Face-to-face conversations with voters could make critical difference in razor-thin presidential election

Hospitality union members began canvassing as early as July in ten states, including battlegrounds of Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina

B-roll of canvassers in the field >>

NATIONWIDE—Over 2,000 unionized hotel, food service, and gaming industry workers knocked on the doors of more than four million voters this election season, doing their part to help deliver the presidential election for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

As part of the country’s largest labor-led independent canvass, UNITE HERE members and volunteers—primarily Black, Latinx, and women hospitality workers—spoke with over 500,000 individual voters as they knocked doors to help elect Kamala Harris as President and win key House, Senate, and governor’s races in ten states: Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, California, and New York. Canvassers began knocking doors in some states as early as July.

“This year, UNITE HERE had more canvassers in the field and we knocked on more doors than ever before—nearly four million—because this is one of the most important elections of our time. In 2024, we are voting to decide whether we will continue moving forward, or whether we will instead be forced to defend our fundamental rights as union members, people of color, immigrants, women, and more,” said UNITE HERE President Gwen Mills. “Our canvassers take leaves of absence from their jobs and dedicate months of their lives to knocking doors and speaking with voters in their communities. The conversations they have can make the critical difference when an election is this close. When a voter is on the fence on whether to even vote at all, there is no substitute for a face-to-face conversation with someone who has faced the same struggles, and can help them understand why their vote does matter.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Nationwide
Canvassers: 2,000
Total Doors Knocked: 4 Million+
Total Conversations: 500,000+

Nevada
Canvassers: 600
Total Doors Knocked: 900,000+
Total Conversations: 140,000+

Arizona 
Canvassers: 400
Total Doors Knocked: 1,200,000+
Total Conversations: 200,000+

Pennsylvania 
Canvassers: 400
Total Doors Knocked: 1,450,000+
Total Conversations: 175,000+

North Carolina 
Canvassers: 50
Total Doors Knocked: 140,000+
Total Conversations: 20,000+

Marco Aviles, former kitchen worker at Mirage & UNITE HERE Culinary Union member:
“I have family and friends that have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) immigration legal status and under the first Trump administration, TPS was constantly at risk and my loved ones were in danger of family separation. The Biden-Harris administration protected TPS and we continue to fight for a permanent solution on Congress. I voted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they will keep families together, protect TPS, and defend DACA. It’s up to us to make our future is secure and to protect our loved ones.

Cynthia Jimenez, cook at Sky Harbor International Airport for 12 years and member of UNITE HERE Local 11, originally from Chiapas, Mexico:
“I had never been involved politically until this year. It was important for me to get out the vote for Harris because as a woman this election is a matter of life or death, I also have a sister and nieces in Texas where, like in Arizona, the rights of women and young girls are on the line. Decades ago, women could not vote, or own property, and we are not going back.”

Tim Freeman, a Kitchen Utility Worker at the Warwick Rittenhouse Square and member of UNITE HERE Philly:
“Canvassing, to me, is more than just knocking on doors. It’s about building relationships, about showing up and letting people know that their voice matters. I grew up in this community. I’ve worked in it, I’ve seen its challenges, and I know how much this election matters to all of us. Every single conversation I have is a step toward building a stronger, more resilient community. When we show up and vote, we take a stand for all of us, for our rights, for fair wages, healthcare, safe neighborhoods, and the future we want to see for our families.”

Marion Makor, a cook at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and member of UNITE HERE Local 23 in Charlotte:
“A few years ago, I came to the US with my family as an immigrant. A lot of the freedoms I have in the US were robbed from me back home because of 14 years of non-stop civil war. I never had the right to vote. If you went to express who you were voting for you could lose your life. The reason I’m fighting is because I have the chance and the freedom now that I never had growing up back in West Africa. Going to people and encouraging them to vote is something that I never thought I would do in my entire life. I felt that in order to practice what I’m preaching I needed to vote. So, for the first time in 10 years, I voted.”

UNITE HERE’s 2024 operation is even larger than the union’s effort in 2020, when it played a critical role in delivering the election for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. That year, union canvassers knocked three million doors in key swing states. Of the 440,000 infrequent voters that they mobilized to vote for Biden, 125,000 Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania voters had not voted in 2016. In Nevada and Arizona, the number of these voters exceeded the margin of victory.

Canvassers will continue doing voter turnout through Election Day. In some states, union members will play in election protection, including monitoring the polls and ballot curing.

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UNITE HERE is the hospitality workers’ union in the U.S. and Canada, representing nearly 275,000 workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries. The multistate canvass is paid for and reported by Workers Vote, a federal independent expenditure PAC.