Bernie Sanders wins Nevada caucuses

Bernie Sanders wins Nevada caucuses
Source: Vox



Senator Bernie Sanders won the Nevada Democratic caucuses, marking Sanders’ third popular-vote victory in three primary battles.

“I am delighted to bring you some pretty good news,” said Sanders from a campaign event in San Antonio, Texas. “I think all of you know we won the popular vote in Iowa. We won the New Hampshire primary. And according to three networks and the AP, we have now won the Nevada caucus.”

“Let me thank the people of Nevada for their support,” he added. “In Nevada we have just put together a multigenerational, multiracial coalition that is not only going to win in Nevada, it’s going to sweep this country.”

The Sanders campaign has honed in on Hispanic outreach, and going by entrance polls, it worked in Nevada. Fifty-four percent of Hispanic voters said they voted for Sanders, CNN reported, with former Vice President Joe Biden at 13%.

Those figures roughly line up with a national Morning Consult poll released last week that showed Sanders with the support of 48% of Hispanic Democrats.

There hadn’t been a lot of polling in the state, but more than one recent survey indicated that Sanders had double-digit leads after being behind Biden by nine points as recently as New Year’s Day, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average of Nevada.

Four years ago, Hillary Clinton beat Sanders in Nevada by 5%. This election cycle, his campaign poured thousands of volunteers into the state. The campaign said it knocked on 500,000-plus doors.

Sanders won the popular votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, with former Mayor Pete Buttigieg riding a delegate victory in Iowa to take a modest delegate lead into Saturday. As the results of the caucuses were revealing themselves earlier Saturday, Sanders was speaking at an event in El Paso, Texas. There, he held to his stump speech and turned his attention to the March 3 Super Tuesday states.

The race for a faraway second was close between Biden and Buttigieg, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren in fourth. Tom Steyer spent millions in Nevada, but unable to hit double digits. The same went for Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

This comes after Sanders found himself in a war of words last week with Nevada’s influential culinary union, which stands for Las Vegas hospitality workers. Local 226 distributed a flier to union members saying that Sanders’ single-payer healthcare plan would bring down their union-issued healthcare. Sanders claimed his plan would make sure union members would get coverage that is at least as good as what they have now.

[article_ad]