Democratic Presidential Hopeful Biden Aims to Keep Nevada on His Side
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, who wears the nickname “working class Joe” with pride and courts a multi-racial voter base, faces a stern test of his ability to win nationally in Nevada’s mining towns…
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, who wears the nickname “working class Joe” with pride and courts a multi-racial voter base, faces a stern test of his ability to win nationally in Nevada’s mining towns and unionized gambling parlors.
Nevada’s Feb. 22 nominating contest is the third one in the state-by-state process of picking a Democratic nominee to face Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 general election. The former vice president’s advisers have said Biden’s strength in the Democratic race will show in racially diverse states such as Nevada, with its large Latino population, and South Carolina, with its sizable black population.
Even if Biden does not win in predominantly white Iowa on Feb. 3 or New Hampshire on Feb. 11 – the states with the first two nominating contests – he is expected to make up the ground once the race moves onto Nevada, then South Carolina on Feb. 29 and the 14 states holding contests on Super Tuesday on March 3, according to his advisers.
In Nevada, where candidates must appeal to miners and casino workers among others who make up the Democratic electorate, Biden faces a tough challenge from rival Bernie Sanders. The state also has larger proportions of black and Asian residents than Iowa and New Hampshire and a bigger share of residents who did not graduate from college, testing his appeal to blue-collar voters.
Edward Mercado, 72, a retired car-assembly worker, said Biden’s experience as Barack Obama’s vice president for eight years was a key reason for his support, adding that no current candidate matches the former president’s charisma.
“There’s a lot of them that stand out but you have to go with experience,” specifically Biden’s experience under Obama, Mercado said.
Biden, who was touring the state on Saturday as part of a two-day campaign swing, invested in Nevada early in his campaign and carved out a clear lead in opinion polls in the state. His campaign opened six offices across the state and hired about 50 staff members.