Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Nevada caucuses Saturday night, winning with 46.8% of the vote.
The win, his third straight popular vote vic- tory after Iowa and New Hampshire, won Sanders 24 more delegates. This brings his current total to 45, vaulting him ahead as the leader. Former South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg follows behind with 25 delegates after winning three delegates Saturday night.
However, former Vice President Joe Biden came in second in the Nevada caucuses.“The press is ready to declare people dead quickly, but we’re alive and we’re coming back and we’re going to win,” Biden said to his crowd of supporters in Las Vegas Saturday night.
Biden finished with 20.2% of the popular vote and nine delegates, giving him 15 total so far and putting him in third place in the race overall.
Buttigieg finished third behind Sanders and Biden in Nevada with 14.3% of the vote.
Despite his finish, Buttigieg was still positive about the future of his campaign when speaking to a crowd of supporters in Las Vegas Saturday night.
“On to South Carolina, on to the nomination and on to the White House with your help,” Buttigieg proclaimed.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was looking for a strong finish in Nevada after her debate performance Wednesday night. Warren told supporters at her Saturday night rally in Seattle that her campaign made $9 million since Wednesday night’s debate.
The beginning of the Bernie Sanders Rally starting in the Boston Common and continuing through downtown Boston on Saturday
Sanders’ win comes after a fiery debate Wednesday night that saw candidates going after each other on voting records and policy proposals for topics like healthcare and economic inequality.
The stand out topic of the debate was billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made his first appearance in a debate Wednesday. Bloomberg took heat early from Warren, who began her debate performance by immediately going after Bloomberg’s record with women.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against. A billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse faced lesbians,’ and no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” Warren said.
Bloomberg was also pressured about non-dis- closure agreements, or NDA’s, multiple women have signed regarding sexual harassment accusations against Bloomberg. During the debates, candidates called on Bloomberg to release these women from the NDAs.
The Bloomberg campaign announced Friday that three women will be released from the agreements if they wish.
Bloomberg was also attacked for “stop and frisk” policies used by the New York City Police Department to stop and search millions of New Yorkers. Critics say most of those stopped were black and Hispanic, even though they had not com- mitted a crime. Bloomberg had renounced the policy days before launching his presidential campaign in November, according to The New York Times.
Bloomberg, who was rising in national polls before the debate, was not on the ballot in Nevada, nor is he on the ballot in South Carolina.
Sixteen states and territories will hold pri- maries or caucuses on March 3, also know as Super Tuesday. Voters in Massachusetts, and states with large delegate counts, like Texas and California, will head to the polls that day.
