas of the country.
Nevada elections are often a nail-biter. Cortez Massto won the Senate seat with just two points in 2016. Sisolak defeated Laxalt by four votes in the 2018 governor’s election. Biden beat President Donald Trump by two to keep the state in 2020.
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But with the Democrats dominating the state government and federal delegation, Moyer said there’s a misconception that the state is blue. “Nevada has a purple state. Democrats have had success in several elections so it appears more blue than it actually is.
Cortez Massto became the first Latina senator elected in 2018, making history. In 2020, Republicans in Nevada and other key states saw gains among Spanish-speaking voters.
McDonald’s argued that Latino voters are more aligned with the Republican Party because of their “religious and family values”
But the Cortez Masto campaign spotlights that they’ve been reaching out to Latino voters with both English and Spanish language TV ads since March. Democrats claim that the Cortez Massto campaign has done the hard work required to court Latino voters.
And the Culinary Union, which represents a heavy immigrant workforce of some 60,000 strong, “is very much engaged and able to knock on doors in a way they couldn’t two years ago. And that’s going to be a key for success for Democrats up and down the ballot,” Moyer emphasized.
Ted Pappageorge, who heads the Culinary Union, touted on Twitter, “Canvassers have knocked on over 500,000 doors statewide & are on track to knock on more than half of the Black & Latinx voters and more than a third of AAPI voters. Working-class voters need to talk to working class voters.
And the Democrats’ coordinated campaign in the state pointed to their get-out-the-vote operation.
“Nevada Democrats began our outreach efforts sooner than ever before in order to reach voters across the state, and make sure they know that Democrats up and down their ballot are fighting for the rights of hardworking families. NDV is building upon that momentum to mobilize all voters in this crucial midterm elections,” Mallory Payne (Nevada Democratic Victory communications director) told Fox News.
McDonald’s said that many people are moving to Canada because of tough economic times. Many independents are moving to our country. We’ve seen that in the field.”
The election is the first since the passing last December of Reid, who had built a powerful political organization in his home state during his decades in the Senate and his eight years as the chamber’s majority leader. Many are asking whether Reid’s political organization will still be as effective after his death.
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Moyer admitted that he knew that many people were thinking about this angle. But he pointed out that Reid’s “lieutenants are still in place. It’s still well-oiled. It’s gone through some changes but it’s still in place.”
However, Reid is gone and Democrats are facing historical and political headwinds. His machine will face high hurdles Saturday as early in-person voter registration in Nevada begins.
