Las Vegas: On a suburban street in Las Vegas, about 20 minutes from the neon-soaked hotels and casinos that draw in tens of millions of visitors every year, Maria Polanco and Brian Torres Suazo are going from house to house, trying to mobilise voters in the hope that Donald Trump never returns to power.

As the mercury rises to almost 40 degrees, plenty of doors are knocked, but few are opened. Then, just before the pair is due for lunch, a man wearing a singlet with the stars and stripes of the American flag comes out to get his mail, giving them a much-needed breakthrough.

“We’re from the Culinary Union, and we’re just gathering support for Kamala Harris – I promise we’re not selling anything,” Polanco, 52, says politely in Spanish, as she hands the somewhat sceptical resident a pamphlet spruiking the Democratic candidate.

“We just want to make sure you know about the election.”

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“She’s young, strong, vigorous, and she’s a fighter, but the truth of the matter is that folks seem to think that Trump has the advantage when it comes to tackling the economy,” says Culinary Workers Union secretary-treasurer Ted Pappageorge, whose group has embarked on a mass mobilisation program, particularly targeting Nevada’s Latino, black and Asian communities.

If he were a gambler, would he put his chips on Harris to win?

“I think the election is completely up in the air right now, so we all need to do our job and get people out to vote. That’s the path to victory.”