Culinary Union Canvassers Are Knocking on Doors Across the Las Vegas Valley in the Final Days Before the Election
Members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 are going door to door for Aaron Ford, Dina Titus and Joe Spica — and in Henderson, the Las Vegas Sun found, a 20-minute conversation persuaded one retired nurse who planned to sit the election out to vote after all.
Members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 are canvassing neighborhoods across the Las Vegas Valley in the final days before Tuesday's election, the Las Vegas Sun reported Sunday. Canvassers Jessie Garduno and Nataly Rocha were working a Henderson neighborhood for Attorney General Aaron Ford, who is running for governor, and U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, who is seeking reelection in Nevada's 1st Congressional District. Another member, Roxanne Perez-Guzman, is canvassing for Joe Spica, a Culinary Union member running for Assembly District 35.
At one Henderson doorstep, the Sun reported, retired nurse Betty Snowden opened her door despite the no-soliciting signs in her yard. Snowden told the canvassers she had voted for President Donald Trump in past elections and did not intend to vote this time, and that she was worried about education and affordability, including student loans. The conversation ran about 20 minutes and ended with a hug. "I wasn't going to, but I will now," she told the Sun, adding that each side shared its views and the canvassers listened to what she had to say.
The union's door operation runs at scale: hundreds of Culinary members canvass every election year, and union leaders told the Sun the union knocked on more than 900,000 doors in 2024. The Culinary Union is not the only organisation in the field — Gov. Joe Lombardo's campaign marked 50,000 doors knocked this past week, according to the Sun. Not everyone is persuaded the tactic changes minds: Sondra Cosgrove, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada, told the Sun that people who open the door are a different kind of neighbour from those who do not, and she is not convinced door knocking draws people further into the political system. The Sun also cited research by David Broockman of the University of California, Berkeley, and Joshua Kalla finding that voter conversations reduced canvassers' own hostility toward the opposing party in the days and weeks that followed.
