On a gusty Saturday morning, the Culinary Union Hall — tucked away behind the towering Strat hotel at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip — was packed full, as 400 volunteers, most of them union members, readied themselves for the all-important early vote window with chants of “si se puede.”

The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 has long been among the most singularly powerful political forces in Nevada, often operating en masse through campaign groundwork and door-knocking campaigns to back state, local and federal Democrats up and down the ballot.

Amid the backdrop of the union’s historical effectiveness — and sheer size — of its canvassing operation, some of the state’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbents, including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Gov. Steve Sisolak, attended the canvassing kickoff on Saturday.