First it was the farmers of Iowa, then the Anglo-Saxons of New Hampshire and now the Hispanics of Nevada. One after another, the voters of the Democratic Party rebel against the ‘establishment’, as Republicans did in 2016 when they elected Donald Trump. This year, after his victory on Friday – yesterday’s morning in Spain – in Nevada, Vermont independent senator Bernie Sanders, who does not even belong to the formation but calls himself «Democratic socialist», threatens to become the new leader of the formation of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Sanders’ triumph in the caucuses with 45%, almost triple that of his most immediate rival Joe Biden, was so overwhelming that he was declared the winner with just 5% of the votes counted. It is owed to Hispanics, who make up about 30% of the population in that State. Of them 53% voted overwhelmingly for him, against the guidelines of their union leaders.
Support for Sanders was also a vote against them, who exercise power over hotel and casino workers thanks to a health insurance plan more affordable than other Americans. “Bernie Sanders will end your health insurance,” the Culinary Union warned its members. It turned out that 78% of Hispanics prefer the universal public health plan proposed by the aspiring Democratic candidate, something that would free all Americans from the tyranny of their employers or unions. “It doesn’t matter who wins, the key issue of these elections is health, sanity and health,” Congress spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi said this week in a conference call with her party’s legislators.
But in addition to hitting the spot with the topic that most interests the electorate, “Sanders’s campaign has put Latinos at the center of their strategy», Reflected the journalist Maria Hinojosa. The rest, has simply addressed them when they have reached a state like Nevada, which has an important Latino population.
Sanders has also taken 27% of the African-American vote and claims to have a standing base movement formed by “whites, blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans” able to mobilize the electorate to defeat Trump in November.
Volunteer network
The Vermont senator, who made it difficult to nominate Hillary Clinton in 2016, has taken advantage of the infrastructure and volunteer network he created during that campaign. On the other hand, Pete Buttigieg, his rival in number of delegates nationwide, the good results of Iowa and New Hampshire seem to have caught him by surprise, with no time to lift that structure. Although Nevada is the state with the third largest LGBT community of the country, the first gay presidential candidate of the Democratic Party had to settle this time with being third and without any support among African Americans.
Buttigieg pointed to the “Medicare for all” message that Sanders proclaims, adding “for everyone who wants it,” because, according to him, “Sanders wants to take away that freedom.” He was referring to the popular public health program for retirees that the Vermont senator wants to expand to all citizens. Your plan would not prevent you from taking out insurance private doctor, but its rivals scare the electorate by ensuring that that would end the plans now offered by employers and unions.
For his part, former Vice President Joe Biden first scored in this contest for second place thanks to his pull with unions, and he hopes to win in South Carolina for the sympathies he earns among African-Americans for having been Obama’s squire.
For Sanders that will be the fireproof. If he can repeat the feat on Saturday in that southern state, the skeptics will have to accept his leadership in the face of the super Tuesday on March 3, where former Mayor Michael Bloomberg will come into play and the largest number of delegates will be distributed.
No one gives up yet. Buttigieg greeted Hispanics in Spanish knowing that Texas and California they will vote in two weeks. «We recognize them, we value them. You belong to this country, which is also your country, ”said the mayor of South Bend (Indiana).
Sanders celebrated the victory in San Antonio (Texas), with an eye on the super Tuesday. Hours earlier he had paid his respects to the memory of the victims of the El Paso massacre, mostly Hispanic. And with that solemnity he was able to stand before his followers and present his wife for the first time as “the future first lady of the United States.”
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