How Democrats are dominating early voting in Nevada


President Obama talks with Democratic Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto and Senate minority leader Harry Reid after speaking at Cheyenne High school in North Las Vegas.

THE BIG IDEA:

LAS VEGAS—Katy Perry’s glamor, Tom Steyer’s money, Univision’s megaphone and organized labor’s muscle, along with a late assist from Barack Obama, each helped lubricate Harry Reid’s well-oiled political machine over the past 48 hours.

The media tends to focus on the lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton relative to President Obama, which is real, but a few thousand more ballots were cast in Nevada on Saturday -- during the first day of early voting -- than during the kickoff day four years ago, when there was a similar flurry of activity to propel Democrats to the polls. And that was before Air Force One touched down yesterday afternoon.

It is a testament to the power of the organization that Reid, the retiring Senate Minority Leader, has built over three decades, which he is now using to get Clinton and his hand-picked successor, Catherine Cortez Masto, across the finish line.

As much as 60 percent of the vote will be cast before Nov. 8 in the Silver State. Democrats have for several cycles dominated early voting, running up the score so that Republicans struggle to overcome it on Election Day.

Since handily winning the Republican caucuses here in February, Donald Trump has been stronger in Nevada than most other battlegrounds. The race remains tight here, a function of the relatively high percentage of low-income whites without college degrees.

“Let's face it, Nevada is always close,” Obama, who carried the state twice, said during a rally at a high school in North Las Vegas. “Nevada always makes you a little nervous because you don't know what's going to happen. But that's what makes it exciting.”

The bulk of Nevada’s Democratic voters are concentrated in Clark County, which includes Vegas. During a two-week window, the race is on to lock in Clinton’s narrow advantage in the polls by getting as many of her supporters as possible to one of 97 early voting sites. The Reid machine, fully activated, is a sight to behold.

-- Unions play a huge role. Reid kicked off his Saturday with a 9 a.m. speech at the Iron Workers Union in the suburb of Henderson. Cortez Masto joined him. Then she went to the Carpenters Union training center at 10:15 a.m. and the SEIU’s office on Sunset Boulevard a little after noon. A taco truck parked out front served dual purposes: the promise of free lunch built a crowd while trolling the Trump surrogate who warned during a recent cable interview that a Clinton victory would mean a taco truck on every corner. A shuttle bus ferried people to the nearest polling location.




Katy Perry speaks at UNLV

-- A few hours later, pop star Katy Perry drew a diverse, young crowd of 500 to the courtyard in front of the student union at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The 31-year-old didn’t sing, but she did get right to the point. Perry talked about how she likes to procrastinate as much as anyone else, but that’s not okay when it comes to early voting (“Let’s cut the crap. … We’ve all got excuses. Don’t put it off”). She then lamented about how their votes in Nevada matter more than hers does in California. “I’m not just here to see a Cirque show,” she said. “You guys are important!”

Perry wore a blue leather dress, red heels and a white T-shirt that said “Nasty Woman” – which is what Trump called Clinton during their debate right here on the campus of UNLV last Wednesday night. As she spoke about how she’s been campaigning for the Democratic nominee since “the cornfields of Iowa,” a guy in the audience yelled that Clinton should appoint her to be an ambassador. “Not yet,” she replied. “I’ve got to put out a record – or four!”

Then Perry introduced Cortez Masto. “It’s important to not just vote for president,” the singer concluded. “We’ve got a crew. We’ve got a clique. We all run together. We need to vote for the right senators too”

She announced at the end of her speech that she would take sophomore Kendra Patterson, the president of the campus Black Student Organization, to vote for the first time. Perry and her entourage piled into three black Escalades and headed for the nearest polling place.





NextGen, the climate change-focused super PAC bankrolled by liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, had a dozen volunteers working the Perry rally in orange t-shirts. They handed out waters and had a coach bus in front of the student union to shuttle anyone who wanted a ride to go vote.


Hilliary Clinton with Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez ,left, and Democratic house candidate Ruben Kihuen,right.

-- Early voting also gives Democrats more opportunities to turn out Latinos who have never voted before. Mi Familia Vota and Voto Latino co-hosted a four-hour block party Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of a mall that has an early voting site. There was live Spanish music and all-you-can-eat plates of free tacos from a popular local eatery. There were two bouncy houses, face painting and popcorn for the kids. Steyer’s group helped pay for the event, and Univision Radio – a co-sponsor – promoted it on the air. Staffers directed attendees to go inside the mall to vote. At around 6 p.m. Saturday, there were about 100 people in line for tacos and another 50 voting inside. They waited in a line between a candy store and a cosmetics shop.

-- Part of the Democratic strategy is to unashamedly pester people until they vote. The campaigns find out who voted at the end of each day. So they can stop targeting a potential supporter once they’ve cast a ballot. During the training session, Grullon urged her door knockers to tell people that they won’t get bothered once they’ve cast a ballot. “If you don’t want somebody to knock on your door or call you anymore, go vote,” she said. “And it will stop. Seriously.”

This turns out to be a powerful incentive in a state where almost every commercial is about the election. Beatriz Martinez, 27, voted Saturday inside a temporary trailer that has been set up in a Target parking lot in Las Vegas. Asked why she went on the first day, she said: “We got tons of texts saying early voting started this morning – from the Clinton campaign people, from the climate change people, from the party people.” She and her boyfriend, a law student, supported Bernie Sanders in the caucuses but rallied behind Clinton after she wrapped up the nomination.

Martinez also brought her dad with her to vote. The 58-year-old was born in Mexico and speaks Spanish. He became a U.S. citizen more than a decade ago but had never voted before Saturday. The chance to vote against Trump changed that. He was very excited.







At the end of Saturday, Democratic staffers celebrated news that 39,148 people had voted in Clark County – compared to 33,187 in 2012. Of those, 55 percent were registered Democrats and 27 percent were registered Republicans.

-- Hitting the churches. The work continued early Sunday. Ruben Kihuen, a state senator challenging Republican Rep. Cresent Hardy, arrived at a Baptist church just before 8 a.m. to warn that all the progress of the Obama years could unravel if Democrats do not win. “I was trying to convey the sense of urgency of getting to the polls,” he said in an interview after the service, as he headed to a second church to deliver the same closing argument. “This election could be won during early voting if you run a strong campaign.”






-- Five hours later, Obama arrived in Kihuen’s congressional district for a rally aimed primarily at turning out African Americans. The president took the stage at Cheyenne High School after Boyz II Men performed “The End of the Road.” Speaking in front of a giant sign that said “VOTE EARLY,” Obama told an audience of 5,100: “You've got the winning hand. You've got blackjack. But you’ve got to make sure to turn over the card by voting. … This game does not start on November 8th. The game ends on November 8th.” Bringing back a fictional character whom he invoked often in campaigns past, POTUS added with a hint of nostalgia: “I need you to call up cousin Pooky and say, 'Pooky, it’s time to vote!’”

“I need you to call up cousin Pooky and say, ‘Pooky, it's time to vote.’ I need you to go call Jesse and say, ‘Jesse, come on. Don't be sitting on the couch. It's time to vote.’ Everybody has got to vote early. That's how we won in ’08. That's how we won in 2012. That's how we're going to win in 2016!”