The Sanders campaign has long sought to prove it is more than a bunch of ‘Bernie Bros,” predominately white, male supporters. The Nevada Caucuses proved them right. The New York Times reports from Las Vegas;
“For at least one day, in one state, the long-promised political revolution of Mr. Sanders came to vivid life, a multiracial coalition of immigrants, college students, Latina mothers, younger black voters, white liberals and even some moderates who embraced his idea of radical change and lifted him to victory in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday.”
“By harnessing such a broad cross-section of voters, Mr. Sanders offered a preview of the path that he hopes to take to the Democratic presidential nomination: uniting an array of voting blocs in racially diverse states in the West and the South and in economically strapped parts of the Midwest and the Southwest, all behind the message of social and economic justice that he has preached for years.”
Politico has an excellent analysis of voter breakdown, but importantly notes: “The profile of Sanders’ core support looked a lot like the voters who pushed him to a win in New Hampshire and a still-unresolved photo finish in Iowa, with one important distinction: Sanders drew the largest share of nonwhite voters in Nevada, who made up only a small part of the electorates in the two previous states.”
Unlike super-white Iowa and New Hampshire, roughly a third of Nevada voters were racial minorities, and Sanders won 53 percent of the Latino vote.
Sanders didn’t stick around Nevada to celebrate. He campaigned in two Texas cities on Saturday with heavy Latino populations, El Paso and San Antonio.
CNN notes: “Still, Sanders is far from clinching the Democratic nomination. A second-place finish in Nevada could prevent Joe Biden‘s standing from further weakening next week in South Carolina, where the former vice president is hoping his support among black voters will carry his campaign to victory. And former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s $434 million of television advertisements looms large on Super Tuesday, when 14 states vote on March 3.”