Nevada caucuses: Bernie Sanders wins in resounding victory

The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders won the caucuses
in Nevada, solidifying his frontrunner status in the race for the Democratic
nomination.
“We’ve brought together a multigenerational,
multiracial coalition that is not only going to win Nevada, it’s going to sweep
this country,” Sanders told supporters in San Antonio, Texas, after the
Associated Press and several US networks projected his win.
With almost half of precincts officially reported,
Sanders held a large lead on Saturday night. At this stage of results, the
former vice-president Joe Biden appeared to be in second place, with the former
South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Elizabeth Warren trailing
behind.
The Nevada caucuses come at a critical moment in the
Democratic primary, a week before the South Carolina race and just before Super
Tuesday, in March, when 14 states will vote. In a state that is nearly 30%
Latino, 10% black and has a rapidly growing Asian American community, the
Nevada results were a compelling sign of Sanders’ strength in diverse states
that more closely reflect the demographics of the Democratic party.
The victory for the self-proclaimed democratic
socialist follows strong results in Iowa and New Hampshire this month and his
momentum comes as the support of more centrist Democratic voters remains
divided among his rivals. With none of those moderate Democrats indicating
they’ll drop out anytime soon, Sanders has a solid lead in the race to win the
nomination and take on Trump.
Across Nevada, Sanders supporters celebrated on
Saturday as it became clear early on that the senator was getting significant support
at the caucuses. Unlike traditional private votes, the caucuses have voters
gather in groups based on their top-choice candidate, allowing them to switch
to a second choice if their first pick doesn’t garner enough support to get a
delegate.
“Bernie Sanders means hope to me,” said Donny
Brooks, a 19-year-old student caucusing at the University of Nevada, Reno.
“Bernie represents a push against the status quo. A win for Bernie is like an
actual win for the public.”
Nevada is the third contest in the Democratic
primary race. The first two primary states, Iowa and New Hampshire, which are
90% white, also delivered strong results for Buttigieg. But the Indiana mayor
appeared appeared to have been unable to capture strong support among Nevada’s
diverse electorate.
Buttigieg, who took the stage in Vegas before his
standing in the Nevada results was clear, directly targeted Sanders in his
speech, criticizing the “inflexible, ideological revolution” of the Vermont
senator and urging Democrats not to “rush to nominate” him.
Joe Biden shoots selfies with voters at Cheyenne
high school in North Las Vegas. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Nevada’s “first-in-the-west” caucuses were also a
major test for the campaign of the former vice-president Biden, who was a
frontrunner in polls last year but performed poorly in the first two state
contests. Biden gave a triumphant speech in Vegas before the results were
finalized, and his campaign manager said he appeared to be in second place.
“The press is ready to declare people dead quickly. We’re alive. We’re coming
back,” Biden said to cheers. “We’re going to win in South Carolina, and then
Super Tuesday.”
The Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, another
midwestern candidate vying for moderates, had earned an unexpected third-place
win in New Hampshire, but also polled poorly with voters of color. With 43% of
precincts reporting, Klobuchar appeared to be near the bottom in Nevada.
Warren was pushing for a surge in Nevada after her
widely celebrated performance at the debate days earlier in Las Vegas. The
Massachusetts senator announced on Saturday she had raised $14m in the last 10
days, double the amount her campaign had set out as a goal ahead of the
caucuses. She came in fourth in Nevada, making a path to the nomination
increasingly difficult.
At a Saturday night rally in Seattle, Warren
congratulated Sanders and thanked Nevada voters “for keeping me in the fight”.
She emphasized her recent fundraising surge, adding, “We have a lot of states
to go, and right now I can feel the momentum.”
The former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg was not on
the ballot in Nevada due to his late entrance into the race, and the
billionaire’s campaign has faced intense scrutiny this week after a
particularly embarrassing first debate performance in Vegas.
After days of perma-blue skies, it was raining in
Las Vegas on Saturday, with volunteers bracing against the conditions to
welcome voters to their sites. On the Las Vegas Strip, hotel and casino workers
streamed into the Bellagio, one of seven casino-resorts there that served as
caucus sites.
Angelica Romero, 54, gained citizenship last year
and said it was a privilege to cast her vote for the first time. Romero, who
works as a guest room attendant on the Strip, was caucusing for Sanders. “The
morals of Bernie are the same as those of my family and myself,” she said,
mentioning his Medicare for All plan and his proposal for free college
education.
At Sparks high school in northern Nevada, a group of
Sanders supporters were the first to arrive hours before the caucus,
encouraging voters to back the Vermont senator as they lined up.
Essie Richard, a 73-year-old resident, was not
swayed.
“I’m Biden all the way. He was vice-president for
eight years. He has the experience,” said Richard, adding that protecting
social security and Medicare was the most important issue to her: “I’m barely
surviving.”
Naomi Zamarripa, an 18-year-old high school senior,
also arrived early to caucus in Sparks and said she was excited to cast her
first vote for Sanders: “I love his commitment. He’s been around for so long.
He keeps fighting and stays true to his beliefs.”
Linda Hunt, a 68-year-old Sparks voter who showed up
to caucus with “Nevada for Bernie” signs, said it was hard not to be moved by
Sanders’ message: “To be truthful, I love his passion, how he feels about the
way we are supposed to be going in this world.” She said she was also terrified
of four more years of Trump: “This guy in the White House will be the end of
life as we know it.”
This was the first year Nevada offered early voting
opportunities, and nearly 75,000 residents had cast their votes before Saturday.
A majority were first-time caucus-goers, according to Democratic party
officials.
“Nevada determines how things are going to go in the
rest of the country,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline, the secretary treasurer for
the Culinary Union, the state’s most powerful labor group, which represents Las
Vegas casino workers.
Nevada Democrats had been scrambling for weeks to
avoid the technology failures that caused chaos in the Iowa caucuses, due to
mishaps involving an app. Results on Saturday trickled in slowly, as Nevada
officials tabulated the results.
Elizabeth Warren greets supporters during a visit to
a caucus site at Coronado high school in Henderson.
Cat Dow, 29-year-old Reno voter, said she was
excited that this was an election with two candidates she actually liked –
Sanders and Warren. “Elizabeth’s debate really shook me. I love her, she kicked
ass, everything she said was so salient and so relevant and she was so tough.”
But Dow, who works in computer technology, said she was sticking with Sanders,
adding: “I want the national embarrassment out of office more than anything
else.”
Just minutes before the process started, Sam
Difulvio, a 19-year-old Reno student, said she was still torn between the two
progressive candidates: “I’m trying to hone in on their character and see who I
like as a person. I want to hear what normal people have to say about the
candidates.”
At one precinct at the university, Sanders won
overwhelming support, leaving a small handful of Buttigieg and Warren
supporters unable to win a delegate. Carissa Bradley, a 23-year-old Warren fan
in the group, said she hoped Nevada would move away from the caucus system in
the future: “It’s super archaic. It’s not conducive to introverts or people who
aren’t politically active. And it creates issues for people who work on the
weekends or can’t take all this time off.”
Bradley said she was ready to back any nominee: “It
doesn’t matter who becomes the candidate – as long as we all vote blue.”