Democratic party’s Kitchen Table Tour of rural Nevada begins in Pahrump

NV Dems, the state’s Democratic party, made their first stop on their Kitchen Table Tour in Pahrump on Monday morning.

The tour aims to listen to voters’ concerns about the election cycle in rural communities across Nevada.

July was a fast-moving political month for both presidential campaigns following an attempted assassination on former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump and the endorsement of Kamala Harris to replace Joe Biden on the top of the Democratic ticket.

Harris raised $200 million in the first week of her bid for president, according to her campaign and is getting a wave of blue support from her backers, including Assemblywoman and Chair of the Nevada Democratic party Daniele Monroe-Moreno, who will be speaking on the party’s rural tour in the state. When she was elected as the chair of her party, she made a few promises. One was to represent all Nevada voters, rural or urban.

“I would not leave any voter untouched, at every corner of the state, without having an opportunity to make contact with [them],” Monroe-Moreno said. “I personally take no vote for granted.”

Rural issues

Democrats are found everywhere in the state, which includes the town of Pahrump. As of the June 11 Nevada primary, there were 31,715 registered voters in Nye County, according to the county clerk’s office. Roughly 15 percent are registered Democrats, while Republicans make up nearly 45 percent of registered voters. The rest are independent.

But regardless of their party affiliation, they all share similar issues.

“Sitting down and talking with folks in Pahrump and some other communities today [we’re hearing] a lot of the same issues that I’m hearing in Clark County,” Monroe-Mareno said. “One of them being housing; the cost of housing, the lack of housing and affordability.”

Pahrump has felt the steady population growth post-pandemic after a shift in the housing market. Pahrump has been estimated to have more than 50,000 residents.

Another concern locals expressed to the chair of the Democratic party is how clean energy is impacting the rural communities. Companies are proposing to add solar farms and lithium mining that would drain water from a scarce resource for Nevadans.

“Water is like gold in our state,” Monroe-Moreno said.

A large number of residents in Pahrump are older, as the town is mostly known as a retirement community, where many are between the ages of 60 and 74. The residents bought their homes and are now working within a fixed income after they retire; but their pensions aren’t going up, the cost of living is.

Senior residents of Pahrump also voiced their concerns about the rising cost at the pharmacies to the chairwoman.

The tour will stretch all the way to Elko on Wednesday. They will hold a press conference in Reno at 9 a.m. and an evening mixer in Elko. The touring group is also joined by the Harris for President campaign, Horsford’s team and the chair of the President of the Association of State Democratic Committees, Ken Martin.

“Under [the current] leadership there have been more than 285,000 new jobs right here in Nevada. Our legislative Democratic leaders [laid] the groundwork for long-term economic growth in our rural communities.”

Recently the state received $3.5 billion from an infrastructure bill that aimed to catch rural parts of Nevada up to speed with broadband and maintenance to roads and bridges. This created in-demand jobs for rural Nevadans.

“Oftentimes as Democrats, we do the work and we don’t ask for credit,” Monroe-Moreno said. “We just do the work.”

Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@pvtimes.com. Follow @JimmyRomo.News on Instagram.