A pivotal Nevada Senate race is unusually quiet for the battleground state

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A pivotal Nevada Senate race is unusually quiet for the battleground state

2024-11-05 16:01 Last Updated At：16:11

LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a presidential swing state where elections are typically intense contests, Nevada's U.S. Senate race has been unusually sleepy.

The campaign pits Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen — a former computer programmer and synagogue president — against Republican Sam Brown, a retired Army captain whose face is still scarred from injuries he suffered in Afghanistan. Both parties agree the state is in the midst of a tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump at the top of the ticket, but that the senate race has drawn little notice, though Rosen has emerged as the favorite.

The first-term Rosen has outspent Brown by more than 3-1 in the contest, positioning herself as a nonideological senator who delivers for her home state on issues like broadband internet access and a high-speed rail connection with Southern California. Brown, who was awarded the Purple Heart, has campaigned on his biography and the state's cost-of-living crisis, particularly acute in working-class Nevada. He's had trouble gaining traction, though a last-minute infusion of GOP money in late October came as Republicans, cheered by strong turnout for their party in early voting, hoped Brown could upend expectations in the race.

“He hasn't really articulated a case for why we should get rid of Rosen, and Rosen has done a really good job of positioning herself as the prototypical Nevada Senator,” said David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Damore added that since Nevada became a state in 1864, only five of its incumbent senators have lost bids for reelection. Most have behaved like Rosen, positioning themselves as nonpartisan leaders who deliver for the state.

“There's a history of longstanding, moderate senators who have dominated Nevada politics,” Damore said.

Rosen won in 2018 when the prior senator who'd occupied that role, Republican Sen. Dean Heller, veered sharply to the right in response to attacks from Trump for not supporting the then-president adequately. The state's other senator, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, narrowly won reelection in 2022 with a similarly centrist, low-profile campaign against a Trump-backed candidate.

Trump endorsed Brown in the state's primary, but his political career predates Trump. Brown tried to run for a statehouse seat in Texas in 2014 before moving to Nevada in 2018 and unsuccessfully competing in the 2022 Republican primary to challenge Cortez Masto.

Brown in 2008 was grievously wounded by an improvised explosive device during a Taliban ambush of his unit in southern Afghanistan. He left the army in 2011 after 30 surgeries and years of recovery, founding a business to help veterans get medical care. Brown's face remains seriously scarred and has become central to his campaign ads.

“As a U.S. Senator I will proudly stand alongside Donald Trump to make American affordable, safe and strong again,” Brown said at the Republican National Convention this summer.

Rosen has hammered Brown over his stance on abortion, saying he'd vote for a national ban if sent to Washington, D.C.

Abortion until 24 weeks of pregnancy is protected in Nevada by a 1990 state law. A measure to enshrine the right to an abortion until viability — which is after 21 weeks — in the state constitution is on ballots this year. If it passes, it must pass again in 2026.

Brown describes himself as “pro-life” and contends he never filled out a 2022 questionnaire that states he opposes exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother. Brown and his wife Amy sat down for a joint interview with NBC news earlier this year describing an abortion she had before the two met.

Meanwhile, Rosen kicked off her reelection earlier this year with an ad in which she states: “Six years ago I promised to do what's right for Nevada, not my party leaders.”

Republicans need to net two senate seats to win a majority in the chamber, so every seat counts in this election. But the GOP is already well-positioned in West Virginia, where they have an open seat in a state Trump won overwhelmingly. The Republican party is confident in its odds ousting Democrats in two other red states, Montana and Ohio. So the party has not invested heavily in Nevada.

The senate race isn't the only underwhelming one in Nevada. The state has three Democratic-held House seats that could be competitive, but Republicans are significant underdogs in all of them.

“They did a horrible job of recruiting,” Damore said of the state Republican party, which has been taken over by hardline pro-Trump activists.

Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, who has represented Nevada's 1st Congressional District for more than a decade, again faces a challenge from retired Army Col. Mark Robertson. Titus defeated Robertson in 2022 by nearly 6 percentage points. Her district is reliably blue, covering Las Vegas and portions of the city's suburbs of Henderson and Boulder City.

In the 3rd Congressional District, widely considered the state's most competitive, Democratic U.S. Rep. Susie Lee is trying to defend her seat from Drew Johnson, a conservative policy analyst. The district includes a large swath of the culturally diverse Spring Valley neighborhood in Las Vegas, but also more rural areas in Clark County, which is the state's most populous.

Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, is looking to keep his seat in Nevada's sweeping 4th Congressional District that covers downtown Las Vegas and deep-red rural counties including Nye, Mineral and Esmeralda. He faces a challenge from former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, now a Republican after switching parties and running an unsuccessful primary campaign in 2022 for governor.

Boeing factory strike ends as workers vote to accept contract

2024-11-05 16:04 Last Updated At：16:10

SEATTLE (AP) — Factory workers at Boeing voted to accept a contract offer and end their strike after more than seven weeks, clearing the way for the aerospace giant to resume production of its bestselling airliner and generate much-needed cash.

Leaders of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers district in Seattle said 59% of members who cast ballots agreed to approve the company’s fourth formal offer and the third put to a vote. The deal includes a 38% wage increase over four years, and ratification and productivity bonuses.

However, Boeing refused to meet strikers’ demand to restore a company pension plan that was frozen nearly a decade ago.

The contract’s ratification on the eve of Election Day cleared the way for a major U.S. manufacturer and government contractor to restart Pacific Northwest assembly lines that the walkout idled for 53 days.

Bank of America analysts estimated last month that Boeing was losing about $50 million a day during the now-ended strike, which did not affect a nonunion plant in South Carolina where the company makes 787s.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a message to employees that he was pleased to have reached an agreement.

“While the past few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team,” Ortberg said. “We will only move forward by listening and working together. There is much work ahead to return to the excellence that made Boeing an iconic company.”

According to the union, the 33,000 workers it represents can return to work as soon as Wednesday or as late as Nov. 12. Ortberg has said it might take “a couple of weeks” to resume production in part because some workers might need retraining.

The average annual pay of Boeing machinists is currently $75,608 and eventually will rise to $119,309 under the new contract, according to the company. The union said the compounded value of the promised pay raise would amount to an increase of more than 43% over the life of the agreement.

“It’s time for us to come together. This is a victory,” IAM District 751 President Jon Holden told members while announcing the tally late Monday. “You stood strong and you stood tall and you won.”

Reactions were mixed even among union members who voted to accept the contract.

Although she voted “yes,” Seattle-based calibration specialist Eep Bolaño said the outcome was “most certainly not a victory.” Bolaño said she and her fellow workers made a wise but infuriating choice to accept the offer.

“We were threatened by a company that was crippled, dying, bleeding on the ground, and us as one of the biggest unions in the country couldn't even extract two-thirds of our demands from them. This is humiliating," she said.

For other workers like William Gardiner, a lab lead in calibration services, the revised offer was a cause for celebration.

“I'm extremely pumped over this vote,” said Gardiner, who has worked for Boeing for 13 years. “We didn't fix everything — that's OK. Overall, it's a very positive contract.”

Union leaders had endorsed the latest proposal, saying they thought they had gotten all they could though negotiations and the strike. Along with the wage increase, the new contract gives each worker a $12,000 ratification bonus and retains a performance bonus the company wanted to eliminate.

“It is time for our members to lock in these gains and confidently declare victory,” the local union district said before the vote. “We believe asking members to stay on strike longer wouldn’t be right as we have achieved so much success.”

President Joe Biden congratulated the machinists and Boeing for coming to an agreement that he said supports fairness in the workplace and improves workers’ ability to retire with dignity. The contract, he said, is important for Boeing’s future as “a critical part of America’s aerospace sector.”

Biden's acting labor secretary, Julie Su, intervened in the negotiations several times, including when Boeing made its latest offer last week.

A continuing strike would have plunged Boeing into further financial peril and uncertainty. Last month, Ortberg announced plans to layoff about 17,000 people and a stock sale to prevent the company’s credit rating from being cut to junk status.

The strike began Sept. 13 with an overwhelming 94.6% rejection of the company's offer to raise pay by 25% over four years — far less than the union’s original demand for 40% wage increases over three years.

Machinists voted down another offer — 35% raises over four years, and still no revival of pensions — on Oct. 23, the same day that Boeing reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.

The contract rejections reflected bitterness that built up after union concessions and small pay increases over the past decade.

The labor standoff — the first strike by Boeing machinists since an eight-week walkout in 2008 — was the latest setback in a volatile year for the aerospace giant. The 2008 strike lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million daily in deferred revenue. A 1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.

Boeing came under several federal investigations this year after a door plug blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Federal regulators put limits on Boeing airplane production that they said would last until they felt confident about manufacturing safety at the company.

The door-plug incident renewed concerns about the safety of the 737 Max. Two of the planes had crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The CEO at the time, whose efforts to fix the company failed, announced in March that he would step down. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving regulators who approved the 737 Max.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday's vote puts Boeing’s future back on more solid footing.

“Washington is home to the world’s most skilled aerospace workers, and they understandably took a stand for the respect and compensation they deserve,” Inslee said in a statement congratulating the workers.

Koenig reported from Dallas and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City.