Bernie Sanders Adviser Urges Nation to ‘Pay Attention’ to Nevada: ‘I’ve Got Some Tricks’

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) takes the stage during a prim
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Senior Sanders Adviser Chuck Rocha said this week that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) campaign has “some tricks” to win the upcoming Nevada caucuses and is urging the nation to “pay attention to Nevada.”

Rocha pressed the hosts of Hill.TV’s Rising to “pay attention to Nevada,” adding, “I’ve got some tricks in my little bag of tricks that you haven’t seen yet.”

“Nevada’s going to be great,” Rocha said, adding that it will be an “interesting” contest.

Indeed, current political sentiments in Nevada are largely unknown, as public polls have not been released in recent weeks. The current RealClearPolitics average shows Joe Biden (D) leading in Nevada with 21 percent to Sanders’ 17.5 percent, but the dates of the polls ranged from January 5-11 — results that preceded the Iowa and New Hampshire contests and recent debate.

FiveThirtyEight’s analysis, however, shows Sanders leading the ever-thinning field with 23.7 percent support. Biden falls just over five points behind with 18.6 percent support.

It remains to be seen how the state’s influential Culinary Union’s disapproval of Sanders’ intention to remove union health benefits will affect voter preferences. The flyer, which broke down six candidates, was reportedly sent to the union’s 60,000 members.

“We’ve been directly calling them at their homes, talking to them at their work sites, and sending them mail, we’ve sent hundreds of thousands of pieces of mail to culinary workers who are Latino in Nevada talking about where Bernie Sanders stands,” Rocha said.

“And we have huge support among the culinary rank-and-file,” he added.

Sanders is coming into the February 22 Nevada caucuses with 21 delegates to Pete Buttigieg’s (D) 22. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has eight — none from New Hampshire — Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has seven, and Joe Biden (D), who also failed to reach the threshold to garner delegates in the Granite State, has six.

The former vice president, who departed New Hampshire for South Carolina on Tuesday, remained defiant after his poor political performance, telling the crowd, “Tonight, we just heard from the first two of 50 states. Not all of nation, not have…not a quarter of the nation, but two [states].”

“Now, where I come from that’s the opening bell. Not the closing bell,” he continued, ultimately mixing up New Hampshire and Nevada.

“It is important that Iowa and Nevada have spoken, but, look, we need to hear from Nevada and South Carolina and Super Tuesday and beyond,” he added.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.