Las Vegas Casino Union Committed to Helping Reelect President Joe Biden

Posted on: April 22, 2024, 05:15h. 

Last updated on: April 23, 2024, 10:23h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Nevada’s largest labor group, the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Las Vegas, is rallying up support for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.

Las Vegas casino union Culinary Joe Biden
Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge wants Nevada to vote for President Joe Biden in November. Pappageorge says union members will go door-to-door in the coming months to urge Nevadans to vote blue. (Image: AFP)

Culinary, an affiliate of Unite Here, represents approximately 60K workers employed in Nevada’s casino industry in nongaming roles such as housekeepers, waitstaff, cooks, bellhops, and porters. The union is strongly supportive of Democrats and regularly endorses the Democratic ticket with little exception.

With the United States presidency on the ticket this November, Culinary leaders say they’ll get their members out on the street to convince Nevadans to vote for Biden.

The union has been partially credited for keeping Nevada blue during both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. The Silver State’s support of Hilary Clinton in 2016 was the first time since 1976 that Nevadans got the presidential outcome wrong.

Canvassing Effort Forthcoming?

Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer of Culinary 226, told French news agency AFP this week that the union will work diligently to make sure Nevada helps keep Biden in the White House.

By election day, we’ll have 500 union members — men and women that are normally cleaning rooms in hotels, cooking food, or serving drinks — out full-time, knocking on doors, registering folks to vote, taking folks to the polls,” Pappageorge explained of the union’s canvassing efforts. “There’s no other way to win [than getting out the vote].”

Union dues will once again be used to pay canvassers to take time off from their jobs to go door-to-door.

“They sign up for three to six months during an election year. They walk the neighborhoods every day, 10 hours a day, in 110 degrees. Workers talking to workers. That’s how we move the working class vote in Nevada.”

Pappageorge says the majority of his union members want to make sure a woman has a right to choose an abortion. They also seek law and order on the border but with “compassion” and a better economy.

Pappageorge placed current economic hardships, such as inflation that’s greatly increased the cost of household necessities, on former President Donald Trump’s shoulders. The union leader thinks Trump mishandled the pandemic, and that’s hurt Nevada’s working middle class.

Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt says the campaign is ready to fend off the Democrats and Culinary’s fight.

“We have paid staffers and volunteer-powered field programs in every battleground state, including Nevada, and they are expanding daily,” Leavitt told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Our aggressive and experienced operation is focused on turning out votes and highlighting the contrast between Joe Biden’s weakness and failures and President Trump’s record of success.”

2024 Battlegrounds

Political pundits believe seven states will play key roles in determining the 2024 outcome between Biden and Trump. Those states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nevada.

According to the recent polling average as calculated by Real Clear Polling, Trump maintains a 3.2-point advantage over Biden in Nevada. The former president and casino owner has polling leads in each swing state other than Pennsylvania where the sitting president has just a 0.5-point lead.

UK oddsmakers allowed to take bets on political outcomes — something not available at legal sportsbooks in the US — have Trump a slight betting front-runner with less than 200 days until Election Day. Trump’s odds are +100 while Biden is just longer at +110.