America’s biggest gamble: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris roll the dice in Las Vegas
Nevada looms as one of the closest of the swing states that will decide the US presidential election. The Weekend Australian spoke to voters in Las Vegas | WATCH THE VIDEO
As Nevada voters cruise down the famous Las Vegas strip at night, a giant flashing sign gives them the latest odds on America’s ultimate gamble – Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris.
It’s a very Vegas way to wager on the country’s future, but the presidential race in this key swing state is so close that both Trump and Harris are rolling the dice here, with both flying into Vegas on Friday (AEDT) to make their closing pitch to voters.
While Trump leads comfortably in the betting markets, his lead over Harris in the real polls here in Nevada is a bare half a percentage point (48.3 to 47.8) in a race that could go either way.
Trump held a rally in working-class Henderson on the outskirts of Las Vegas while Harris held hers just hours later alongside singer Jennifer Lopez and Mexican rock band Mana in northern Vegas to court the more than one-quarter of Latino voters across the state – just days after the Puerto Rico “garbage” controversy.
Both candidates were trying to win over voters such as Jennifer Alheit, a retail manager who is still “sitting on the fence”, caught – like many Americans – between being underwhelmed by Harris yet nervous about another Trump presidency.
“I didn’t care for this (Biden-Harris) administration even though I voted for him,” Alheit says on a bridge overlooking the Las Vegas strip. “Prices went up like crazy, gas prices, the housing market. I’m a retail manager and the retail prices were crazy, a bag of cat food doubled in cost.
“But I’m not the biggest Trump supporter, I just don’t really care for him as a person. I don’t trust the guy as much, I don’t think he is a very honest man.”
In Nevada, one of seven swing states in this election, the presidential race boils down to the famous Clinton-era mantra of “it’s the economy, stupid”.
The state – and especially its shining citadel, Las Vegas, with its massive hotel and service industry – is hugely dependent on the economy and tourism.
Nevada’s economy was hit hard by the soaring inflation during Biden’s presidency, with the highest gas prices and second-highest grocery prices in the country. Although Nevada hasn’t voted Republican since 2004, with Trump losing narrowly in 2016 and 2020, the former president has his best shot yet at winning the state.
“I have already voted for Trump because the economy is in a complete shambles, the only thing I care about is prices, and I need to afford gas for my car because I am working and going to college at the same time,” says 19-year-old Mason Bourne, whose family work as government prosecutors.
However, many voters remain wary of Trump’s erratic behaviour, including Matt Timms, a 55-year-old restaurant manager, who voted for Trump in 2020 but is voting for Harris this time.
“We just feel like she’s a little less unhinged, and we trust her to make decisions based on the country’s best interest as a whole, rather than Trump, who seems to be a little vindictive and vicious,” says Timms as he stands with wife Renee in their Halloween-themed garden in Henderson ahead of the Trump rally.
Timms says the biggest issue for him is gun safety in a city where 58 people were killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history in 2017.
“Right now, it’s the safety of our kids in schools, so gun control is a big issue for us. We’d like to see some stronger gun control laws that are more in line with the rest of the world. We’re not against guns, but we are against AK-47 assault rifles.”
Timms says he was annoyed when Trump pressured Republicans to reject their bipartisan border bill earlier this year, which would have introduced much tougher border controls.
“One thing that soured me big-time was the killing of the immigration bill. It was a bipartisan thing that he complained about for 3½ years, and then he’s the one that killed it to make it a political issue, as opposed to doing the right thing and fixing the problem,” says Timms.
In the working-class suburbs of southern Las Vegas, grandmother Cheryl Hartsfield, an African-American, has already voted for Harris and says she is fearful of a second Trump presidency because she worries it would stoke greater racism.
“What made me vote for Kamala is because she is for all people,” Hartsfield said outside her home. “I’m from Chicago, and I know what it is to be segregated. I grew up in segregation. I remember my first time getting on the bus to go to a different school with other people.
“It was very scary, but we had people just like the supporters of Trump screaming and hollering at us, and I was a little kid, so I know what it’s like, and I never want that for my grandkids. I’ve been going around telling people we gotta vote because we need to stay together, you know. Well, one big, melting pot.”
Businessman Chris Decollibus says he will vote for Trump because he believes Trump has a better chance of helping resolve international wars such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East.
“I think the biggest issue is safety and I think that Donald Trump, as a businessman and as a negotiator, can solve these issues with other countries relatively quickly. Just like president Reagan in 1980 when, on the day he took office, the Iranian hostages were returned. And I think we’re going to see that (with Trump).
“We are in Las Vegas, and right over your shoulder is the Trump Tower. This is a businessman who knows how to get things done.”
As he goes door to door to drum up votes for Harris, Democrat volunteer Rober Howard explains why abortion is the most important election issue for him.
“I had a friend that was raped in a nightclub and she got pregnant. And if they passed that law, she wouldn’t have been able to, sadly, abort the baby,” Howard says.
“But then imagine their life, if you know the baby was born, the resentment, the … shame and guilt … that would have been really terrible for both of them.”
Howard looks at the Trump sign outside the next house and walks past. The owner of that house, Mesha Aguirre, a logistics worker and mother of three, says she and her whole family will be voting for Trump not least because Harris “has been in office for four years and hasn’t done shit”.
“We need a strong leader, and she’s not it,” Aguirre says. “There are tons of issues but the economy is the main one. Trump should win and if he doesn’t it’s another rigged election.”
As he walks down the Vegas strip, a musician identifying himself only as Rick, says he will vote for Harris even though he thinks her campaign has only been “average”.
“It has not been as good as we’d hoped, but I think she’s in the right spot, morally and policy wise. Global warming for me is a top issue because we are way behind the eight-ball there,” he says. “And I support women’s right to choose – I wouldn’t want a government telling me what to do with my privates.’
But, like so many voters who spoke with The Weekend Australian, Rick just can’t pick who is going to win next week’s election.
“It’s a crap shoot,” he says. “I think there’s just too many wildcards out there.”
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