Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) scored a landslide victory at the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 22, defeating a field of five rivals and raising the possibility of a socialist front runner in the race to face President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Sanders won more than half the popular vote and 46 percent of the vote with 60 percent of the precincts reporting as of 2 p.m. on Feb. 23. Former vice president Joe Biden, who had led the Democratic field in national polling for over a year before plunging late last month, held a distant second place with 19.6 percent of the vote.
Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, added uncertainty to the race by defeating even the opponents who had shifted their policy proposals as far left as his own socialist agenda. Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) trailed in third and fourth place with 15.3 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively.
With the consequential Super Tuesday coming up on March 3, the results from Nevada solidify Sanders as the front runner after he won the popular votes in both New Hampshire and Iowa. In terms of delegates to be sent to the national convention, Sanders tied with Buttigieg in New Hampshire and lost by one delegate in Iowa. More than a third of all the delegates for the Democratic National Convention will be determined on Super Tuesday.
“First we won the popular vote in Iowa. Then we won the New Hampshire primary. And now we have won the Nevada caucus,” Sanders wrote on Twitter after the results were called. “Lets go forward together and win it all.”
Sanders, a self-described socialist who once honeymooned in the Soviet Union, is running on a far-left agenda. His Medicare for All and Green New Deal policies would cost American taxpayers up to $93 trillion over the course of a decade, according to estimates by the American Action Forum.
In Nevada, Sanders proved his strength with a broad coalition that included Latino voters, union members, and African Americans. The results are significant for Super Tuesday, when the biggest delegate counts are to be won in California and Texas, which are demographically similar to Nevada.
In terms of funding, Sanders holds a major advantage over all candidates except billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
Buttigieg, who shared front-runner status with Sanders until the Nevada caucuses, attacked the Vermont senator and positioned himself as the only viable choice.
“Sen. Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans,” Buttigieg told supporters.
“Sen. Sanders sees capitalism as the root of all evil. Hed go beyond reform and reorder the economy in ways most Democrats—let alone most Americans—dont support.”
Nevada proved to be a major disappointment for Biden, who is now counting on the South Carolina primary on Feb. 29 to reestablish himself before Super Tuesday. Biden was in third place in both Iowa and New Hampshire, far behind Sanders and Buttigieg.
“Were alive and coming back, and were gonna win,” Biden told supporters in Las Vegas.
Biden is counting on his support among South Carolinas black voters, who could make up as much as two-thirds of the electorate in the state.
Facing a dual threat from Sanders and Bloomberg, Biden tried out a new rallying cry in Las Vegas: “I aint a socialist. I aint a plutocrat. Im a Democrat. And Im proud of it.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who produced oRead More – Source
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