Unions largely failed to oust film tax credit foes. Some think it's time for a new strategy.

This primary cycle, Nevada's building trades unions worked to unseat legislators who voted against a proposal to expand Nevada's film tax program and create thousands of construction jobs for their members.

But on Election Day, their efforts fell short.  

Sen. Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas) and Assm. Jovan Jackson (D-North Las Vegas), both of whom voted against the proposal over concerns that it didn't pencil out for the state, comfortably won their primary races against their challengers. Assm. Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas) lost his primary by fewer than 50 votes, an upset that was one of the few wins on election night for the unions. 

One union leader who led the effort to push out incumbents says he will refocus the group's political priorities going forward. 

Tommy White, the secretary-treasurer of the construction union Laborers Local 872, said he was disappointed in the results but couldn't blame voters. In the future, he said, Laborers will "pick and choose" candidates to focus on rather than seeking to influence so many races at once.

"We're going to take a whole new look at the way we handle our politics," White said. "You're probably not going to see as many campaign contributions coming out of Local 872 or any of our PAC funds."

Vince Saavedra is secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building Trades Unions (SNBTU), a coalition of 25,000 workers across 19 affiliated unions. He said his union's backing of primary challengers to incumbent Democrats wasn't personal.

"My goal isn't to try to take people out, my goal is to try to inform my members who's going to be best for our issues," he added.

Candidates, canvassers and labor leaders on both sides of the debate told The Indy that despite the years of lobbying and spending dedicated to the film tax credit bill, voters rarely brought up the issue. 

The election results were another setback for the building trades unions, who had lobbied hard for one of the most contentious bills of the 2025 legislative session. Following the bill's failure, Laborers rescinded their endorsements of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Flores and Jackson. 

Flores said he had "no frustration" toward the Laborers leader. He said he understood that White's goal was to secure wins for his members and that he expected White to be "relentless" in pursuit of that goal. 

"2027 is a whole new session," Flores said. "There is no reason why we can't sit down and figure out how we're going to work with our unions to create more jobs for all of Nevada."

'A big fight on our hands'

Once the primaries ramped up, Flores, Jackson and Watts became the focus of an intense lobbying campaign by Laborers, SNBTU and other backers of the bill. The groups portrayed the lawmakers as job killers and poured nearly $50,000 into backing their challengers, often using political action groups to skirt contribution limits of $5,000 per group. 

Union leaders said their efforts were part of a broader desire to make Democratic lawmakers respect the political ambitions of working-class Nevadans, rather than being wedded to their anger over the film tax credits. 

And not all unions were aligned on the issue: Some non-construction unions were opposed to or more ambivalent toward the tax credits to begin with, and remained loyal to incumbents.

In the end, Jackson easily dispatched carpenter Douglas Candido — winning by nearly 60 points — while Flores faced a tighter but still comfortable race against a more established candidate, North Las Vegas City Councilmember Isaac Barron (D), who he beat by roughly 10 points. 

In open races, too, candidates backed by the trade unions lost. Laborers President Lou DeSalvio (D), running for Assembly District 1, came in a distant fourth in a five-way primary, which SEIU member Alexis Esparza (D) won. DeSalvio's campaign received at least $20,000 from trade unions. 

Candido and DeSalvio did not return requests for comment from The Indy; Barron was not immediately available for an interview.

And in the Democratic primaries for Assembly districts 29 and 41, both open seats, candidates who criticized the tax credits beat contenders who were endorsed by or had received thousands of dollars from LiUna and SNBTU.  

Flores said he realized early on in his primary race that his campaign "had a big fight on our hands." The Clark County Education Association — which supported the bill because of its promise of funding for free pre-K seats — canvassed heavily for Barron, knocking on thousands of doors and leaving mailers scattered throughout the district. 

Flores told The Indy that he only won because the community recognized the work he's done over his nearly 10 years in office, including pushing to curb immigration enforcement and backing environmental protections for workers. Flores was backed by other labor groups, including the influential Culinary Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. 

Flores said he would have been "devastated" if the bill passed, adding it would have come at the "expense" of the whole state. He believes the bill would not only have hurt Nevada financially but also the state's workers because of its lack of labor protections, such as caps on how much money companies could pay a single employee.

"I have 12 years of running legislation that specifically was to empower our working class," he said. "I think they just know and have heard it."

A divide in both parties

The film tax credits proposal was estimated to generate 19,000 temporary construction jobs and fund 1,000 free pre-K seats in Clark County, but a state analysis found that it also would have pushed Nevada's budget into the red by more than $100 million. 

The bill eventually fell short by one vote in the state Senate in a rare example of bipartisan agreement, with progressives and conservatives rallying against the bill. 

That meant that fights over the film tax credits didn't just creep into Democratic primaries. 

It also became a point of division among Republicans — with many conservatives viewing the tax credits as a giveaway to California liberals and unsuccessfully trying to sink GOP candidates who had supported it. 

Sen. Lisa Krasner (R-Reno) faced major backlash for being one of the few legislators in Northern Nevada who voted in favor of the bill. She drew a primary challenger, former conservative talk show host Monica Jaye Stabbert, who dubbed her a "Democrat in disguise." 

Conservative activist Chuck Muth — who carries clout in Republican circles — sent an eight-page mailer to constituents urging voters to elect Stabbert, claiming that Krasner had a record of "handing special tax deals to 'woke' movie studios" and failing to fight for constituents. 

Assm. Jason Patchett (R-Henderson) also voted for the bill and faced a primary challenge from real estate broker Amy Groves, who criticized his vote and said the tax credits would have forced taxes to increase for Nevadans. 

Despite Stabbert's accusations, Krasner still clinched the endorsement of Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) and the conservative organization Turning Point Action. Both she and Patchett wound up winning their races in landslides, each claiming about 70 percent of the vote. 

One loser in the film tax credits fight was Watts, the assemblymember who conceded on Friday to primary challenger Miguel Dávila. The trade unions had rallied around Dávila, an urban planner and member of SEIU Local 1107, and endorsed, donated to and canvassed on behalf of him.  

Dávila himself has stressed that his candidacy was unrelated to the failure of the bill. He was also backed by unions that don't represent building trades workers, and those groups had criticisms of Watts that transcended his vote on the film tax credits bill.

What's next?

The trade unions didn't just support pro-film tax candidates through endorsements and donations — they also went all-out on canvassing for candidates. Now those unions will have to work with the incumbent lawmakers they challenged, assuming those lawmakers are re-elected in November's general election. 

Saavedra said he wasn't worried about that. He said he would continue to fight to elect Democrats — even those that his union worked against in the primary.

"Sometimes the chips fall in your direction, sometimes they don't," he said. "I believe in the Democratic leadership in the Legislature, you know, and I feel pretty good regardless of the outcome, because we still have a general to win."

Tommy Blitsch, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters 631 in Las Vegas, said that the film tax credits were the "sticking point" preventing them from endorsing Jackson but described the assemblymember as a "fine young man." 

Jackson told the Teamsters that "the people in his district were financially hurting … he had to vote no because of his constituents," Blitsch said. "That means that he listens to his constituents."

White said he wouldn't have any "hard feelings" toward the politicians who "beat my guys." 

He said that's in part because of his changing attitude toward politics, mentioning politicians' tendency to switch their votes. That was an issue that plagued the film tax bill, with some state lawmakers switching their votes late.

"They come in and give you these big promises at your union meetings," White said. "They just lie."

It's made him less interested in continuing to fight an uphill battle in what he sees as a dirty business. 

"There's a lot better things that we can do with our money, and to support workers, than putting it into candidates that are just not going to be there for you," said White.

He also said that though he's still disappointed the bill failed, he has realized it could have thrown a wrench in other plans. Most of his union's construction workers are currently — or about to be — tied up on other projects. 

"I'm kind of thinking, 'Well, you know, maybe it's a good thing that it didn't pass,'" White said. "Because we're almost empty."