Kamala Harris Challenges Donald Trump – and Nevada May Decide the Next President

The 2024 election has been a race like no other. First there were the president’s stunning debate freeze-ups, then came the nationally-televised assassination attempt on his rival — the former president. But before America could even finish collectively gasping, a whole new candidate was inserted into the race. And the summer wasn’t even over yet.

Forget waiting for the famous “October surprise.” The jolts are coming week by week. Both unpredictable and unbelievable, this wild race could very well be decided in Nevada. 

But, looking back on the beginning of the year, which seems like a lifetime ago now — all sides were gearing up for a rematch between current Democratic President Joe Biden and the Republican former President Donald J. Trump. After four years out of the White House, Trump handily wiped the floor with his primary challengers – without even debating them. 

On the Democratic side, Biden faced no serious opposition in the primary. Democratic candidates were seemingly discouraged from challenging the sitting president. Democrat Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said he was so upset by the lack of any Democratic primary debates, and lack of party support, that he turned independent.

Everything’s changed now. The June 27th presidential debate between Trump and Biden showed the nation that Biden was frail, and he appeared confused. He often froze up and lost his train of thought while answering questions. Biden may have looked even worse than he sounded. Appearing very pale, he often stared off into the distance. 

Debate Disaster, an Assassination Attempt, and Tons of Money

Cries arose from Democrats – and their media surrogates – to replace President Biden on the ticket following his disastrous debate. In the midst of the bid to push Biden out, the seemingly unthinkable happened: Former President Trump was shot on live TV. On July 13th, Trump was hit with a bullet in his right ear during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pa. The would-be assassin’s bullet had missed killing Trump by only a fraction of an inch. One rally goer was killed, while two others were critically injured. Astoundingly, a bloodied Trump rose up, surrounded by Secret Service, and defiantly put his fist in the air saying, “Fight! Fight! Fight!.” 

That now-iconic image was followed by a bandaged-Trump appearing at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee only a few days later where the former president would pick Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate. And, when the RNC convention concluded on July 18th, the race appeared to be over. Biden was already sequestered in Delaware, after reportedly testing positive for Covid while campaigning in Las Vegas.

But as one race ended, another one was about to begin. After insisting he would stay in the presidential contest, Biden suddenly dropped out of the race on July 20th. He would throw his support behind his vice president, Kamala Harris. 

A former senator and prosecutor from San Franscisco, Harris was the only logical choice at that late date. While some questioned her strength as a candidate, as the vice president she was the only candidate with a legitimate legal claim on the Biden war chest of campaign donations. 

In addition, another $81 million in donations flowed in during the first 24 hours after Biden’s withdrawal announcement. Much of the money was waiting on the sidelines while Biden was hanging on, but as soon as news broke of Biden’s withdrawal, money flooded into Harris’ campaign. Harris’ people claimed she raised $200 million in the first week after her entry into the race.

For contrast, Trump’s campaign announced it had taken in $138 million in donations in July. That month included the failed attempt on Trump’s life and his nomination at the RNC convention. Entering August, the Trump campaign war chest totaled $327 million while the Harris war chest totaled a whopping $377 million, a record amount for any presidential candidate at this point in the cycle.

The Road to the White House goes through Nevada

The 2024 presidential race is off to a heated start between former President Donald Trump and sitting Vice President Kamala Harris, but Nevada voters are trying to process the change. 

Trump was comfortably ahead of Biden in Nevada, in spite of felony convictions in May, which Trump and his supporters called “a rigged trial” and “a political prosecution.” The former president also maintained a small lead over Harris in the Silver State, during the first few weeks of her campaign. Nationally, some polls show the race as a dead heat with the Democratic swap in of Harris. The polls for the battleground states – most of which Trump had been leading Biden in – tightened with the arrival of Harris.

Vice President Harris has hit the campaign trail with tremendous energy, and she will need much of that energy to carry her in Nevada if she expects to be victorious over Trump. Nevada, a key swing state in the possible paths to victory, is unique in that nonpartisan registered voters outnumber both registered Democrats and Republicans. The excitement from Harris entering the race could prove beneficial if she is able to use it to engage more Nevadans to vote.

Republicans, however, are trying to assure nervous supporters that the “Harris bump” in the polls is simply a part of the expected “Harris honeymoon” period, following her sudden swap with Biden. 

Democrats on the other hand just concluded their National Convention in Chicago on August 22, and look to ride their new theme of “joy” through the Silver State. Nevada Democratic Party Press Secretary Nicholas Simões Machado likes the Dems’ ground game in the state.

“Our party looks like Nevada, is from Nevada and knows Nevada. Democrats do the work to reach all voters, whether urban, rural, Black, white, Latino, AAPI, indigenous, young, or young at heart,” he says. “Democrats just concluded a 17-county statewide rural tour, touting our Democratic accomplishments and expanding on the momentum created by Kamala Harris. Our ground game is second-to-none: It’s what we’re known for.”

Vice President Harris made Nevada the first battleground state she visited this year, Machado notes. “The road to the White House goes through the Western Wall, and our state’s diverse, working-class electorate is already contributing to a greater swing from Biden to Harris among battleground states.”

GOP Prepares for a Battle in Nevada

The Nevada Clark County Republican Party is not taking any chances with the entrance of Kamala Harris in the race against Trump. Devin Livziey, vice chairman of the party is warning against complacency. 

“The only way to run a race is either like you are unopposed, or like you are 20 points down,” he says. Low voter turnout in the Republican primary is concerning, he admits. The Nevada GOP held its own Republican Presidential Caucus.

Livziey points to the economy and immigration as the top issues on the ballot for Nevada. These are issues that Trump leads by a lot on in polls. He also points to the switcheroo of Harris for Biden. While polls say the move is popular, Livziey is not so convinced.

“If I was a Democrat, I would feel like, I went to primary. I voted for Biden. And now, my vote doesn’t count,” he says. “It’s like, this is what you get.’”

“The importance for Nevada now will be for the Republicans to expose Harris as an open-border, far-left liberal from California,” Livziey relates. He points to Harris’ record in charge of the border, where around 10 million — or more — migrants may have flooded through the border during the Biden-Harris administration, according to some estimates.

Livziey feels Trump can win by sticking to the issues. Nevada, being landlocked, has all its food and goods shipped in. Those prices have skyrocketed due to inflation and high gas prices. “People miss the Trump economy,” he adds.

Nevada also has a unique issue in that more than 80 percent of the land in the state is owned by the federal government. Livziey points to that as important, as Nevada needs more land to help with the housing crisis in the state.

Trump has vowed work with Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo to help get more of that land returned to the Silver State for affordable housing. Trump made those comments during an August 14th economic speech in North Carolina. The former president endorsed Lombardo during the Republican primary in 2022, and Trump has often publicly praised Lombardo.

So, who will win Nevada? Predictions are not something Livziey wants to make. Instead, he wants to focus on getting out the vote. Trump has said his campaign is a movement, not just a political campaign. The former president has warned that the country cannot survive four more years of the “radical liberal” Biden-Harris (now-Harris-Walz) agenda, often saying, “We won’t have a country left.”

Outside events have also already shaped the presidential race in ways that could not have been foreseen. 

And, as big-tech giants like Google have already been called out for trying to censor information about the attempt on Trump’s life, Livziey says the American people won’t forget.

“Trump’s reaction to the assassination attempt will inspire people to support him in Nevada,” Livziey predicts. “To go out there, after being shot, appeal for unity, and go to the convention – that shows a level of integrity that we need in a leader.”

While the fundamentals of the presidential race are still based on fixing the economy and stopping the surge of millions of migrants over the southern border, Livziey says the attempted assassination of Trump – and his courageous reaction to it – will have an impact with voters.

“Everybody always thought of (Trump) as a strong individual, anyway,” he says. “But at (Trump) rallies before, you would hear ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’ Now, everybody is chanting, ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ So, I do believe that it moved the needle a little bit because he did say, ‘Throw whatever you’ve got at me and I’m still going to come back fighting.’ And, it gives people more of an inspirational feeling than anything else.”

As for the “prosecutor” versus “felon” narrative from the Harris campaign, Livziey isn’t worried. He points to the fact that all the legal cases filed against Trump came after he was elected president in 2016. Livziey believes the cases are politically motivated. Trump was convicted in May in New York of numerous formerly-time-barred charges. The complicated case involved how paperwork had been filled out for – and the reporting of  — a payment in a non-disclosure agreement. Trump’s lawyers are appealing the verdict.

The Clark County GOP vice chairman says he has faith in Nevada voters to discern the truth in the midst of a pro-Kamala Harris media blitz.

“Nevada has a big independent streak. Nevadans are independent thinkers,” Livziey says. “Nevada voters are savvier.”

More of a focus will be on getting out the vote, and learning to play by Democratic rules of early voting and legal ballot harvesting, Livziey says “Trump doesn’t have to win Clark County to win Nevada. But he has to come close (in Clark County).”

Washoe County GOP Chairman Bruce Parks is confident in a Trump election victory, and hopes he can turn Nevada red again: “I know Donld Trump will be the next president.”

While Parks ideally wants Election Day voting and voter ID, he says you have to “play by the rules of the game.” That means early voting, legal ballot harvesting – and a team of poll watchers.

A Southern Border in Crisis

The southern border is a mess, by all accounts, at this point. And, Kamala Harris “can’t outrun her record of failure on the border,” Parks maintains. He notes that the media had long referred to Vice President Harris as the “border czar” after President Biden put her in charge of finding the “root causes” of the mass illegal migration. But now, much of the media — and the Harris campaign —  maintain that she was never the “border czar,” he adds.

 “Mainstream media claimed she was (the “border czar”) and then backpedaled, and now claims she is not,” Parks says. “As ‘border czar,’ she did nothing to stem the tide of illegals into our country.”

Nevada State Democratic Party Press Secretary Nicholas Simões Machado defends Kamala Harris’ – and Joe Biden’s — record on the border. “The Biden-Harris administration has proposed a path forward on immigration, yet Republicans continue to obstruct on behalf of Donald Trump,” he maintains. “Only the Harris-Walz ticket stands for progress on both border security and bipartisan immigration reform consistent with Nevada values.”

Machado points to a recent failed border bill:

“Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration worked across the aisle to broker a border security bill that would have provided resources for more than 1,500 additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel,” Machado says of the failed legislation. “(This would have added) more than 1,200 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, more than 4,300 additional asylum officers, and 100 additional immigration judges.”  

Republicans shot down the bill claiming that it would only normalize the flood of millions of immigrants over the border, instead of shutting down the problem. Machado believes Trump blocked a good bill merely for political theater, “Donald Trump forced Republicans to abandon the deal so that he could use people’s lives as a campaign issue. While Trump demonizes immigrants and says that they are “poisoning the blood” of our country, he is also promising to end birthright citizenship, separate families, and impose Project 2025’s extreme agenda of inhumane mass deportations.”

Republicans claim Biden, as the president, could have used executive action on the border at any time, and did not need new laws to fix the problem. It should be noted however, that the right to request asylum is embedded in our country’s immigration laws and therefore shutting down the border isn’t as simple as Republicans suggest. Trump himself still had issues with millions of migrants crossing our southern border during his term in office. Furthermore, according to a report from the Cato Institute comparing the Trump and Biden administrations, although the Biden administration has encountered more migrants overall at the southern border, the president has expelled a slightly higher percentage than Trump did during his time in office. 

Trump now promises a mass deportation of the millions who have flooded the border during the Biden-Harris administration. But some Republicans are nervous about the deportation plan, according to a recent Associated Press story. The concern is mostly that such a deportation proposal could depress Hispanic voter support for Trump. The former president has made tremendous inroads with the Latino community, which is also so vital to winning Nevada.

Parks is less concerned about Hispanic voter backlash, and says the deportation plan is supported by many Hispanics who came to America the legal way.  “I have several friends that went through the process to become citizens of this country, and they are the strongest supporters of deportation,” he explains. “Illegal aliens are a burden on the taxpayers and our resources. Furthermore, anyone that hires illegals — and pays them less than the prevailing wages — belongs in prison.”

The GOP in Nevada has “an ongoing program to work with the Hispanic voters and have been doing events targeted to that demographic,” Parks adds. “We have several pieces of campaign material printed in both Spanish and English — one of which points out the difference in principles and philosophy between Democrats and Republicans.”

As we near election day we can expect the Harris campaign to expand on her plans for pathways to citizenship and securing the border while Trump stands firm for immediate mass deportation and even the elimination of birth right citizenship. One thing is for sure– our next president will have a lot of work ahead of them trying to sort out the complex issues we face at the southern border. 

Identity Politics and Race in the Presidential Race

The new Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris is a woman of color, which is historic. Harris’ father is Black and from Jamaica, and her mother is of Indian heritage.

Trump, who accepted an invitation from a Black journalists conference in Chicago on July 31st, was grilled by a journalist on the panel about what role Harris’ race played in her selection as Biden’s vice president in 2020. When Trump responded by questioning just when Harris started identifying as “Black” as opposed to “Indian,” his comments sparked Democratic and media outrage. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?,” Trump stated. 

Trump’s running-mate JD Vance — when pressed for support for Trump’s comments — told reporters, “[Harris] pretends to be somebody different, depending on the audience she’s talking to.” The fallout from these comments among the general public is yet to be determined, but Las Vegas historian and professor Michael Green expects it will hurt Trump with some voters.

“Kamala Harris has upended the presidential race. She has given great energy to Democrats while the Republican reaction to her has been a sight to behold,” Green says. “Since Biden backed Harris, Donald Trump has now attacked her ancestry and skin color, and Republicans have questioned whether she actually is eligible to run for president because her parents were immigrants — shades of the racist birther campaign against (then-President) Barack Obama.”

Green also called Vance “a laughingstock,” mostly as a reference to his years-old comments about single, childless women who own cats. Vance has countered criticism by saying that the American public is more interested in fixing issues such as inflation that affect their everyday lives.

The Fight for Control Over the Economy

Inflation and the future of the economy has been a hot topic. In an August 12th conversation with X owner Elon Musk, which was live streamed on the social media platform X Spaces to more than a million people, Trump vowed to “end inflation quickly”. “Inflation will eat you alive,” Trump told Musk, in the conversation, which was listened to millions of times since its original airing. X used to be known as “Twitter.” Trump in his economic messaging has suggested an end to taxes on Social Security benefits, extending his 2017 tax cuts and even hiking tariffs on imported goods.

Harris, meanwhile, has since unveiled an economic agenda she says will ease inflation, fix the housing market and reduce taxes on middle class families. Some of her proposals include a ban on grocery-price gouging, increasing the child tax credit, tax incentives to homebuilders to encourage more supply, and even a $25,000 subsidy to first-time homebuyers. Harris, during her economic message in North Carolina, claimed Trump’s would put a 20 percent tax on imports, and will thus raise prices for a typical American family by $3,900 a year. Trump meanwhile has claimed Harris is just intent on “communist price controls.”

Trump was not the only one criticizing Harris for the idea to “propose price controls.” The Washington Post recently chastised Harris saying: “When your opponent calls you ‘communist,’ maybe don’t propose price controls?”

A report from Moody’s, however, claims Trump’s proposed tariff on imported goods would in fact cost the U.S. economy 675,000 jobs, wipe out 0.6 percentage points from U.S. GDP and increase unemployment.

Washoe County GOP Chair Bruce Parks says Trump is planning to cut taxes, not raise them. He contends that Trump’s tariffs’ plan is being distorted by opponents and  the media: 

“I guess some people just don’t understand basic economics,” Parks says. “Increasing tariffs will bring manufacturing back to America, thereby creating more jobs and increasing our own GDP. You know, just like Trump did when he was President!”

Job loss is again front and center after an alarming revised jobs’ report came out during the week of the DNC convention. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  revised previously-reported numbers downward by a whopping 818,000 jobs, over the period from April 2023 through March 2024. This was under the Biden-Harris administration. It was the biggest revision since 2009, and essentially meant that nearly a million jobs– which the Biden Harris administration had been given credit for creating — had essentially vanished. Trump has accused the Biden-Harris administration of “manipulating” the jobs’ numbers. Regardless, the massive job-loss numbers’ report has again stoked recession fears.

At the same time, service industry workers are a coveted voting bloc in Nevada. While in Las Vegas for a Culinary Union rally on August 10th, Harris also copied Trump’s “no tax on tips” idea, which the former president first introduced at a June 9th rally at Sunset Park in Las Vegas. 

Trump held a “no tax on tips” event at a restaurant in Las Vegas on August 23rd., which marked his first trip back to Las Vegas after surviving the assassination attempt in July.

With inflation on the top of the minds of independent voters, more messaging is coming out from both candidates on how they will differ on handling our economy.

Harris has also proposed an increase in the corporate tax rate from the current 21 percent to 28 percent. The rate has been at 21 percent since the Trump administration, when he cut taxes. However, hiking the corporate tax is generally popular with liberal and progressive Democrats. Some economists, however, have sounded the alarm that a corporate tax hike could send companies overseas and result in more job losses.

The Street also raised concerns about a Harris proposal to institute a 25 percent tax on “unrealized gains” or unrealized wealth. The Street story, “Kamala Harris Unrealized Gains Tax Should Worry Voters,” did concede that the 25 percent tax on unrealized capital gains is aimed at the “ultra-wealthy.” Nevertheless, The Street maintained “the concept is worrisome.” Such “unrealized gains” could be the value one’s stock accumulates before selling it. “The taxing of unrealized gains, no matter what the level of wealth, will drive assets, jobs and companies away from the United States,” according to The Street.

Harris Gains Ground in Nevada

The Culinary Union in Nevada gave Harris a warm reception in Las Vegas on August 10th – as a presidential candidate. With the union’s endorsement, Nevada is shaping up to be a battle as Harris is emerging as a much-more formidable opponent than Joe Biden was in the 2024 race. The Culinary Union has a massive voter turn-out machine.

While a few polls have showed Harris pulling ahead slightly in Nevada, Parks says he is not buying it: “The ‘Kamala mania’ is a false narrative being perpetrated on the Democrats, and the rest of America, by the mainstream media. Prior to July of this year, she was the single-most unpopular vice-president we have ever had,” he says. “What changed? She did not! She is still the same wishy-washy uninformed person she has always been. She flip flops like a fish.”

Republicans like Parks say that Harris’ promised “day one” agenda didn’t make sense, as she has already been part of the current Biden-Harris administration for more than 1,300-plus days. They also criticized DNC convention speakers for acting like Trump was still in office, although the former president left the White House in January 2021.

And, like Trump’s VP pick Vance, Harris’ vice-presidential pick has also been targeted for blistering criticism. Democratic VP choice Tim Walz has come under fierce scrutiny for both his political and military records. The Minnesota governor is being accused of “stolen valor” by members of his old National Guard unit. Walz, however, is popular with progressive Democrats.

Democrats believe Trump’s extreme agenda will alienate voters and bring more voters to their side. As Machado puts it, “Republicans have a history of alienating nonpartisans because of their extreme agenda, such as advocating for a total abortion ban and supporting policies aimed at gutting Medicare and Social Security. Democrats up and down the ballot have delivered for working families, delivering good-paying jobs, building roads, bridges, and critical water infrastructure, as well as protecting Social Security and Medicare.”

Exactly what breaks through to the still-undecided voters is unclear. Nevada independent voters are coveted in the swing state. It’s the most precious segment of all voters in the Silver State. With RFK, Jr. now joining forces with team Trump, the former president could have a slight edge with independents.

“The Washoe County Republican Party is concentrating a great deal of effort in courting the independent and non-partisan voters, most of which are conservatives,” Parks promises. “Most (of whom) have become disenchanted with the two major parties.”

Political Violence and the Battle for Nevada

“It’s a dangerous time to be president,” former President Donald Trump told rally goers in Montana on August 9th. That certainly was not an exaggeration.  

Las Vegas political commentator Alan Stock lived through the turbulence of the 1960s and early 1970s. The attempted assassination of former President Trump reminded him of those dangerous times. He hopes there won’t be another attempt on Trump’s life, as a Secret Service whistleblower recently predicted there would be.

Stock, who is supporting Trump, says with the alleged 20-year-old would-be assassin dead, everything that happened on July 13th in Butler, Pa. will likely never be revealed.

“I don’t think we will ever know. We never really got all the answers about John F. Kennedy’s assassination, either,” he says. “I hope the Secret Service can protect Trump.”

Bruce Parks, the Washoe County GOP Chair, says he has “feared for (Trump’s) life for a long time,” adding. “I have had dinner with him. He is a good man. We need a good man to lead this country.”

The eyes of the world may be on Nevada come November. But what will happen between now and November is anybody’s guess. One thing both sides agree on: The future of America is on the ballot.

But just which version of “America” Nevadans will vote for remains to be seen.

Valerie Miller is a Las Vegas Valley-based award-winning journalist. She can be reached at (702) 683-3986 or valeriemusicmagic@yahoo.com.