In Reno last week, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) laced up her sneakers to launch an activity Nevada Democrats have made their calling card over the last 20 years — canvassing.
“Enjoy the day, knock a lot of doors and turn out the vote,” Rosen told the crowd, advising volunteers to share their reasoning for door-knocking to leave an impression. “Don’t leave any door without telling them they have to have a plan to vote.”
The next day, in Reno’s Idlewild Park, the Washoe County Republican Party held their own “Trick or Trump” voter turnout event. A woman in a witch hat set up a face painting station; plastic buckets of Halloween candy sat on top of picnic tables next to campaign yard signs and handouts calling for voters to support a voter ID measure on the ballot.
The party — and separate get-out-the-vote events hosted by Democrats two weekends before Election Day in Nevada’s most purple county, including a free barbecue food truck near Reno’s Plumas Park — are supplements to broader campaign efforts across the Silver State, the type of in-person events that experts say are an essential part of reaching voters in a critical election year.