John Locher/AP Photo
Tom Steyer at the Culinary Workers Union hall in Las Vegas, January 16, 2020
Last Thursday, billionaire presidential hopeful Tom Steyer flew to Las Vegas for a meeting with Nevada’s Culinary Workers Union (UNITE HERE Local 226) to solicit its endorsement. At a town hall–style event, he pitched membership on his vision of a government-run public health insurance option that would, among other things, allow them to maintain their current privately provisioned and generally beloved health plans. “You leave choice for the 160 million Americans who work hard to get their health care through their employment,” Steyer said. “They get a choice. They can keep it the way it is or they can take the public option. But I hate people telling me what to do. I don’t want to tell other people, including the people in this room.”
Steyer’s meeting with the Culinary Union capped a best-ever seven-day stretch for the candidate. After last Tuesday’s debate, he wedged himself into a cameo appearance in the hot-mic spat between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders (“I just wanted to say ‘hi,’ Bernie”), which resulted in about as much organic media coverage as he’s received during the entire race. A few days prior to that, a Fox News poll showed an unprecedented Steyer surge in the polls. In South Carolina, where he’s unleashed an advertising blitzkrieg, he’s shot to second place behind Joe Biden; in Nevada, he’s tied for third. A recent Morning Consult poll had him in third place in early states, surpassing Elizabeth Warren. It’s been a surprising January for the deep-pocketed long shot.
His newfound competitiveness in Nevada made his meeting with the Culinary Union all the more important. The union, which counts some 60,000 members in Nevada, including virtually all staff at major hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, has long been thought of as a political kingmaker in a state that in recent years has gone from deep purple to Democratic stronghold. And its endorsement is a much sought-after seal of approval. In a tight race in Nevada, where Biden, Sanders, and Warren have jockeyed for advantage, the Culinary Union’s support could be enough to tip the scales in their favor in Nevada’s first-in-the-West caucus next month.
But with less than a month to go until voting, no endorsement has yet been issued, and the union’s gold-plated health care could present the reason why. The Culinary Health Fund, self-provisioned through the union with employer support, is one of the largest health care consumers in the state. It provides health insurance coverage for over 130,000 Nevadans, including members and their dependents.
Not all unions are opposed to Medicare for All; many have been vocally supportive of it, while numerous others have lined up behind candidates advocating for it. But the Culinary Union’s unique health care operation put it in a strange position. There’s little enthusiasm among its members about Medicare for All, which would phase out private insurance programs over time. “[T]he Culinary Union members, they have the best health care in Nevada. People are willing to sacrifice everything to protect the health care,” Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Argüello-Kline told Fox News recently.
That means that despite pro-worker bona fides and support from numerous other unions, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren face a steep challenge in securing support from the Culinary Union, as their Medicare for All commitments would be certain to infringe upon those hard-won benefits.
One might expect, then, that the choice for endorsement would default to Joe Biden, whose commitment to nothing more than a weak public option would not encourage any structural disruption. And Biden does have the support of Yvanna Cancela, the union’s powerful former political director. But the Culinary Union is also one of the country’s largest immigrant organizations, with a majority-Latino membership. And Biden’s role in helping to create the largest deportation machine in American history during the Obama years creates a fundamentally challenging roadblock of its own. Biden has long refused to apologize for that course of action, though he recently has softened his message on his certainty of that program’s rectitude.
All that has left the door wide open for Steyer, who has pulled into podium position with his prodigious ad buys. According to data from Kantar/Campaign Media Analysis Group, Steyer’s ads ran 5,721 times in Nevada-based media markets between December 1 and January 9. The other Democratic candidates aired six total ad spots combined in the state over that same time period.
This builds upon years of Steyer investments in Nevada. He helped bankroll a renewable-energy initiative in 2018, added $2 million through his NextGen America super PAC to raise youth turnout there, and helped Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) win her seat in 2016. This long-term commitment, which is ongoing as NextGen (which Steyer no longer has involvement with) announced another $1 million investment last month, could yield dividends for the candidate.
Steyer’s ads ran 5,721 times in Nevada-based media markets between December 1 and January 9. The other Democratic candidates aired six total ad spots combined in the state over that same time period.
In his meeting with the union last week, Steyer pledged his commitment to choice on health care. And while other moderates like Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar could certainly offer the same thing, none of them can be seen as truly competitive in the state’s race.
“We are still deciding and haven’t decided either way,” said Bethany Khan, a spokesperson for Nevada’s Culinary Workers Union. But a source with knowledge of the process told the Prospect that the union is currently leaning toward not endorsing at all.
If the Culinary Union does decide to forgo formal endorsement, that would not be unprecedented. In 2016, the union decided not to endorse Sanders or Hillary Clinton, before backing Clinton in the general election. That decision was partially informed by 2008’s bitter primary contest. The Culinary Union ultimately endorsed Barack Obama in the final weeks of the campaign. But Clinton’s supporters took the union to court to challenge its voting procedures. Meanwhile, an incensed Bill Clinton went casino to casino, urging workers to defy the decision and instead support his wife. He successfully peeled off a nontrivial percentage of the union’s Latino membership; Clinton emerged from Nevada victorious.
No endorsement would mean that no individual candidate would head into the February caucuses with any particular advantage. Sanders will have to rely on his strength with Latino voters, whom he’s polling well with, while Biden will lean on name recognition.
But that will do little to slow the rise of Steyer, who, according to this week’s Morning Consult poll, has passed Warren in early-primary states and now stands in sole possession of third place. And if he’s somehow able to parlay that ascent and the field’s perceived weakness into an endorsement, that could throw the entire Nevada field into disarray.
With under two weeks to go until voting commences, there are sure to be some upheavals in the process, and candidates can rarely overcome blowout losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. But Steyer isn’t most candidates—he’s spent $135 million, most of it self-funded, on television, radio, and digital ads, and has a sizable staff in South Carolina. A strong finish there could put him in prime position to surprise in Nevada as well. It may be time to start taking him seriously.
