2020 Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses

Caucus votes were initially slated to be counted on the Shadow app that caused significant problems during the counting of 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses. As a consequence of those difficulties, the caucuses instead used Google Forms running on 2,000 iPads to send in results.^[7] Some volunteers believed there was a lack of training on the iPads, which could result in malfunctions.^[8] Early voting for the caucuses took place from February 15 to 18. In addition to Google Forms, early voters filled out a paper ballot that required them to rank candidates according to preference.^[9] Early voting ballots were only counted if voters ranked at least three candidates, and were transmitted to voter's home precincts to be counted alongside election day votes.^[10]

Precinct caucuses were held starting at 10:00 a.m. local time (PST), with voting starting at noon on February 22. In the closed caucuses, candidates had to meet a 15% viability threshold within an individual precinct in order to be considered viable and 15% at the congressional district or statewide level to win delegates, with supporters of non-viable candidates at precinct caucuses then allowed to support one of the remaining viable candidates. Of the 36 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, 23 were allocated on the basis of the district results made up of the precinct caucuses, with between 5 and 6 allocated to each of the state's four congressional districts. In the same step the precinct caucuses also elected delegates to county conventions based on the results of the vote in each precinct. Of the remaining 13 pledged delegates, 5 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates) in addition to 8 at-large delegates, and these were distributed proportionally based on the number of county delegates for presidential contenders.^[2]

The county conventions were planned for April 18, 2020, to choose delegates for the state convention. On May 30, 2020, the state convention met to vote on the 36 pledged delegates for the Democratic National Convention. The delegation also included 13 unpledged PLEO delegates: 6 members of the Democratic National Committee, 5 members of Congress (both senators and 3 representatives), the governor Steve Sisolak, and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. This meant that presumptive nominee Joe Biden together with the delegates he received from Buttigieg was able to get 25 votes on the national convention, one more than Sanders' 24.^[11]

On March 20, 2019, the Nevada Democratic Party had released its 2020 delegate selection plan, introducing four days for early voting from February 15 to 18, 2020, and, like the Iowa caucuses, "virtual caucuses" on February 16 and 17 to allow those unable to physically attend to vote in addition to releasing raw vote totals. In both cases, caucusgoers' ranked presidential preferences would be sent to their precinct and counted on the day of the physical caucus, but in late August 2019, the Democratic National Committee ordered both the Iowa and Nevada Democratic state parties to scrap their plans for "virtual caucuses" because of security concerns.^[12] After county conventions following the previous caucuses had left open the risk of a candidate winning a majority of delegates at the state conventions despite trailing among district delegates, even all unpledged delegates had to be allocated on the basis of the results of the precinct caucuses on February 22.^[13]

In order to get on the "caucus preference card" (ballot), candidates had to file with the State committee and pay a $2,500 fee by New Year's Day 2020. The following candidates qualified:^[14]

Cory Booker, John Delaney and Marianne Williamson were accepted onto the ballot, but withdrew soon enough that they did not appear on it.^[14][15] Although Delaney had not been on the ballot, he received one vote in the first caucus alignment. There was also an uncommitted option on the ballot.^[15]

Twenty-three candidates visited the state during 2019. The largest event of that year was the November 17 "First in the West" "cattle call", which was attended by fourteen candidates.^[16]

For a second caucus in a row, the Culinary Workers Union declined to endorse a candidate.^[17] This came after it circulated a flyer among members criticizing Sanders and Warren's support for single-payer healthcare, which it argued would leave members with worse benefits.^[18] The Las Vegas Sun endorsed both Klobuchar and Biden, saying that they think nominating Sanders "guarantees a Trump second term."^[19]

The following was spent on television advertising:^[20]

• Tom Steyer: $13.55 million
• Bernie Sanders: $1.54 million
• Elizabeth Warren: $1.51 million
• Pete Buttigieg: $1.26 million
• Joe Biden: $1.16 million
• Amy Klobuchar: $838,740

Even though the Republican caucus had been canceled, President Trump held several campaign events in Nevada.^[21][22]

Bernie Sanders won the Nevada caucuses, with Joe Biden coming in second and Pete Buttigieg in third.

Final alignment popular vote share by county

  Sanders—30–40%

  Sanders—40–50%

  Sanders—60–70%

  Sanders—70–80%

  Buttigieg—<30%

  Buttigieg—30–40%

  Buttigieg—40–50%

County convention delegates won by county

  Sanders—30–40%

  Sanders—40–50%

  Sanders—50–60%

  Sanders—70–80%

  Buttigieg—<30%

  Buttigieg—30–40%

  Buttigieg—40–50%

  Steyer—<30%

Final alignment popular vote share by congressional district

  Sanders—30–40%

  Sanders—40–50%

Participation in the 2020 caucuses (105,195 initial alignment votes in the official count)^[70] was 25% higher compared to the approximately 84,000 people who participated in the 2016 caucuses, but 4% less compared to the approximately 110,000 voters who participated in the 2008 caucuses.^[28]

Entrance polls by CNN indicated that Sanders won nearly every gender, race, age, and education demographic group, except for African-Americans and voters over 65, where Biden won 38–28 and 29–12 respectively. He performed extremely well among younger voters, capturing 65% of voters in the 17–29 demographic and 56% of voters under 45 overall, showcasing his overwhelming strength with the youth vote. In terms of ideological preference, Sanders won handily among voters who identified as liberal (50%) and somewhat liberal (29%), whereas Biden won over moderate voters (25%). Sanders also won the state's population center of Clark County, which constituted 70% of all caucusgoers, with 49% of the vote.^[71] In a break with Culinary Workers Union leadership who had previously come out against Sanders's Medicare for All plan, Sanders won several caucus precincts along the Las Vegas Strip, home to many hotel and casino workers who are members of the union.^[72]

Sanders's landslide victory has been attributed in part to his intentional outreach to Latino communities coordinated by staff member Chuck Rocha, resulting in winning 53% of Latino voters,^[73] who make up about 30% of Nevada's population.^[74] Under Rocha's direction, the Sanders campaign focused heavily on mobilizing Latino voters, a historically low-turnout demographic group, by hiring 76 Latino staffers and spending over $3 million on Spanish-language advertising specifically crafted to cater to Latino issues in Nevada.^[75]

Sanders's substantial margin of victory in Nevada, the first early state with a diverse electorate, helped ease concerns that his campaign had limited appeal among voters of color, as was the case in 2016. These concerns would arise again for Sanders when Joe Biden went on to win South Carolina, a state where 60% of the Democratic electorate is African-American, by a large margin.^[76]

For Biden, his distant second-place finish in Nevada helped allay fears of a faltering campaign after two underwhelming results in Iowa and New Hampshire. With South Carolina being the next state to hold a primary, it would be this state that would make or break his campaign – or one that would cement Bernie Sanders' status as a frontrunner.^[77]