Vice President Kamala Harris vowed on Saturday (August 10, 2024) that if elected, she would eliminate the federal tax on tips for restaurant workers and numerous other service employees, repeating a promise made by her November opponent, Donald Trump, in a rare moment of political overlap between the two sides.

Ms. Harris made the announcement at a rally on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, whose economy relies heavily on the hotel, restaurant and entertainment industries. Trump made a similar promise at his own rally in the city in June — though neither he nor Harris are likely to be able to fully implement it without action from Congress.

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“I promise everyone here that when I am president, we will continue our fight for working families,” Harris said, promising to raise the minimum wage and “eliminate tips for service and restaurant workers.”

The Democratic presidential nominee and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, came to Nevada as the latest stop in a blitzkrieg campaign that has seen their party show renewed energy after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris. On Sunday, the vice president is hosting a fundraiser in San Francisco that has already raised more than $12 million, her campaign said. Speakers will include House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi.

Over 12,000 people were in the campus basketball arena, and before the event began, police decided to close the doors to the event because people had become ill while waiting outside for security in 100-degree heat. About 4,000 people were in line when the entrances were closed.

Mr. Walz mentioned this during his speech, but turned it into applause by adding of Nevada, “Don’t worry, we will come back many times.”

During her trip, Harris hopes to gain more support among Latino voters. In 2020, Biden narrowly defeated Republican Trump in Nevada by 2.4 percentage points. Trump, the former president, sought to gain more support in a state that relies on the service industry by previously promising to make tips for workers tax-free.

But the Culinary Workers Union, which represents 60,000 workers in the industry, announced its support for Harris on Friday evening. About 54 percent of the union’s members are Latino, 55 percent are women and 60 percent are immigrants.

“The road to victory runs through Nevada,” the union said in a statement, “and the Culinary Union will win Nevada for President Kamala Harris and Vice President Tim Walz.”

Adelante PAC, the political arm of the country’s oldest Latino civil rights group, the League of United Latin American Citizens, also endorsed Harris. It was a first for the 95-year-old LULAC, which in the past has been wary of officially endorsing political candidates.

AP VoteCast found in 2020 that 14% of Nevada voters were Hispanic, with Biden receiving 54% of their votes. His lead among Hispanic voters was slightly better nationwide, a sign that Democrats cannot take this voting bloc for granted.

“There is an incredible energy here among college students and community members coming together to support and listen to our next president, Kamala Harris,” said Imer Cespedes-Alvarado, 21. Cespedes-Alvarado is a political science major at UNLV and a first-generation American who spent his childhood in Costa Rica before making the difficult decision to return to the U.S. alone at age 16 for better opportunities.

Harris hopes to drive a wedge between Republicans on issues such as abortion access and overhauling the U.S. immigration system. Her message is that Trump this year scuttled a bipartisan deal to improve security at the southern border and address immigration problems. Democrats say he did so to improve his own political chances.

Because Ms. Harris’s portfolio in the Biden administration included addressing the root causes of migration, and some of her comments before the 2020 election led Republicans to try to portray her as weak on the southern border and as someone who enables illegal immigration.

Trump said of Mrs Harris: “As a border czar, she was the worst border czar in history, in the history of the world.”

He has proposed mass deportations if he returns to the White House, but AP VoteCast found in 2020 that nearly seven in 10 Nevada voters said immigrants living in the U.S. illegally should be given the opportunity to apply for legal status.

Krista Hall, 60, and her husband, Thaddeus Hager, 58, attended Harris’ rally in Las Vegas and said they hadn’t been this excited about an election since President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.

“This is just as electrifying, if not more so,” Hall said, noting that they attended several Obama rallies at the time. Hager said he was confident Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz would “win in a landslide.”

The Democrats also visited the crucial “blue” states in the Midwest last week: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as Nevada and Arizona. These five states represent 61 electoral votes that could be crucial in reaching the 270-vote hurdle needed for victory in November.

Ms Harris and Mr Walz had also planned to visit North Carolina and Georgia last week – another 32 electoral votes combined – but those stops were postponed due to Tropical Storm Debby.

In rural Nevada’s Douglas County, near the California border, 71-year-old Gail Scott is a member of the local Democratic Party’s central committee. She said she initially disagreed with calls for Biden to drop out of the race. Trump won the county in 2016 and 2020, but narrowing his lead there could reduce his chances of competing in Nevada.

Scott said one cannot overlook the energy Harris has sparked among younger voters who could be a help across the state.

“Young people are embracing Kamala Harris and the enthusiasm and joy she has brought to the campaign trail,” she said.

Brian Shaw, a Republican from northern Nevada, said Harris’ arrival at the top of the ballot could make it harder for Trump to win because Biden is a “pathetic candidate” and there is little time to expose the vice president’s “incompetence.” He said he attended Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s rally in Reno on July 30 and found him “likable, capable and polished as a politician, but not deluded.”