LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Actors and a bartender who work on the Las Vegas Strip say business is way down, and they blame tariffs and taunts from President Donald Trump for the decline.
Meanwhile, Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, D-Clark County, has called on incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony to speak out against the tariffs in his role as chairman of the state's Tourism Commission.
WATCH | Tourism slump on the Strip:
Jauregui is the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in November.
Spencer Ridenour, a bartender at the Chandelier Bar at the Cosmopolitan hotel-casino, said he's noticed a big drop in tourism, especially from Canada, after Trump returned to office in 2025 and imposed tariffs while boasting that Canada should be the 51st state.
"The Chandelier Bar is the highest-grossing bar in Las Vegas, and we are losing customers left and right, especially international," he said. "We used to have Canadians for hockey games. They used to come out before the game, after the game. I have not ID'd a Canadian in months. This is serious stuff. It is not good for our economy. They were our No. 1 people that would come out, especially during hockey season."
Ridenour acknowledged that Trump's no-tax-on-tips policy, rolled out at a Las Vegas rally in 2024, was helpful to workers in Las Vegas. But he said the drop in tourism makes the policy moot.
"A tax break does not matter if those people are not coming daily to help tip us, and that pays our electric bill, that pays our mortgages, that pays our rent," Ridenour said. "That [policy] is irrelevant if people aren't coming here to tip us, especially internationally."
Trump has said he imposed tariffs to correct trade deficits and bad trade negotiations that had taken place in the past, contending that foreign nations were taking advantage of the United States. He's said that tariffs would bring in billions in revenue to the federal government, and may eventually replace income taxes.
Bridget Scheiner, an actor who has performed in shows on the Strip, says the job market is tightening, not just in her profession, but everywhere.
"But the new trend is that shows are closing, and nothing new is reopening on the residency end," said Scheiner, who performs as Bridgienix. "And then for conventions, they're just cutting entertainment altogether, which that used to be one of the biggest sources of income."
Scheiner said she's had to drive to Los Angeles and Colorado for acting gigs, something she used to do only when she wanted a role.
"It would always be a choice," she said. "So before, if you went to California, it would be for a really high-budget commercial that's going to pay you like what you would make here in a year. Yeah, that would be an occasional choice. Last year, it was not a choice; it was circumstance."
Jauregui said Anthony should stand up to Trump, telling him tariffs are hurting Nevada jobs, even at risk of Trump's ire.
"Because your No. 1 job is to fight for Nevada families, not to get re-elected. You don't run for office to get re-elected," she said. "You run for office to make change in our community. So doing the right thing isn't hard, it just takes courage."
Jauregui compared Anthony to Trump, saying they both use their elected office for personal reasons. Anthony is fighting a finding by the state ethics commission that he broke rules when he supported a task force to ban biological men in women's sports. Anthony has proclaimed his innocence and is suing the commission over its conclusion.
"While Nevada families are struggling, living paycheck to paycheck, gas is going through the roof, groceries are going through the roof, Strip workers are losing their jobs, he's using his office for his own personal gain," she said.
Anthony's campaign, in a text to Channel 13, criticized Jauregui's record in the Legislature.
"Sandra, who refuses to release her consulting clients to the public, has forced Nevadans to pay higher property, grocery bills, and gas taxes, and somehow thinks she knows how to help our economy and working Nevadans," wrote Raymond Serrano, spokesman for Anthony's campaign. "When she's not drafting legislation to hand billions of dollars of our tax money to her donors in Hollywood, she's busy shilling for special interests at the expense of our hardworking families. Maybe she should sit this one out."
Jauregui was one of the prime sponsors of a bill to create a transferable tax credit program for a partnership of Hollywood studios and the Howard Hughes Corp. that had planned to build a film studio in Summerlin. The program promised thousands of jobs and long-term tax revenue, but was controversial in the Legislature, where it repeatedly failed in 2025.
If elected, Jauregui said she would conduct an advertising campaign in Canada, saying Nevada did not agree with Trump's tariffs or his rhetoric, and that Canadians are welcome in Nevada.
She also said she'd work on advertising the entire state, including attractions off the Strip.
"I'm going to make sure that tourism throughout our entire state is thriving — not just in Southern Nevada, not just in Northern Nevada, but in all of Nevada," she said. "Making sure that gaming and entertainment and outdoor recreation is thriving in our state so that the next time we go through an economic recession where people might not be able to spend money on gaming and entertainment, they're still coming to Nevada to hunt, to fish, to camp with their families, to see the rest of our beautiful state."
Asked what he'd tell President Trump if he had the chance, Ridenour said he'd ask the president to think of the working population.
"Understand what every American is going through right now," he said. "Please understand that gas is expensive, groceries are expensive, and that's why people voted for you. They wanted you to have that go down. You said no new wars, and we're still in this war right now. People are hurting."
