The following is a transcript of an interview with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Democrat of Nevada, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Nov. 3, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined by Nevada Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who joins us from Las Vegas. Good morning to you, Senator.
SENATOR CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re going to be tracking your state very closely and all six of its electoral votes. In this early vote, we’ve seen half of Nevada’s active registered voters have cast ballots, and there’s some anxiety among Democrats because Republicans currently have a lead statewide. Are you confident the remaining ballots will close that gap and deliver the state to Harris?
SEN. CORTEZ MASTO: Well, Margaret, I can tell you a couple of things. One, I am optimistic that we are going to win, not only for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, but for Jacky Rosen in this state. I am absolutely confident in our ground game, in our canvassing and knocking on doors and talking to our voters, because that’s literally what matters here is making sure that our voters, who are paying attention now in a swing state like Nevada, that somebody is talking to them, because there’s so much information out there, and now is the time for us to connect with our voters and talk to them about the issues that they care about. So yes, I am very, very confident. And the only other thing, let me say this, Margaret, is, you know, I was reelected just recently, and there was a Republican advantage in my race, in my midterm, and I won. Not only did I win, our congressional delegation won and so we also won our- our state seats in our state house. So what we know in Nevada, it is really about that organization. It’s knocking on those doors. It’s phone banking. It’s talking to our voters. We also have a large population of our voters who are non-partisan. Over a third are non-partisan, and those are the independents in other states, and they lean democratic. They leaned my way. And so I am very, very confident that, as we are working our ground game, we’re going to organize our way to victory here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You met- you mentioned your victory in 2022 that was just by 8,000 votes. So this- this could be a tight one as well, this time around. The Trump campaign talks about making inroads with the working class population, in particular on the issue of the economy, your state has the second highest unemployment rate in the country. The majority of voters do not have a college degree. Why shouldn’t the Trump campaign be confident that they are making inroads with this key demographic?
SEN. CORTEZ MASTO: Well, a couple of things, Margaret, you talked about my- my tight race. They’re always tight in Nevada. It’s a swing state. They’re always close. It’s always within the margin, and that’s why it is important you get out and talk to voters and you don’t take anyone for granted. And you’re right, a large part of our population, our service industry, those are high school educated individuals. That’s my family. They worked in this industry, and these are the individuals we want to talk to, but we also have been engaging them on the issues that matter to them. And if you look at our strong organized labor, which is the culinary, which is made up most of the service industry, along with our building trades, they’re knocking on those doors in favor of the Democrats, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. So there is this outright concerted effort by everyone to make sure our voters understand who is- what’s at stake here, and there’s a stark difference. I mean, you know, let me just say because this is important for voters to know this that Kamala Harris has already talked about, she wants to represent everyone. She wants to lift everybody up- no matter who voted for her, she’s going to represent them. She’s going to start day one with a to-do list to how she works on the issues that she knows that many voters are challenged with. Donald Trump is going to walk in the Oval Office with an enemies list. There’s a difference between the two, and when you talk to voters about it, who are expecting that in Nevada, in a swing state, that makes the difference in whether or not we are going to win and we are going to win.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But does your party- We played what the current President, Joe Biden said about Trump supporters, and some have compared that. Republicans have compared that to what Hillary Clinton said about a basket of deplorables. Does your party have a disdain problem in talking down to working class voters in particular?
SEN. CORTEZ MASTO: Well, I can tell you here in Nevada in general. First of all, let’s just say, but- we know this, President Biden clarified his statement, and Kamala Harris has made it very clear–
[CROSS TALK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, he quibbled about an apostrophe in the transcript.
SEN. CORTEZ MASTO: But Kamala Harris made it very clear moving forward, that she wants to represent everyone, right? No matter whether you voted for her or not, and whoever you vote for, you shouldn’t be criticized for that. And she’s made that very clear. What- what I hear from voters in Nevada, and this is where the- where it’s relevant, not the spin rooms, not the polls, not what you’re hearing on the national news, but what are voters saying, and what are they care about, and they’re listening. And I can tell you my voters in Nevada that I talk to, which is really a large population of not only our blue collar, but minority Latinos, a-a-a- excuse me, Asian American Pacific Islanders, a vibrant Black community, Native Americans. They are listening to, what are the issues? Who’s bringing the solutions right? Who has the solutions to address the affordable housing issue? That’s Kamala Harris. Who has the issues to address how we lower health care costs and keep them low for all Americans? Kamala Harris. Who has the idea about how we protect the Affordable Care Act and not repeal it? That’s Kamala Harris. So those conversations matter to my voters in Nevada, and that’s what’s relevant at the end of the day, and how we’re going to make this happen.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And your state also will be key to watch. You do have abortion on the ballot, even though it’s already legal in your state, there is talk about enshrining it in the Constitution based on what happens Tuesday. We’ll be following that and what happens with your party. Senator, we have to leave it there for time. Thank you. We’ll be back. A lot more Face than Nations, stay with us.