The NPR Politics Podcast - In Nevada, Cost Of Living And Immigration Are Key Issues

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

Democrats have prevailed in recent presidential elections in the state, in part thanks to a robust union voter mobilization effort. But the state, where Republicans control the governor's mansion, is absolutely purple — and this year's presidential race looks particularly close.This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, campaign correspondent Franco Ordoñez, and KUNR reporter Lucia Starbuck.The podcast is produced by Jeongyoon Han, Casey Morell and Kelli Wessinger. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University performs breakthrough research every year, making discoveries that improve human health, combat climate change, and move society forward. More at iu.edu slash forward. Hi, this is James Edward Mills, the official photographer of the 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas tree, and I'm on the island of Ketchikan, Alaska in the Tongass National Forest. This year the people's tree is a beautiful 81 foot Siska spruce. This podcast was recorded at 106pm on Wednesday, October 30 2024. Things may have changed by the time you hear this. But I'll be making my way across the country to deliver my 10th Capitol

Christmas tree to the US Capitol building in Washington DC. Here's the show. I love it. I feel like summer's finally over. We're talking about Christmas already. There's something kind of tragic about that time, so it's very nice, but as a Florida boy, I'm a little sad. I'm not going to lie about it. Oh, I'm ready for fall. I'm ready for winter. Hey there. It's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Miles Parks. I cover voting. I'm Frank Ordonez. I cover the campaign.

And Lucia Starbuck from Member Station KUNR in Reno is here with us as well. Hey, Lucia. Hey, thanks for having me. I cover Swing State, Nevada. I know. We are so excited to have you to talk about Swing State, Nevada. It is the smallest of the swing states by electoral votes, but not by geography or influence. So we are giving Nevada its due today on the podcast. And I guess I'm hoping you can start by big picture explaining the demographics of the state. It is a fascinating state, as you know, as somebody who covers it. Can you tell us a little bit about kind of what the demographics of the state is a fascinating state, as you know, as somebody

who covers it. Can you tell us a little bit about kind of what the demographics of the state and the electorate look like? Yeah, more than a quarter of Nevada are made up of Latino residents. We also have 10% of residents are Asian Americans and African Americans. And then it's also very native centric. There are 28 indigenous tribes in Nevada, also a large group of naturalized citizens. So there are so many different groups of voters that can really have large influences in the election. And there's a big group of unaffiliated voters, right?

To people who kind of don't identify with one of the two major parties. Yes, there are more people registered as nonpartisan than there are Democrats and Republicans. So lots of people to fight over. Yes. Are there big differences in terms of the state, like I mentioned, in this giant state? I imagine that some of those differences

show up when you look at the geography, too. Yeah, you can kind of think of Nevada in a couple different ways. So there's a little over 3 million people here. A majority of that, over two million people, live in southern Nevada in the Las Vegas area. If you take a seven hour drive up north to Reno Sparks where I am,

there's about half a million people here, and then the rest of the state is very rural. Just adding to that, you know, I spent a lot of time in Clark County, the largest county, which is where Las Vegas is. What's so interesting to me is just kind of how it is kind of a mirror of the demographics of the country. It's very diverse, big Latino community,

big Asian American community. Also just a huge working class town. So many people working in the casinos and the hospitality industry. And I think that's one of the reasons why there's so much interest from both parties, but particularly Trump and the Republicans trying to kind of tap into that working-class Group that you know Trump has really been put at the heart of his campaign

Yeah, and a little bit outside of Las Vegas you have it's a little bit of a more diverse economy You have gold and silver mining. The beginning of the lithium boom is really taking place in Nevada. Several lithium mines have been approved, but also a lot of warehouse jobs. One of Tesla's gigafactories is here making electric batteries. So a little bit more diverse outside of Las Vegas, but yeah, the state is very dependent on entertainment and tourism that comes out of Clark County and Las Vegas. Well, Republicans have not won the state at the presidential level since 2004, but do you get the sense, Lucia, that they are more hopeful this time around?

They're definitely more hopeful and that's because early voting has already started and Republicans are in the lead. More Republicans have turned in those ballots. This is kind of the first time we've really seen the Republican Party and the Trump campaign telling their base to vote early. I was at a JD Vance rally this summer and he was already telling people in the crowd to vote early. I mean, it was early voting hadn't even taken place yet. Ballots hadn't even been sent yet.

So the Republicans have a lead and Trump is really capitalizing on that. It's telling people that he's going to win Nevada. But I do try to push that push back on that we are still very purple if you look at last election, Nevada Re-elected it's one of its Democratic senators and then kicked out its Democratic incumbent governor and elected a Republican governor So you see people split the ticket? I think the you know the kind of the economic situation in the state particularly again in Clark Clark County, is kind of ripe for Republicans, especially Trump's message. I mean, the state was hit so hard by COVID, you know, the Vegas Strip shut down for a few months. Of course, you know, the rate has come way down, but it's still one of the higher unemployment rates in the country. So the economy is just a huge issue for Nevadans and people in Las Vegas across the state.

And I mean, there's really, it's a reason why Trump went to Las Vegas to unveil his plan on eliminating taxes on tips, because it is a pitch that works with this community because again, of so many people who are in the casino and hospitality industry. Yeah, cost of living is something that I hear from all voters all over the political spectrum. Nevadans are really struggling, they tell me, to pay for basic things and yeah I think that's definitely something you've seen Trump talk about when he comes to Nevada. You know, if your life has has gone downhill in the last four years, vote for me. When JD Vance was here the first time,

he said, send your gas bill to Harris. It's a huge issue for Nevada voters. Well, Franco, one of the big reasons that Democrats have been so successful over the last couple of decades in Nevada is the culinary union. The membership in the union is tens of thousands of people, and they have been really successful at mobilizing those people to

Impact political results. Is that still the case here in 2024? Absolutely. I mean, it's kind of like the Democrats not so secret weapon in Nevada Hundreds of thousands of doors are knocked on by union workers. These union workers actually Take off from work. The union pays their salary, and they just go six days a week, knocking on doors full-time every day, speaking out, mostly going to other union workers to kind of get them to get out the vote.

It is a huge advantage for Harris. It's a huge advantage for the Democrats, and it's been a big reason. They've, they've been able to, you know, to keep the state purple, frankly. Well, Lucia, how have the candidates been viewing Nevada? Have they been making visits this year or are they expecting to make visits leading up to election day? Oh, my goodness.

Yes. For me, the election started like in 2023. It feels like. Yeah, especially as the election gets closer. I mean, we have seen just about everyone come through town for from the Democrats. We've seen second gentleman, Doug Emhoff a couple of times. We've seen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz a couple of times, Jill Biden a couple of times, actors and actresses. And same thing for the Republicans. We've had Trump and JD Vance several times.

A big one is Harris and Trump will both be on Nevada on Halloween one day before early voting officially ends. And it's a really big deal actually for Northern Nevada because Harris hasn't been here since April of 2023 when she was vice president. She was talking about access to reproductive healthcare. So this will be her first time this election cycle coming to Rena, which is a really big deal.

Okay, let's leave it there for a second. We're going to take a quick break and more on Nevada when we get back. This message comes from Wyse, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the Wyse app today or visit Wyse.com, T's and C's apply. Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else.

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get your podcasts. And we're back. And I want to talk about the Senate race there in Nevada, Lucia. Incumbent Senator Jackie Rosen had been seen as kind of one of the potentially vulnerable Democrats running for reelection this cycle. And I'm wondering if you can just tell us what the state of the race is Democrats running for re-election this cycle. And I'm wondering if you can just tell us what the state of the race is and who she's running against. Yeah, that's another tight race.

She is Nevada's Democratic incumbent senator. Her big issues are, you know, pro-union, pro-access to reproductive health care. She's received endorsements from Republican mayors like the rural Ely mayor and the Sparks mayor are both saying that she is able to get things done. She is running against US retired army captain Sam Brown. He has really tied his campaign to the Trump campaign. He is pro closing the border. What makes it really interesting is something that really matters to Nevadans is how long you've been in Nevada or how Nevadan you are or how up to date you are on Nevada issues. So this

is Sam Brown's second time running for US Senate in Nevada, but before that he ran for office in Texas. That's a really big sticking point to people of how Nevadan you are. Another thing that's playing out is access to abortion. You've kind of seen since Roe v. Wade was overturned, while Republicans say, you know, I'm personally anti-abortion, they know that it's, you know, it's not super popular to be very anti-abortion in Nevada. In 1990, voters voted to make abortion legal under state law up to 24 weeks that passed. So a lot of Republicans are kind of leaning on, well it's state law and I'm not going to do anything to change that. The voters have already decided. You've seen Brown's

wife go on national media talking about getting an abortion in her 20s and having Sam Brown support. So that's been a really interesting issue to see play out in the US Senate race. Wow. And you mentioned a second ago, immigration has come up a lot in that race as well. And I am curious about how that issue plays in Nevada. I'm always curious to hear about the different ways people kind of perceive the issue of immigration, considering Nevada has such a large Latino population.

How does the immigration come up politically there? What I get from voters is this kind of consensus that they want to see immigration streamlined. They want to see the process fixed. That's kind of what I hear from a lot of people, but people are still very divided on the issue. You have, you know, many Republicans saying close the border. And yeah, as you mentioned, a large immigrant population in Nevada, Latina population in Nevada, and also just divided on this issue and how the candidates are talking about it. I interviewed Paola Loup. She's an immigrant from Argentina, is going to vote

for Trump for the third time this election. And her big thing is that she says she immigrated the right way. If you're having a hard time in your country, and we as a country are able to provide some help, by all means, go for it. But when we don't even know who's crossing the border, it's a slap in the face to all of us who did it the right way. And it is a slap in the face to the citizens that were here before. I think that is so interesting.

I'm always interested to hear kind of how the Latino community does take in all of this messaging that's coming at them from mostly from Republican candidates. Franco, have you, what has your reporting shown about kind of the differences across this kind of very broad demographic? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I feel sometimes like a broken record, but you know, I say it over and over that Latinos are not a monolith and hearing from her, I think, speaks to that very well. I mean, there's a very big difference between an Argentinian who came maybe a few decades ago

versus a recent immigrant from Central America. A lot depends on, were you born in the United States or not, Education, income. There's so many different backgrounds of Latinos that kind of shape how they vote politically. And one big one, and one that, you know, in Nevada that the Trump campaign is focusing on is, you know, second generation Americans,

people who, you know, we're talking about Latinos whose parents or grandparents moved in and there's a large group of them in Nevada and across the United States. And, you know, they have voting records that are more similar to every other American. So I think this is something that Republicans have kind of see and see an opportunity here,

but it is just speaks to how, you know, Latinos vote in very different ways. And you know, with the border is not, you know, it's not just on immigration. Yeah, as Franco mentioned, some Latino families have been in Nevada for generations. Some Latinos are also just completely disgusted by some of the comments coming from Trump's campaign. I spoke to Daniel Corona. He's the former mayor of rural West Windover, which is near the Nevada-Utah border. He's now working for the Harris campaign.

And I talked to him shortly after Trump initially pledged to do mass deportations. He's just said Trump is using Latinos as the boogeyman and he's really worried about Trump's rhetoric increasing bullying, hate, racism and he's worried about his nieces and nephews and how Latinos will be treated in the country. So yeah, immigration is definitely playing out in Nevada, just kind of the whole spectrum of where people stand. All right, well let's leave it there for now. Lucia Starbuck, thank you so much for joining us from KUNR Reno. Thank you so much for having me. Always a pleasure to talk Nevada politics. Yeah, we'll talk again soon. I'm Miles Parks. I cover voting.

I'm Franco Ordonez. I cover the campaign. And thank you for listening to the MPR Politics Podcast. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit wise.com, T's and C's apply. Support for this podcast and the following message come from Dignity Memorial. When your celebration of life is prepaid today, your family is protected tomorrow. Planning ahead is truly one of the best gifts you can give your family.

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