‘No Scrubs’ In The White House: Steyer Gets A Boost From TLC

Stepping into billionaire activist Tom Steyer’s “Battle Ready” rally on Friday night in Las Vegas felt more like walking into a really fancy, well-financed party at a club rather than a campaign event.

The industrial space was filled with strobe lights, twinkle lights, light-up plants (OK, just a lot of lights), Instagram-worthy faux-grass pillars with the word “TOM” in glowing red and blue, food, drinks, a DJ and a performance by TLC, whose hits “Waterfalls” and “No Scrubs” kept the 500-person crowd dancing and singing. (Note: Steyer’s campaign has said the band’s appearance was arranged through a booker and isn’t an endorsement.)

It’s not exactly common to see people waving their beer and “IT’S THE ECONOMY” signs in the air as they rock out to Icona Pop’s electro-remix of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”

But this is the campaign in Las Vegas.

The racially diverse crowd was made up of supporters from teenagers with their parents in tow to college students to grandparents.

Lynn Arce says that kind of diversity meshes with Steyer’s messaging.

“I’m really energized by Steyer,” she said. “He’s for everyone. I really believe that race, along with climate, have to be the top priority, and he seems to be the candidate that is putting it first and foremost.”

Arce said she was originally nervous that Steyer didn’t make the debate stage earlier this week, worrying it could hurt his chances in Nevada. But after watching the debate, she thinks it may have been a good thing he wasn’t there.

“The debate seemed vicious,” Arce said. “I’m hoping Tom just stays on message, which he seems very consistent on that and so I think things will go his way.”

Once TLC finished performing, Steyer took the stage and emphasized his core messages of climate change (“We need to rebuild America in a climate-smart way”) and the economy, saying he’s the only candidate who can go after President Trump on the economy and win.

Before heading to the campaign’s selfie line, Steyer urged supporters to bring friends and family with them to caucus on Saturday.

“The threat we have is if we don’t come together,” he said. “That’s why Nevada matters so much. Nevada is the first place where we have diversity. This is the first place where you can claim you pulled together the broadest coalition that is the Democratic Party.

“If we win tomorrow, we’re going to win the whole god**** thing,” he said to cheers.

While people were still partying on the dance floor, Steyer left to attend a town hall of a very different vibe: one hosted by Mi Familia Vota at a union hall for plumbers and welders. Before taking questions from the smaller, primarily Latino crowd, he focused on immigration and what he called a humanitarian crisis at the border. The night ended with the crowd chanting, “Sí se puede” (roughly translating to: “Yes, we can” or “Yes, it can be done”).