Former President Donald Trump isn’t sweating Vice President Kamala Harris’s strong campaign action in Nevada as the clock ticks down to Election Day.
With just 69 days until Nov. 5, Trump retains a slim lead over Harris in the swing state as she tightens the presidential race in national polls. The RealClearPolitics average of recent surveys indicates the former president holds a 1.4-percentage-point edge over his opponent in Nevada.
During a Friday event in Las Vegas, Trump exuded confidence about winning the battleground state he says could win him a second term.
“I don’t know how we can lose it,” the former president told supporters. “We win this state, we win the whole thing.”
Trump’s optimism comes despite the Harris campaign’s infrastructural edge in the state.
The vice president inherited President Joe Biden’s significant campaign presence in Nevada after he dropped his reelection bid. Meanwhile, she’s been buoyed by Democratic enthusiasm for a candidate without the last name Biden.
Harris’s campaign has 14 election offices across the state and more than 100 full-time employees, according to an analysis by the Nevada Independent. In addition, it held 377 events in a roughly one-week sprint earlier this month.
In comparison, the Trump campaign has only 16 events scheduled in the next week. It is also running a much leaner ground campaign, with just 24 staffers and five offices. It has even fewer offices than it did four years ago when he narrowly lost the state during the 2020 election. Trump Force 47, a program partnering with the Republican National Committee to recruit volunteers that launched in late May, appears to be the GOP’s focal point in the state to hand the former president a second term. However, the Trump campaign is employing organizations such as Turning Point USA to boost its ground game.
Trump is giving Harris a tighter battle for her money over campaign advertising. In the past month, Trump allies have spent $9.7 million on ads airing in Nevada, while pro-Democratic groups have spent $10.2 million. However, even in advertising, the Democratic Party appears to hold the edge over strategy, taking steps to secure $14 million in ads in the three months leading up to November.
Still, Trump has put in multiple appearances in the battleground state over the course of the year. Campaign events in January, February, and June came before his latest pitch to Latino voters last week.
The former president held a “No tax on tips” campaign event on Friday at Il Toro E La Capra, a Mexican-Italian restaurant nestled in the state’s largest city. Speaking next to a campaign sign highlighting the tax slogan in Spanish, Trump rallied supporters as Hispanic voters wield growing power in Nevada. With Latinos now accounting for nearly 30% of the state’s population, both campaigns are vying for their support.
Wading into the kitchen to greet workers, Trump’s visit to the Las Vegas restaurant came after he criticized the Harris campaign for copying his “No tax on tips” agenda earlier this month. The former president announced the policy at a Nevada rally in June, and the vice president’s campaign followed suit with support for the measure weeks later.
Trump isn’t the only Republican battling for a win in the Silver State. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) is fending off a challenge from Republican Sam Brown in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. Earlier this month, the Cook Political Report moved the race from “toss-up” to “lean Democrat” as polling indicates Rosen holds a lead of over 9 percentage points.
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Brown is a decorated combat veteran who medically retired from the military after sustaining critical injuries in Afghanistan. He has aligned himself with Trump as he stumps against Rosen, receiving the former president’s endorsement in June and giving a rousing speech of support for the GOP leader at the Republican National Convention last month.
“America, I served you as a soldier and I want to serve you again as a U.S. senator,” he told the crowd in Milwaukee. “I ask Nevadans to vote Sam Brown for Senate and Donald Trump for president. Together, we will put America first again.”
