The Culinary union is flexing its political muscle this election cycle, backing the daughter of their former secretary-treasurer in a primary challenge against Democratic state Sen. Rochelle Nguyen because she supported a bill the union vehemently opposed.
But Geoconda “Geo” Hughes says she wants to be the candidate for all labor, not just the powerhouse union she grew up around. Hughes is an intensive care nurse practitioner who worked through the pandemic.
...
Hughes is the daughter of Geoconda Argüello-Kline, who led Culinary for a decade before retiring in 2022. Hughes’s candidacy was announced mid-March at a Culinary endorsement event.
Union leaders said they were targeting Nguyen because of her involvement with 2023’s Senate Bill 441, which repealed daily room cleaning provisions established in 2020 as a response to the covid pandemic. That bill, which passed the Legislature and was signed by the governor, was supported by every Republican and 19 Democrats across the state Assembly and Senate, but Nguyen presented the bill during its original committee hearing and has been pegged as one of two Democratic leaders on the effort.
(The other, Democratic state Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop, who actually sponsored the bill, is not up for reelection until 2026.)
Culinary ultiimately incorporated some of the repealed provisions into their contract negotiations.
But Hughes said thousands of Culinary workers, who are predominantly women of color, could have been moved from full-time to part-time, or lost their job entirely.
“That was the potential that legislation had,” she added.
...
Hughes is one of two candidates being pushed by the Culinary this primary cycle. Linda Hunt, 45-year member of the union who works as a food server at a downtown casino, is the other. Hunt is running in the Democratic primary in Assembly District 17 against Mishon Montgomery, an Air Force veteran being backed by the Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus. That race is an open seat.