FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 21, 2022
CONTACT: Summer Kim, [email protected]
Domestic Workers Endorse Cortez Masto and Cano Burkhead
CARSON CITY – Care in Action, the national policy and advocacy home for more than 2.5 million home care workers, nannies, and house cleaners – the majority of whom are women of color – announced today that they have endorsed U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Lieutenant Governor Lisa Cano Burkhead for election in 2022.The endorsements announced today were made after extensive discussions among domestic workers in Nevada and a meeting of Care in Action Nevada’s Workers Committee, which voted unanimously to endorse the two candidates.
“Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Lieutenant Governor Lisa Cano Burkhead have already proven themselves to be the kinds of leaders we need at this critical moment in history,” said Sobaika Mirza, Interim Co-Executive Director of Care in Action. “Home care workers, nannies, house cleaners and family caregivers continue to keep this country afloat during the pandemic. We are fighting to elect officials who recognize the critical role of care and essential workers this November.”
“Nevadans need champions who will fight for them. That is what they’ll get by re-electing Senator Cortez Masto and Lieutenant Governor Cano Burkhead this year,” said Care in Action Nevada State Director Yadira Siqueiros. “Senator Cortez Masto has prioritized key issues important to our membership, including taking on elder abuse, stopping domestic violence, and keeping families in their homes. Lieutenant Governor Cano Burkhead is working hard every day to improve pay and working conditions for care workers. We know they will both be strong champions for the issues most important to working Nevadans in the years ahead.”
Care in Action, a 501(c)(4) organization, believes that women of color are key to progressive victories and electing candidates who will support all families and workers in policy decisions, including domestic workers and immigrants. Care in Action was founded in 2016 at the request of domestic workers who knew they needed to build political power to fight back against attacks from then-candidate Donald Trump. In 2020, the domestic worker movement mobilized on a large scale for the first time in recent memory, contacting voters 27 million times during election season and helping deliver the White House and control of the U.S. Senate to the Democratic Party.
As the country begins to recover, low wages and rising inflation are hurting families. This is especially true for the nearly 15,000 domestic workers in Nevada who make an average hourly wage of $11.44. A growing number of older adults and people with disabilities require in-home care, and many of them rely upon Medicaid’s home- and community-based services (HCBS) to provide it. In Nevada, over 18,000 people receive HCBS through Medicaid. Relatedly, a growing number of family caregivers struggle with the physical, emotional and financial strain that our underfunded HCBS system puts upon them. Investing in domestic workers and in HCBS is investing in all Nevadan workers and families.
Care in Action is the policy and advocacy home for women who care, working on behalf of more than two million domestic workers and care workers across America. Among the fastest-growing sectors in our economy, domestic workers are also among the most vulnerable and undervalued. As a mostly women and majority women of color workforce, this growing constituency consistently and overwhelmingly supports progressive values in American political life. Learn more at www.careinaction.us.
Paid for by Care in Action PAC