For West Coasters like me, Nevada is the closest and cheapest place to do some meaningful GOTV work. In addition to its six electoral votes, it also has one of the most important Senate races in the country -- Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto against Republican Joe Heck. This is an open seat since Harry Reid decided not to run for reelection, and keeping it blue will be critical to winning the Senate. Real Clear Politics’ average of the latest polls shows Heck ahead by 1.5 points. Polling in Nevada usually understates support for Democratic candidates, so the race is a toss-up. Cortez Masto, a former Nevada attorney general, could become the first Latina elected to the Senate.
Nevada also has two of the more important House races. Ruben Kihuen is running a very strong race in a district currently held by the extreme conservative Crescent Hardy. Kihuen, a progressive Latino State Senator, is running in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, which includes North Los Vegas. Hardy won an upset victory in 2014, taking a seat that was blue in 2012 with a strong ground game. Kihuen has been identified as a rising young Democratic star and spoke at the Dems’ convention.
Jackie Rosen is running in a district that includes the southern suburbs of Las Vegas against GOP right-winger Danny Tarkanian. This is an open seat closely split between Democrats and Republicans. Obama won this district by 12 points in 2008, but by only 1 point in 2012.
The NRCC recognizes that both Kihuen and Rosen could turn House seats from red to blue. It spent $535,000 in attack ads against Kihuen in a single week this month and has donated over $900,000 against him in total. According to the Hill, the NRCC has reserved $9.9 million to buy media in the Las Vegas market to support its two House candidates.
So if you go to Las Vegas, you can get a threefer – GOTV for Hillary, Cortez Masto, and Kihuen or Rosen (or both, if you stay more than a couple of days.) Round trip flights into Las Vegas the week-end of Oct. 7 are only about $200 from Seattle, Portland, or San Francisco, and about $150 from Los Angeles. There’s lot of inexpensive hotel deals in Vegas, not to mention all kinds of shows you can enjoy after a day of campaigning. The weather starts to cool off in October, so it will probably be in the 80's rather than the 90's. You can volunteer for Kihuen here, for Rosen here and for Cortez Masto here. You can also sign up to volunteer through MoveOn here.
This year, what happens in Vegas won’t stay in Vegas. The Nevada election results will affect the whole country, so West Coasters, let’s go!