Labor unions scaled back political outreach, and Democrats paid for it

The Culinary Union 226 had a simple strategy for the midterm election: keep the state Senate blue.

It sent 25 members to work in Senate District 9, the bellwether district for control of the Legislature’s upper chamber. Culinary members canvassed. They called residents. But in the end, they fell short. Republican Becky Harris ousted incumbent Democrat Justin Jones.

The defeat in Senate District 9 is one upset out of many for Nevada Democrats on Tuesday. But it was the only state legislative race that saw on-the-ground support from the Culinary Union.

As activists, politicians and pundits play Monday morning quarterback, one thing is clear: Organized labor — which played a pivotal role in Democrats' Nevada wins in 2008, 2010 and 2012 — didn't invest as much in 2014 and its scaled-back campaign wasn't enough to propel the party's base to show up at the polls.

In Clark County, the capital of Democratic voters, labor's on-the-ground efforts weren’t as sweeping. There were fewer phone calls as well as door knocks.

In the last three elections, Nevada’s organized labor was a driving force in electing Democrats to local, state and federal candidates offices. Unions helped President Barack Obama win Nevada twice. They were influential in Sen. Harry Reid’s 2010 re-election. They helped Democrats take control of the state Legislature.

But this year was different.

Nevada wasn’t “on any lists” for national support from the AFL-CIO, said Danny Thompson, the organization’s executive secretary-treasurer in Nevada.

The Nevada Democrats didn’t have a serious gubernatorial candidate and no U.S. Senate race. The congressional races for incumbent Democrats were supposed to be cakewalks.

The AFL-CIO, which represents more than 200,000 workers in 120 unions, was forced to scale down its efforts. “Everyone’s learned a lesson here. It will be different next time,” he said.

The Culinary Union, known for its busing of casino employees to early voting polls, diminished its efforts.

In 2012, it worked in six other state Senate districts. Its busing program was 10 times larger, and its canvassing force was 75 percent larger, said Yvanna Cancela, the union’s political director.

This year, the Culinary Union had to juggle the midterm with other obligations. It recently finished contracts with at least 18 casinos and resorts and was working on a campaign to unionize employees with Station Casinos. It’s also focusing on new efforts to revamp member training for political races.

“We needed to allocate our time and resources to those,” Cancela said.

The Culinary Union didn’t work in Rep. Steven Horsford’s 4th Congressional District until a week into early voting, when it mobilized 65 members there. By that time, though, it was too late. Karl Rove’s super PAC spent more than $1 million in the district in the final weeks, and Cresent Hardy, the underdog state lawmaker with little institutional backing, was on his way to beating the incumbent.

“We got in there too late to do that work that needed to be done to move votes in Clark County,” Cancela said.

The unions’ reduced efforts in Nevada don't belie that across the country Democratic voters didn’t make it to the polls while their Republican counterparts did.

The president’s low approval ratings, the distrust of Congress and a wave of negative advertising about the party proved too great an obstacle. Coupled with the weak Nevada ballot, Midterm 2014 was a Sisyphean battle the Democrats ultimately lost.

“At the end of the day you can’t force people to vote,” Thompson said.