Jimmy Kimmel Using His Celebrity to Encourage Nevadans to Vote Blue

Posted on: October 28, 2024, 01:40h. 

Last updated on: October 28, 2024, 01:40h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Jimmy Kimmel hopes to use his status as a celebrity and popular late-night television host to convince voters in the critical swing state of Nevada to vote blue.

Jimmy Kimmel 2024 election Culinary Union
Jimmy Kimmel rallies members of the Culinary Union during a stop in Las Vegas where he lent his support to electing Kamala Harris as president. Nevada will play a key role in determining the outcome of the 2024 election. (Image: Casino.org)

Early mail-in voting in Nevada began on Oct.8 and early in-person voting got underway on Oct. 19. Most votes, however, will be cast next Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Last week, Kimmel made the short trip from Southern California to Southern Nevada where he joined the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 to rally support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for a White House promotion.

The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest union. The trade group represents some 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno employed in a variety of hospitality functions, including housekeepers, waitstaff, bartenders, cooks, porters, and bellmen.

Kimmel, who was raised in Las Vegas after moving there from New York City at the age of nine, says he comes from a family of Culinary workers. The ABC late-night funnyman visited the Culinary Union Local 226 headquarters in Las Vegas’ Gateway District north of the Strip where he encouraged members and union allies to press on during the home stretch of the 2024 campaign.

Kimmel Backs Kamala

Kimmel was joined at the Culinary offices by Nevada’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen. The two thanked the union members for their persistence in backing the Democratic presidential nominee, which was initially President Joe Biden before he decided in July to step aside amid escalating party pressure.

During his stop in Las Vegas, Kimmel said he could relate to the union members.

I know what it’s like to live here and be in your spot. My dad worked at a Trump building in New York before we moved to Vegas. My dad was a waiter, and every morning he served Fred Trump, Donald Trump’s father, breakfast. And every morning, Fred Trump gave my father a tip of five cents,” Kimmel said.

“When these people, Donald Trump, tell you that they’re on your side and they care about you, remember that,” Kimmel continued. “They are not on your side.”

Nevada and its six Electoral College votes are expected to play a critical role in determining who becomes the 47th president of the United States.

On the political betting exchange Polymarket, bettors think former President Donald Trump will prevail in Nevada. The former casino owner’s implied odds of carrying the Silver State are trading at 65% to Harris at 36%.  

Pollsters have it much closer, with the latest composite suggesting Trump has less than a one-point lead over Harris in Nevada.

As Goes Nevada, So Goes the County

Nevada voters are rather good at picking the ultimate winner of U.S. presidential elections. Since 1980, Nevada has voted for 10 of the 11 candidates who went on to win the Electoral College. The state’s lone defeat came in 2016 when Nevada went blue for Hillary Clinton.

Nevada has been a perennial swing state because of its diverse population. Of those 11 presidential elections, Nevada voted for six Democrats and five Republicans. It’s why both Harris and Trump have spent, and continue to spend, considerable time campaigning in Nevada, specifically Clark County and Las Vegas, the state’s most populated county and city.

As for the election’s outcome, Polymarket bettors have placed much more money on a Trump victory than a Harris win. As a result, Trump’s implied odds of winning are at 66% to Harris’ at 34%.