Biden To Tout His Economic Record to a Skeptical Nevada

President Biden is traveling Friday to Nevada to headline an economic-focused event in the Las Vegas area – honing in on the issue that will likely decide his Nevada fate next year.

The state’s economy, heavily reliant on tourism and gambling, was decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, as travel ground to a halt. And Nevada took longer than other states to build back. Voters blamed Democrats for the way places like the Las Vegas Strip were shut down, ousting the state’s incumbent Democratic governor in 2022 and only narrowly reelecting the state’s Democratic senator. 

With a presidential contest, a competitive Senate race, and three contentious House seats up for grabs next year, Democrats are worried that the state is moving away from them at exactly the wrong time.

“We are a purple state. There is no doubt that margins have been slim,” said Ted Pappageorge, the Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, the powerful union that has become a force in Democratic politics in Nevada. “The real issue is there has to be a real push to go after Wall Street landlords and Big Oil and Big Food and Republicans aren’t going to do that. … What we see in Nevada is that it will be very close, as always, but there is a path for President Biden and Democrats to win.”

Pappageorge’s message, a notably populist one, reflects the way Biden has been speaking about the economy in recent months, focused less on the stock market or the unemployment rate than on cracking down on big business for “price gouging.” Nevada Democrats expect Biden to re-up that message on Friday, just days after state party leaders – including Sen. Jacky Rosen, the incumbent who is up for reelection alongside Biden in 2024, – touted securing $3 billion for a high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Southern California.

To date, the Biden administration has touted $11 billion in commitment by private industry to invest in areas like elective vehicles and batteries and clean power, according to the White House’s tracking website, along with $3.3 billion in additional public infrastructure investment by the federal government.

It’s the kind of sales job that Biden has tried to make across the nation, but it is arguably more important in Nevada than in almost any other battleground state in the nation.

"There is really a boom and bust cycle that corresponds with the economic picture of the rest of the country,” said Chris Moyer, a strategist who worked for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the man credited with moving the state to the left.

Biden "has done a lot of things that are popular with Nevadans. If things are pointing in the right direction, then I think people will be more inclined to give him a second term,” he said. Winning Nevada is “critical,” to Biden’s chances of serving a second term, he added, because “without Nevada, it’s hard to see him winning re-election” given it could signal issues in places like neighboring Arizona and elsewhere.

Democratic elected officials in Nevada are well aware of this dynamic. Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen, who is running for her second term next year, has made pitching Biden’s economic successes central to her campaign, while also acknowledging the pain Nevadans are feeling.

“As I go around the state and listen, I try to listen to the concerns people have about rising costs, housing costs, about their jobs. I put myself through college as a waitress. … I get it. I understand how people are feeling,” she told The Messenger during an interview in August. “You never forget how hard you worked. ... That never leaves you. And I get how families are feeling.”

Rosen often talks about legislation passed under Biden with her help, namely the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, all passed during the first two years of Biden’s administration with help from Democrats like Rosen.

“When you're an incumbent, you run on how you've been dealing with people, and that's really important,” Rosen said. “We had the message that we were going to deliver, and we have delivered.”

Rosen’s feelings are backed up by polling. A New York Times/Siena Poll released in November found 63% of Nevada voters said they see economic issues like jobs, taxes, and the cost of living as more important to their vote than “societal issues such as abortion, guns, or democracy.” The same poll found that 59% of Nevada voters rated the nation’s economy as “poor.” 

To Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist who served as an aide to Reid, those numbers highlight why “the president and Democrats will need to be more vigilant on rising costs and the economy in western states like Nevada.”

“Gas prices are in some cases a dollar more expensive per gallon in Nevada than in the rest of the country and other consumer costs are generally higher in Nevada as well,” he said.  “I would expect the president and his campaign to be very direct in talking to Nevada voters about how they are making goods more affordable and their plans to continue the economic recovery.”

According to AAA, the average gallon of gasoline in Nevada costs just under $4.10, nearly a dollar more than the national average of $3.20. 

Even with those economic headwinds, and the losses Democrats took at the state level in 2022, the state’s federal representation remained overwhelmingly Democratic after the midterm elections, including all three Democratic incumbents winning reelection.

"President Biden and Vice President Harris have… been sticking up for unions, standing up to big Pharma, and lowering costs for hardworking families while creating good-paying jobs,” said Rep. Dina Titus, one of those Democratic incumbents, who called the Biden administration “incredibly strong partners.” “It’s a huge shift from the Trump administration which repeatedly put the ultra-wealthy and big corporations first while screwing workers over. Nevadans know we can’t afford to go back."

That is the kind of messaging that groups like the Culinary Union, said Pappageorge, wants to hear more of, given Republican’s “real weakness” on economic equality issues in the state.

“When push comes to shoves, Republicans don't really have any credibility on this issue,” said the union leader. “The idea that working people can count on Republicans to go to bat against Big Oil and Wall Street landlords is just ridiculous. It’s a credibility issue and you will see Democrats, and Biden in particular, carry that message and back it with action.”