Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to supporters at a campaign rally at UNLV, Tuesday Feb 18, 2020.
Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020 | 6:30 p.m.
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As the Doobie Brothers classic “Takin' It to the Streets” blared over speakers, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders marched a contingent of Las Vegas voters to the nearest early voting site on Tuesday.
Sanders told the more 1,200 voters at the UNLV rally that he was happy to take a “little walk” with them to the polling place.
During his message, likely one of his last appearances before Saturday’s presidential caucus, he touched on his progressive agenda, including his government-run “Medicare for All” program, immigration reform and student-debt forgiveness.
The rally ended with a line of voters snaking down the long, second-story balcony of the student union, the nearest polling place. The line ran down the stairs and along the sidewalk.
“It’s awesome — you love seeing the lines. That’s how you know, when people are waiting and down to wait,” said Ian Donaldson, a volunteer who drove from Iowa to help out the campaign.
Current polling has Sanders as the front-runner, both nationally and in Nevada. Sanders lost in Nevada in 2016 to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by a little over 5 percentage points, but may well be on his way to carrying Nevada this cycle.
Pauline Gross, a retiree who caucused for Sanders in 2016, is confident he can win Nevada and beat President Donald Trump in a general election.
“Bernie is saying and talking about policies that we need in this country,” she said. Student-debt forgiveness and health care, she said, would help people escape monetary problems weighing them down.
“These kids are going to be paying (their debt) until they die,” she continued.
Multiple students at the event said they saw Sanders as someone who understands issues that impact them, especially in regard to health care and college tuition costs.
Areli Escobeto, a nursing student, is from a family of Mexican immigrants. She said she’s seen how hard it can be for people from different backgrounds to succeed or be given opportunities. Sanders, she said, gets that.
“I just feel like he’s very inclusive,” she said. “He’s very considerate of all different types of people. He really takes it into consideration that people come from different backgrounds, and not everybody has the same opportunities.”
Sam Siebel, an engineering student at UNLV, said that she’d backed Sanders in 2016 but had been interested in businessman Andrew Yang. After Yang dropped out after the New Hampshire primary, Siebel said she decided to back Sanders again because she agreed with his policies on college tuition and health care.
She said that the progressive issues that Sanders helped bring forward are starting to become less radical and more mainstream.
“I think if you just watch the debates, they’re kind of centered around more progressive issues now,” Siebel said. “In the past the things Bernie and Elizabeth (Warren) were kind of bringing to the table were so radical and now it’s like the conversation (is focused) around those things.”
The Nevada caucuses will be the first true test of the candidates’ ability to succeed in a more diverse state, and Sanders has polled well with Hispanic and black voters.
His second-place finish in Iowa and his win in New Hampshire have pushed his campaign to the forefront of the race, and he’s banking on Nevada to keep his momentum going. At the end of his rally, he called for high voter turnout in Nevada, and said he would beat Trump if he ultimately got the nomination.
“We’ve won the (popular vote) in the Iowa caucus. We won the New Hampshire primary. If there’s a large voter turnout here in Nevada, I believe we’re going to win the caucus here,” Sanders said.
