At one of the largest political rallies in modern Nevada political history, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz continued their barnstorming tour as the new Democratic presidential ticket on Saturday — one of the clearest signs yet of Democrats’ renewed hopes in the swing state.

Campaign officials said more than 12,000 people attended the event at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas — by far the biggest crowd for any campaign event in Nevada this election cycle. Local law enforcement prevented an additional 4,000 from entering the arena due to heat-related concerns. 

The rally marks the final stop on a weeklong tour of battleground states launched after Walz — the 60-year-old Minnesota governor and military veteran — was picked as Harris’ running mate last week. 

Nevada’s appearance on that campaign list was no mistake — Democrats are newly energized in their efforts to keep the Silver State blue after Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket and seeing a corresponding surge in donations and poll numbers (including in Nevada).

And it was in Nevada, amid the regular rhetoric of her campaign stump speech, that Harris made a new promise: to eliminate federal taxes on tips received by restaurant workers and others in the service industry. It marked a rare moment of political agreement — the idea was first raised by former President Donald Trump at his Nevada campaign rally in June and later embraced by elected officials in the state, including Democrats.

In a post to his Truth Social account Saturday, Trump accused Harris of copying his proposal, and that “she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes!”

It’s a policy promise that was quickly lauded by the Culinary Union Workers Union Local 226, the politically powerful labor union that endorsed Harris and Walz late Friday ahead of their trip to the state. The union represents more than 60,000 workers in Reno and Las Vegas. 

As they have at other campaign events this past week, Harris and Walz touted their backgrounds — her as a prosecutor, attorney general and senator, him as a former teacher, National Guard member and congressman  — and outlined how their administration would protect people’s rights. Harris framed the election as an ideological struggle with Democrats pushing for “the future” and the Trump campaign stuck in “the past.” 

In response, the crowd chanted “we will not go back.”

“If Donald Trump wants to pick a fight over our most fundamental freedoms, we say, bring it on,” Harris said. 

The excitement was evident among the more than 15 attendees interviewed by The Nevada Independent Saturday, many of whom said they felt more energetic and engaged with Harris leading the ticket and Walz by her side. The campaign recruited 4,300 volunteer shift sign-ups at the event, which was higher than any other prior rally, a campaign official said.

Alexandra Freer, 35, said she wouldn’t have gone to a rally if Biden were the Democratic nominee.

“I think he is a good guy in general, but we needed somebody new. I wasn’t very excited to vote for Joe,” Freer said. “It’s exciting. I’m way more excited.”

Walz/Harris

During her 27-minute speech, the vice president leaned into her record as a prosecutor, repeating a common phrase that she has used this week that she knows “Donald Trump’s type” through her record of prosecuting “predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, scammers who broke the rules for personal gain.”

Harris highlighted access to abortion in her speech, saying Trump would sign a national abortion ban “but we are not going to let that happen because we trust women.” Walz told the story of his daughter — Hope — who was born as a result of  in vitro fertilization, a message implicitly contrasting GOP opposition to some fertility treatments.

She also called the immigration system “broken” and pledged to pass a stalled Senate bill that would have beefed up Border Patrol funding and stop processing most asylum claims if the number of migrant encounters reaches a certain threshold. The bill failed after Trump urged Republicans to oppose it.

“He talks a big game about border security, but he does not walk the walk,” Harris said of Trump.

The rally marked Harris’ seventh appearance in Nevada this year — and by far the biggest — after previously stumping for Biden six times, including events to court Latino and Asian American voters. Walz also made a brief stop in June to a Biden campaign field office in Reno. 

Unlike those previous visits, the scale of Saturday’s visit was unmistakably bigger. The state’s entire Democratic congressional delegation — Reps. Steven Horsford, Susie Lee and Dina Titus and Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto — preceded Harris and Walz, along with a casino porter and Culinary Union member as well as a campaign staffer from North Las Vegas.

Saturday’s rally was also the first time many in Southern Nevada had a chance to hear Walz in person.

Walz spent much of his speech outlining his background — he grew up in rural Nebraska and had 25 people in his graduating class, saying his parents taught him the importance of “generosity towards my neighbor and to work with the common good.” He highlighted his time serving on the House Armed Services Committee, during which he touted helping pass “the most extensive veterans package since the GI Bill” with Republican support.

“I learned the art of compromising without compromising my values,” Walz said.

He also leaned into the characterization of Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) as “weird” — a strategy he first deployed in a TV interview while vying to be Harris’ running mate that has since become a focal point of the campaign’s messaging. 

“Taking away reproductive freedoms, banning books, raising the price of insulin, trying to hurt labor unions, nobody’s asking for that weird crap,” Walz said.

A campaign energized?

Rochelle Jeter, said she could only think of one apt comparison to the level of enthusiasm she saw Saturday: Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.

Jeter, 73, had not previously attended a political rally, but was among the first people who entered the Thomas & Mack Center, clad with a purple umbrella to protect her from the triple-digit heat.

“I'm encouraged, and I pray that it'll continue,” she said. “I'm going to do what I can to contribute.”

It’s comments like those from Jeter that have inspired more confidence among Democrats, especially given the surge of volunteer support and interest in the campaign in the immediate aftermath of Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race. 

But will this “Harrismentum” last until November?

Polling has been relatively limited in Nevada so far, though a handful of polls released since Biden left the race have shown a much closer contest. The Cook Political Report, a top election forecaster, this week moved Nevada to a “toss up” after it previously leaned Republican. The state has not backed a Republican presidential candidate since 2004, but the GOP has won other statewide contests and post-Obama margins of presidential victory in the state have grown increasingly slim.

“This will be a tight race until the very end, and so let's not pay too much attention to the polls,” Harris said during her speech. 

Anne Yeh, a 75-year-old retired nurse, describes herself as a regular at political events, but described the energy she’s witnessed since the start of Harris’ campaign as unprecedented. 

“We're getting young people involved more,” said Yeh. “We're getting Black people involved. We've got women coming out of the woodwork. They're reaching the general public.

"For the first time, everybody doesn't have to be a CEO executive,” she said, citing Walz's background as a teacher and growing up on a farm. 

Lisa Agramonte, a 56-year-old teacher in Clark County, said Harris was the reason she showed up Saturday.

“She's on fire,” she said. “I’m all for her.”