Las Vegas (United States) (AFP)
The games are not yet made for the Democratic candidates for the White House: the Nevada jackpot will pass Saturday by the deciding vote of the croupiers, waiters or cooks, mainly Hispanic, of the casinos of Las Vegas.
Several of the eight contenders still running for the Democratic presidential nomination, including Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, joined a demonstration this week outside the Palm Casino, an establishment owned by the Fertitta brothers, displayed supporters of President Donald Trump, whom they all hope to challenge at the polls in November.
"This city has a strong union tradition, and the idea that these guys (the Fertitta brothers) are able to do what they want is absolutely outrageous," said former vice president Joe Biden among the servers and cooks in work clothes.
The presence of the Democratic heavyweights was not surprising: Las Vegas is by far the largest city in Nevada, a predominantly desert state of 3 million inhabitants, and a large proportion of its workforce (approximately 60,000 employees ) belongs to the powerful catering union.
Like Nevada, which will vote on Saturday, the demography of these union members is very diverse, with 178 nationalities represented and more than 40 languages spoken.
A target that Joe Biden justly covets, to relaunch his campaign after disappointing results in Iowa and New Hampshire, or his moderate rival Pete Buttigieg, to confirm the breakthrough recorded in these first two states, populated mainly by whites.
"From downtown to Mandalay Bay (a large casino hotel at the entrance to Las Vegas), we represent cooks, housekeeping staff, waiters and bartenders," said José Ribera, a 64-year-old unionist. "If the candidates are our friends, they are there, otherwise they do not come."
- Threat -
The absence of two aspiring Democrats - the new poll favorite Bernie Sanders and the multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who skipped Nevada - has been noted.
Mr. Sanders, the Socialist Senator from Vermont generally enjoys strong support from the Hispanic community, which makes up 29% of the population of Nevada.
But this week he had trouble leaving with the union. The latter has indeed released a comparison between the candidates not flattering for his proposals in health, one of the big challenges of the presidential election to come.
Union leaders say they have received threats over the phone and on social media which they believe are of little doubt.
"Supporters of Senator Sanders," accused Geoconda Arguello-Kline, secretary and treasurer of the catering union, citing "almost physical threats".
"These acts of intimidation were directed at women of color. The white men did not receive any threatening calls or text messages," she added.
Bernie Sanders condemned the attacks, but the union leader, born in Nicaragua, expected more.
At the foot of the Palm Casino, the demonstrators were worried about the impact that universal health coverage could have - a promise carried high by the Socialist senator - on their current regimes, acquired by hard struggle.
"This worries me," admits José Ribera. "We can't say goodbye to our insurance, which we had to fight for 85 years. It's too much."
- "Lack of respect" -
The absence of Michael Bloomberg also caused talk among the Las Vegas protesters.
"It's a lack of respect for us and the other candidates," said Sylvester Rogers, a 79-year-old pastor. "He should have been in the race from the start, like everyone else. He needs to be aware of what we are experiencing here everyday."
Despite his new strategy of skipping the first states to vote in the Democratic primary, the former mayor of New York, one of the richest men in the world, has risen in the polls recently after spending millions of dollars in advertisements.
Along the famous "Strip" of Las Vegas, where the casino hotels with their flashy architecture line up, some people have the feeling that the dice are a bit heavy.
But Rudy Oybal, a 49-year-old trade unionist, says, as fatalist as it is pragmatic, that he will support the winner of the Democratic primary, whoever he is: "The billionaires will remain billionaires. What can I do about it? "
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