Harris rolls out ads for Filipino-American community in Nevada
Vice President Harris's campaign is launching digital ads in Las Vegas to engage with Filipino Americans ahead of Filipino American History Month.
The campaign is placing digital ads in Las Vegas to “engage with Filipino American voters as they gather to celebrate the richness of Filipino food and culture." Ads will also be placed on taxi tops, bus shelters, and billboards around the Pinoy Pride Festival on September 27.
“These ads underscore our campaign’s efforts to reach Filipino American voters where they are and speak with them about what’s at stake in this election,” Harris Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Spokesperson Andrew Peng told The Hill.
Asian Americans make up more than 10 percent of Nevada’s population, and Filipino Americans are the largest demographic within that group. Close to 170,000 Filipino Americans are living in the state. In 2020, President Biden won the state by a little over 40,000 votes. During that election cycle, Asian Americans broke 65 percent Democratic.
“It's the largest and earliest investment ever in outreach,” Filipinos for Harris founder Melissa Ramoso, who is also a council member in California, told The Hill. “The pathway to 270 will be won or lost on the margins and Filipino Americans in Nevada have been the margin of victory.”
According to Ramoso, Filipino Democratic leaders have traditionally dedicated much of their time to driving out voters in the Silver State, which has been a swing state for over two decades.
“To do this for the Filipino American community, especially in Nevada, where a lot of our relatives and a lot of people we know go to retire and where many of our people have moved is really speaking to us,” she said.
The Harris-Walz campaign also expects Filipino Americans to have “a decisive role in this election” and has hired AAPI-specific staff in the state to help with outreach.
“As Filipino Americans gather to celebrate their history and heritage, Team Harris-Walz is proud to join in honoring the resilience and joy of this incredible community,” Peng told The Hill.
In July, the campaign conducted a “media blitz” in Nevada Asian American papers like the Las Vegas Chinese Daily News, Las Vegas Japan Times, and the Philippine Times of Southern Nevada.
This is Harris's fourth Asian-American-specific ad blitz. Last week, the campaign launched an ad highlighting her mother, an immigrant from India.
In another Asian-American-specific ad, the Harris campaign highlighted Rozita, a Filipina American living in Las Vegas, highlighting the “active threat Donald Trump poses to the health of Asian American communities.”
According to Ramoso, healthcare and elder care are among the most important issues for Filipino Americans, as many are involved in the healthcare industry.
The campaign also attacked Trump while rolling out this ad buy in Nevada, pointing to his decision to “shut down” their Asian American outreach center in the state.
“There has been no bigger advocate for the AAPI community than President Trump,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung wrote to The Hill. “Anyone who says otherwise is disgustingly using the AAPI community to play political games for their own benefit.”
The push to mobilize Filipino American voters in Nevada is part of a larger strategy to turn out Asian American voters, the quickest-growing demographic in the nation, with over 15 million eligible voters this cycle.
Asian Americans are showing overwhelming support for Harris, with a recent poll showing that Harris holds more than a 30-point advantage over Trump in the demographic.