Sanders cruises to Nevada victory
Most Dems already on to next state
Bernie Sanders cruised to victory in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, cementing his status as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination and causing Pete Buttigieg, his main competitor in the early states, to sound his strongest alarm yet about the Vermont senator’s trajectory.
Sanders took his victory lap in front of a boisterous crowd in San Antonio, Texas, grinning and laughing amid cheers.
“We won the popular vote in Iowa. We won the New Hampshire primary,” he said. “We have just put together a multigenerational, multiracial coalition that is not only going to win in Nevada, but it is going to sweep this country.”
Sanders’ resounding win in the Silver State — his clearest victory yet, coming in the most diverse state thus far — gives the Vermont senator what some fear could be an insurmountable boost heading into the delegate-rich Super Tuesday states.
With the increasingly real prospect of Sanders securing the Democratic nomination now hanging over the still-fractured Democratic field, Buttigieg delivered his most forceful message yet on the need to stop Sanders’ march toward Milwaukee, where the party will choose its standard-bearer in July.
“I congratulate Sen. Sanders on a strong showing today,” the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., said from Nevada. “But before we rush to nominate Sen. Sanders in our one shot to take on this president, let us take a strong look at what is at stake for our party, for our values, and for those with the most at stake.”
The 38-year-old moderate said the 78-year-old self-described democratic socialist “believes in an inflexible ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans.”
As results trickled in, erstwhile national front-runner Joe Biden was upbeat.
“Y’all did it for me. Y’all did it,” the jubilant former vice president told his Nevada supporters early in the afternoon. “Now we’re going on to South Carolina to win and then we’re going to take this back.”
With a nod to his dismal fourth- and fifth-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively, Biden said, “I think we’re in a position now to move on in a way that we haven’t been until this moment.”
From a Seattle rally, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren told Nevadans, “Thank you for keeping me in the fight.”
After her fiery debate performance Wednesday brought excitement back to her campaign, Warren said, “We have a lot of states to go and right now I can feel the momentum, so let’s stay in this fight.”
Back in her home state of Minnesota, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar told supporters, “As usual, I think we have exceeded expectations.”
President Trump tweeted, “Looks like Crazy Bernie is doing well in the Great State of Nevada. Biden & the rest look weak, & no way Mini Mike can restart his campaign after the worst debate performance in the history of Presidential Debates. Congratulations Bernie, & don’t let them take it away from you!”
Nevada’s Republican Party awarded Trump all 25 of its delegates Saturday, having previously canceled its caucuses..