las vegas<u+2014> donald trump <u+2019>s presidential victory has been widely interpreted in part as a sign of organized labor<u+2019>s waning influence over its members. but not in nevada, where the culinary workers union helped to deliver a nearly clean sweep for democrats in several races. the union, which represents<u+00a0>housekeepers, cocktail waitresses and other casino workers, was credited by many with helping to produce a blue wave that flipped two u.s. house districts to democrat from republican, won a close senate race for democrats and helped the party gain control of both state legislative bodies. hillary clinton carried the state even as she lost many traditional organized-labor strongholds in the midwest. <u+201c>nevada is definitely a hopeful place<u+201d> for the labor movement, said steve rosenthal, a longtime union political organizer who ran the service employees international union<u+2019>s national political effort during the election. at the democrats<u+2019> election-night party, many union volunteers wearing anti-trump t-shirts stood on stage chanting as ruben kihuen, the son of a union member and housekeeper, gave a speech celebrating his victory in a close race for a las vegas-area house seat previously held by a republican. <u+201c>this is the american dream,<u+201d> mr. kihuen said of his victory. exit polls show that people from union households voted as a greater share of the electorate<u+2014>19%<u+2014>than four years ago in nevada and supported the republican presidential candidate at about the same clip as they had then, around 40%. in some of the rust belt states that mr. trump picked up, union households made up a little over 20% of the electorate. the difference was that they were more likely to favor the republican than they did in previous elections. mr. trump received around 54% of the union vote in ohio compared to mitt romney <u+2019>s 37% in 2012; 40% in michigan compared to 33% for mr. romney; and 43% in wisconsin compared to 33% in 2012, according to exit polls. nationally, around 18% of the electorate was from union households, the same as in 2012; mr. trump was supported by 43% of those union-household voters, compared with 40% for mr. romney. tom buffenbarger, who recently retired as president of the international association of machinists and aerospace workers, said that the results indicate that as union density in america has dropped amid a decline in manufacturing, an increasing number of the remaining members are no longer voting automatically democratic as most union endorsements ask them to. for d. taylor, president of the culinary<u+2019>s parent union unite here, part of the answer lies in the culinary<u+2019>s on-the-ground effort in nevada. <u+201c>it meant going door to door, talking to people, listening to people, trying to move people,<u+201d> mr. taylor said. <u+201c>i think that<u+2019>s very, very doable. that<u+2019>s what democrats and labor used to do.<u+201d> the union began its political organizing with a citizenship drive at the beginning of the year, helping to naturalize about 2,200 people so they could vote. in the fall, it paid for 100 members to take weeks off from work to help with organizing. by election day, 300 members were working on the effort. the union thinks that it was responsible for getting about 53,000 people to the polls<u+2014>a far larger number than the margin of victory in either the presidential or senate races<u+2014>said yvanna cancela, who recently stepped down as its political director. of those voters, 16,000 were union members; the rest were identified by the union as low-propensity democratic voters. the union spends very little of its political money on advertising. whether labor<u+2019>s nevada success can become a national model<u+2014>or even leave a lasting imprint on nevada<u+2014>is a matter of debate. get-out-the-vote efforts were aided by several factors that are particular to the state, including widespread early voting and a population that is heavily latino and concentrated in one region, las vegas. the culinary union<u+2019>s service-sector members haven<u+2019>t been as much affected by outsourcing and other forces buffeting industrial unions. another unique factor in nevada is retiring senate minority leader harry reid, who has been an exceptionally effective democratic party fundraiser and organizer for the state. some republican operatives in the state said they are hopeful that now that mr. reid is retiring it may become easier to counteract the political efforts from unions and others. <u+201c>it can be frustrating being a republican operative in nevada going up against this harry reid machine,<u+201d> said robert uithoven, a political consultant. <u+201c>a lot of us have been looking forward to his retirement for some time.<u+201d> others think the outcome in nevada could be a model for democrats girding for more fights as republicans, who tend to oppose union-backed agendas, will now control washington, d.c., and continue to hold power in most state capitals. <u+201c>if you have a dynamic union that does a lot of work, that is enough,<u+201d> said nelson lichtenstein, a history professor who studies unions at the university of california, santa barbara. <u+2014>melanie trottman contributed to this article. write to alexandra berzon at alexandra.berzon@wsj.com
embattled democrats, labor allies see nevada as a beacon - wsj
alexandra berzon