Harris campaign to advertise on Las Vegas Sphere, a political first: Report

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign will advertise on the Las Vegas Sphere, becoming the first political campaign to do so, Nexstar's KLAS has learned.

The advertisements will coincide with Harris' visit to Las Vegas on Thursday. The campaign hopes the imagery will reach millions of voters in Nevada and online, a spokesperson said.

A video of the 90-second advertisement shared with KLAS includes Harris' signature campaign phrase: "When we vote, we win."

Earlier this month, Harris told radio talk show host Howard Stern that she snuck away from the campaign trail and attended a U2 concert while campaigning in Las Vegas earlier this year.

*Formula One cars are displayed on the outside of the Sphere prior to the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix auto race, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)*

“Oh my god, have you been to the Sphere?” Harris asked Stern. “It’s extraordinary. You’re sitting there and it’s almost like Disneyland or Disney World where things just start to change around you and you feel like you lose sense of gravity. It’s really phenomenal.”

Sphere Las Vegas' exosphere is the largest screen in the world. The concert venue began displaying its exterior imagery in July 2023.

According to the Harris-Walz campaign, Harris will return to Las Vegas on Halloween for a rally with special guest Maná. The campaign had not yet announced the rally's location as of Tuesday. Last week, Harris held a 30,000-person rally with Beyonce in Houston, Texas. Harris' running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, campaigned in southern Nevada last weekend.

Former President Donald Trump was also scheduled to hold a Las Vegas-area rally on Halloween. The Trump-Vance campaign rally was scheduled for that afternoon at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson. Both campaigns have visited southern Nevada a handful of times — Harris about a dozen since becoming vice president in 2021 and then the Democratic nominee in July.

*Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives for a campaign appearance Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Sam Morris)*

Recent polling shows the race between Harris and Trump statistically tied in Nevada. Close margins often decide Nevada elections: In 2022, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo won by about 15,000 votes; Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto won by about 8,000 votes. In 2020, President Joe Biden won by about 33,000 votes.

Early voting data as of Monday showed registered Republicans leading registered Democrats in both in-person and mail ballot returns. The data does not reveal how a person voted. Nonpartisans make up the majority of voters in Nevada.

Advertising rates for the exosphere are estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for one day alone, with rates running higher during major Las Vegas events.