For many Americans, Las Vegas is a mirage of glittering hotels and seedy wedding venues that rises impossibly out of the Mojave Desert.
Americans who live in Las Vegas know that Las Vegas is a middle-class destination, where valets and cocktail waitresses become the owners of the homes. Immigrants who come with nothing build thriving businesses. Workers without college degrees are empowered by strong unions and accumulate substantial wealth.
But recently, Las Vegas, like much of the United States, has experienced rising prices. Housing costs are rising. People are moving to Nevada from California and other expensive states, pushing home prices even higher. Although Las Vegas rents have fallen slightly over the past year, they are still about 35% higher than they were in pre-pandemic December 2019, according to Zillow data.
On a recent morning outside a community center on the northwest side of town, Carl Singleton, 71, and his brother power-walked around a truck in the bright Nevada sun, walking through the streets of what was once a town. He entertained me with stories about how things were going. Born in rural Louisiana, Mr. Singleton arrived in Las Vegas in 1974 and began working as a porter at the Mint Hotel, now known as Binion’s Gambling Hall and Hotel, earning about $26 to $28 a day. there was. About a year later, he bought the house for $22,500, he said.
Right now, voters across Las Vegas say they are struggling to maintain a middle-class lifestyle. Most have harsh views of the Republican Party and do not want Donald Trump to return to the White House. But they also say they are beginning to wonder if politicians in Washington are too out of touch to fight on their behalf.
Democrats have performed well in the state in recent years, but their victories are often narrow. The party may have an even harder time keeping its coalition of voters motivated this year.
“Las Vegas is a blue-collar city that doesn’t know it’s blue-collar. It used to be that you could make a lot of money as a valet, a cocktail waitress, a game bartender. That’s changed.” Jen Evans, 49, told me. She does not support Trump, voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and is considering sheltering in place for her in November. “I don’t know if the Democratic Party stands for what I thought it stood for,” Evans said.
Part of the problem may be a lack of belief that the outcome of the presidential election will affect issues that are important to them. Around Las Vegas, my questions about Nevadans’ views on race elicited looks, indifference, or frustration about persistent problems like high prices and gun violence.
At Shanghai Plaza, a downtown shopping mall, Christine Nguyen, 26, said she voted for Biden in 2020 but doubted whether she would vote this November. “It doesn’t make sense,” she said. “It doesn’t seem to make a difference.”
Some felt let down by politics. Shawna Rodriguez, 42, a dental assistant and mother of seven, seemed to earn too much to qualify for government assistance even when she was a single mother, but she always said there was not enough to pay the bills. This experience of hers left her dissatisfied with the political system. “No matter who I voted for, I didn’t get any help,” she said, who stopped voting for her several years ago.
At the Mirabelli Community Center on the city’s west side, several people attended a recent bipartisan voter education forum hosted by the city clerk’s office, the Las Vegas NAACP chapter, historic black fraternal organizations and others. “This is the most important election of our lifetimes,” City Clerk’s Office employee Lance Downs Covington told the audience. A few voters stared blankly back at him.
Democratic campaign veterans say the state has always been one of the hardest and most expensive to win. Nevadans tend to be younger and more transient than residents of other battleground states. Las Vegas has a lot of first-time voters to convince, but there’s also a small coalition of reliable voters. Party affiliation is weak, with more independent voters in Nevada than registered Democrats or Republicans. We don’t have a strong political culture like Iowa or New Hampshire.
The exception in Las Vegas is union voters. Approximately 146,000 workers in Nevada, or about 11%, are unionized, and ties with Mr. Biden are strong. Culinary Workers Union Local 226, the state’s largest and most powerful union, negotiated a new contract with hotel and casino operators late last year that included significant raises for nearly all of its 60,000 members.
This made the mood of union members more bullish. Carlos Padilla, a veteran pastry chef at the Treasure Island hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, walked out of a recent event and expressed his enthusiasm. “Easy. I’m voting for Biden,” Padilla said. “He’s the most pro-union president I’ve ever had. He cares.”
The real coup for Democrats is whether they can harness this energy to convince other workers that Biden has their interests in mind. The campaigns local culinary workers are planning for Democrats this year, as well as the hard work they did in 2020 and 2022, are needed now more than ever.
Biden campaign officials said they know what it will take to win this difficult state. They said the campaign has already made a seven-figure investment in paid media, including several Spanish-language TV ads. During the campaign, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats began pushing for White House measures that would directly benefit Nevadans. It includes a $35 monthly cap on insulin for people with diabetes, a measure that campaigners say will reduce costs for more than 500,000 Medicare seniors in Nevada. At a recent campaign event with Harris, a hand went up when the vice president asked if anyone in the crowd knew someone with diabetes.
Campaign officials are further discussing how the state has benefited since Biden took office. They said 285,000 jobs were created. Over $3.3 billion in infrastructure improvements realized. And more than 7,000 residents had their student loans canceled. During a stop in Las Vegas on Sunday, Biden said he recognizes that many Americans are having difficulties despite these measures. “I know, I know, we still have a lot of work to do,” Biden told voters. “Not everyone is feeling the benefits of our investments and progress yet.”
However, economic issues may not be decisive for all voters. Geneses Diaz, 27, a master’s student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said rising costs have prompted her mother to consider re-employment. “It’s hard to see them pinching pennies,” she said of her parents. But she plans to vote for Biden anyway. “The biggest issue for me isn’t really the economy. Really the biggest issue is that Trump has been such a disaster for our country,” she said.
Life in Las Vegas is becoming increasingly difficult. If that happens, the Democratic Party may have to work twice to attract voters who are reluctant to vote.
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