IN-DEPTH COVERAGE

DEMOCRATS FACE AN IMPORTANT TEST IN NEVADA CAUCUSES

LAS VEGAS — Just past the roulette wheel and slot machines, the smoky bars and blinking lights, Nevada Democrats weighed in on their party’s presidential nomination fight.

Seven casino-resorts on the Las Vegas Strip stood among 200 caucus locations statewide that hosted the presidential caucuses on Saturday, the third contest in a 2020 primary season that has so far been marred by chaos and uncertainty in overwhelmingly white, rural states. The exercise of democracy inside urban temples of excess is just one element that distinguishes the first presidential contest in the West, which will, more importantly, test the candidates’ strength with black and brown voters for the first time in 2020.

The vote comes at a critical moment for the Democratic Party as self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders emerges as the clear front-runner and a half dozen more moderate candidates savage one another to be the preferred alternative. The ultimate winner will represent Democrats on the ballot against President Donald Trump in November.

Long before voting began, there was skepticism about Pete Buttigieg’s ability to win over a more diverse set of voters after strong finishes in overwhelmingly white Iowa and New Hampshire. It was the opposite for Joe Biden, who struggled in Iowa and New Hampshire but looked to Nevada’s voters of color to prove he still has a viable path to the nomination.