US Senator Bernie Sanders strengthened his front-runner position for the Democratic presidential nomination with a decisive victory in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, while Joe Biden was on track for a second-place finish that would give his struggling campaign new hope.
A self-described democratic socialist, Sanders rode a wave of backing from a diverse coalition of young and middle-aged voters, Latinos, union members and white college-educated women to a win in Nevada, according to Edison Research, showing signs of expanding support for his surging campaign beyond his longstanding core.
“We have put together a multi-generational, multiracial coalition that is going to not only win in Nevada, it’s going to sweep the country,” Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, told cheering supporters in San Antonio, Texas.
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Sanders’ triumph in the first racially diverse state suggests his unapologetic message of social and economic justice, including his signature pledge to provide universal healthcare for all Americans, is resonating with a broader coalition of Democratic voters.
For Biden and other moderates who argue that Sanders is too liberal to beat Trump and who have been trying to blunt his momentum, however, the job has become much harder.
Sanders had 47% of the county convention delegates in Nevada with 43% of the precincts reported. Biden was a distant second to Sanders with 21%, but ahead of former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, in third with 15%.
Four days of early voting in Nevada this week drew more than 75,000 Democrats, more than half first-time voters, putting the party in position to surpass the turnout record of 118,000 in 2008, when Obama’s candidacy electrified the party.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
