Voter Turnout Will Determine The Fate of Democracy

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Freedom and democracy stand in the balance. Union workers could well be the difference in a Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz November election victory.

This year, Nevada is one of seven battleground states that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election and control of Congress. Since 2008, Nevadans have voted Democrat for president but by razor thin margins. Both U.S. senators and three of four Nevadans in the U.S. House of Representatives are Democrats; all women. 

The AFL-CIO — and the affiliated federation of unions — have pledged millions of dollars nationally via donations, phone banks and door knocking to support Harris and Walz and down-ballot Democrats. Grassroots organizing paved the way for the recent victories. The Nevada AFL-CIO State Labor Council have mobilized its 120 union locals and 150,000 diverse members in building, construction and service trades, public worker sectors and more. Numerous other groups, such as Seed The Vote, Indivisible, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) and the Third Act are spearheading voter turnout. 

The politically powerful Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers, — the largest Latinx/ Black/Asian American Pacific Islander/ immigrant organization in the state — is turning out an army of precinct volunteers in support of Harris and Walz and down-ballot races. 

Union President Peter Finn, speaking for 300,000 Joint Council 7 & 42 West Coast members, includingNevada Teamsters, has endorsed Harris, Walz for president and to re-elect Sen. Jacky Rosen. As truck drivers, rail workers and freight handlers, their working class credentials and votes hold importance. Finn says we “refuse to be divided by extremist political forces or greedy corporations that want to see us fail.” 

At the Sept. 10th presidential debate, one question posed to Harris and former President Donald Trump squarely placed the strength of the economy as the centerpiece of the election. Voters’ pocketbooks have traditionally played a huge role in the outcome of presidential elections. In 1992, Bill Clinton’s campaign captured this sentiment with the famous quip, “It’s the economy stupid.” Recently, housing costs have had a significant economic impact as fewer people can afford a house or pay the increased rental costs.  

A Las Vegas Review-Journal article reinforces the argument that housing is a top issue in Nevada, and nationally. It blames the 2008-2009 financial crash, the COVID pandemic, and corporate investors who have purchased many of the available houses and turned them into exorbitantly high cost rental units. Harris has shown an understanding of the issue’s severity and proposed a detailed remedy. 

Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), chair of the Democratic Black Caucus and co-chair of House Labor Caucus, blasted the corporate investors’ takeover of the housing and rental markets, and last year sponsored a bill to cap predatory investor home renting and selling practices. 

Biden and Harris pledged hundreds of millions of dollars for affordable housing initiatives. Early on, they signed the Build Back Better and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs acts that include rental assistance for Nevadians. Horsford says that the acts “create millions of good paying union jobs, cut taxes for most Nevada families that have children, and lower the costs of essentials like housing, health and child care.”

The infrastructure law earmarks $3.5 billion for Nevada including more than 275 projects for roads, bridges, public transit and airports. This includes funding for Harry Reid International Airport, the high-speed rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas, electric vehicle charging, cost-free high-speed internet, and amelioration of the Lake Mead and Las Vegas Wash drought conditions.

Biden and Harris passed the Inflation Reduction Act that confronts the climate crises by expanding tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles that will reduce the need for oil and other fossil fuels. Its goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. More than 100 million people face extreme heat, forest fires and violent storms. Coastal communities are predicted to experience a 10–12-inch rise above sea level. The law provides $52.7 billion for semiconductor research, workforce development, domestic manufacturing, and creation of zero emission technologies.  Nevada is well situated with an abundance of lithium, copper, magnesium, barium, and vanadium that are non fossil fuels and “critical” to meet the goals of the Inflation Reduction Act, and a greener future. This has the potential to create whole new industries and jobs.

The problem for Biden and now Harris is whether the benefits of the legislation will come in time to influence voters in November. The law “has undoubtedly been a boon 

for Nevada, bringing in unprecedented federal dollars, spurring private investment and creating jobs. But, the gap between its passage and tangible results could be its undoing. If they win in November, Republicans have threatened to revoke many of the law’s provisions, halting progress before it even begins.

Rob Benner, secretary-treasurer of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada, says the union has already secured a project labor agreement to do construction.  “We have all these burgeoning industries getting ready to just take off and totally transform Nevada … That could all stop and then we are back to square one…” Experts and industry watchers say a perfect storm of factors makes Nevada poised to capitalize on the laws. Nearly 250,000 clean-energy jobs have been announced in Nevada since the laws’ passage.

Harris and her allies must convince the public that, while voters have a right to feel anxious about the delays, given Republicans threats to revoke the legislation, her election is the only way that they will likely see significant job increases and lower energy prices.

Republicans are well financed. Megadonor, Miriam Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is the lead financier of a spending group backing Trump. She plans to do whatever it takes to help him win. Her family gave $218 million (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republican-mega-donor-adelson-back-major-pro-trump-spending-group-2024-05-30/) in the 2020 election cycle and is expected to give similar amounts this year— all to Republicans and conservative groups.

At the Republican National Convention (RNC), Trump said he supported unions.  His pitch, in the 900-pageProject 2025, developed by 140 former staff and associates of his administration, flies in the face of pro-worker and green economy policies for running the country. As Michelle Maese, president of the Southern Nevada SEIU Local 1107, a public employees union says, “Their goal isn’t to fix our government or our country. It’s to break it even more … “It would be an absolute disaster.”

With the nomination of Harris and Walz, Democrats have the momentum.  Democrats accuse Republicans of having presented no substantive policies but to base their campaign on hate, fear, lies, gross exaggerations, and past grievances.  Commentators report that Republicans appear to be on the defensive and that blunders have damaged their campaign.  They believe that crowds at his rallies are down.  Plus, questions exist about whether his ticket has the energy, character and mental stability to lead the county, and the free world.

Biden and Harris have made major efforts to prove their labor bonafides. They walked picket lines, backed labor legislation and appointed strong worker advocates to the National Labor Relations Board. Biden has been called the most pro-union president in history. Harris has visited Nevada at least eight times.  Unions, Democrats and progressives have the power and unity to win.

On the first night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), Democrats showcased leaders of unions and their allies amidst deafening chants of “Union Yes” and “We Are Not Going Back.” The crowd exploded in response to Harris’ acceptance speech. She called out to go forward with strength, empathy, joy, and unity.  Former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama wrapped up day two of the DNC with the admonition that we have to spend all our energy fighting for democracy. In support, the unions have near unanimity on who is on their side. With that thought in mind, convention attendees took up the chant: “When We Fight, We Win!” Labor will be a big part of that fight.

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