Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is aggressively courting Filipino voters in the key swing state of Nevada.
The Asian American population has risen in the state in recent years, coming to make up 12% of the total state population, NBC News reported. Of these, an overwhelming majority are Filipinos, many of whom fled Hawaii and California in recent years due to rising costs. The Harris campaign sees this burgeoning demographic as a decisive factor in capturing the state’s six Electoral College votes, and it has invested a significant amount of resources to win them over.
In 2024, over 2.1 million Filipinos will be eligible to vote, with likely the most decisive population residing in Nevada. The state has one of the five largest Filipino populations, most of whom lean Democratic or independent. The Filipino population in the United States is also growing rapidly, increasing by 30% from 2010 to 2020, AAPI Data reported.
A recent initiative targeted the Filipino American community in Las Vegas, with ads showing Harris’s support for “Pinoy Pride.” The campaign has been doing events specifically targeting Filipinos since January when acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su represented then-candidate Joe Biden at an event in a Filipino restaurant.
“It shows people we’re not just trying to say, ‘Hey, vote for us,’” senior Harris adviser and Nevada Assemblywoman Erica Mosca told the outlet. “We’re actually understanding your culture … and we’re trying to connect like regular people with politics and policy.”
The Filipino American assemblywoman said that Filipinos are so tightly knit that winning over one serves as a force multiplier.
“In the Filipino community, you get one person, then they tell their whole family. People are filling out their voter cards, and they’re sharing it with all their cousins and their aunties on WhatsApp,” she said. “When we’re motivated, we will vote.”
Harris’s campaign ads targeting the community often include Filipino greetings and nationalist slogans.
The Trump campaign has also focused efforts on the Filipino community, boasting a “Filipinos for Trump” group and campaign booths at Asian American restaurants and events.
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“In Nevada, Team Trump has been on the ground engaging with Asian American voters, including the Filipino community,” said Halee Dobbins, the Republican National Committee’s Nevada communications director in Nevada.
RealClearPolitics’s polling average has Harris and Trump locked in a tight race in Nevada, with the Democrat ahead by just 1.1 points.
