Nevada Democratic caucuses and convention, 2016

Nevada Democratic caucuses, 2016

February 20, 2016 (2016-02-20)

Candidate Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Home state New York Vermont Delegate count 20 15 Percentage 52.6% 47.3%

Election results by county.   Hillary Clinton   Bernie Sanders

The 2016 Nevada Democratic caucuses took place on February 20 in the U.S. state of Nevada, traditionally marking the Democratic Party's third nominating contest in their series of presidential primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The Republican Party held its South Carolina primary on the same day, while their own Nevada caucuses would only take place three days later on February 23.

With all other candidates having dropped out of the race ahead of the Nevada caucuses, the two remaining candidates were Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

Process

Of the total number of 43 delegates the Nevada Democratic Party may send to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, 35 are pledged and 8 are unpledged.

The delegate selection process is a system with three levels:

1. The first step in the delegate selection process were the precinct caucuses on February 20, which elected about 12,000 delegates to the county conventions.
2. At the county conventions on April 2, the county delegates selected about 4,000 delegates to the state convention.
3. At the state convention on May 14–15, the final 35 pledged delegates to the National Convention will be selected. 23 of them are allocated proportionally based on congressional district results, whereas the remaining 12 are allocated based on the state convention as a whole.

State convention

The state convention was held in May as the final stage of the delegate selection process. Supports of Senator Sanders were angered when Party officials declined to accept the credentials of close to 60 pro-Sanders delegates. Nevada Democratic Party Chairwoman, Roberta Lange received numerous death threats and threats to the lives of her family and grandchildren. At the convention, Sanders supporters protested until the staff cancelled the event. The event was later criticized as being violent, although it is debated whether such violence actually occurred.

Despite charges by Sanders supporters that the Convention was rigged against their candidate, according to Jon Ralston, "the facts reveal that the Sanders folks disregarded rules, then when shown the truth, attacked organizers and party officials as tools of a conspiracy to defraud the senator of what was never rightfully his in the first place." After Sanders campaign Chair Jeff Weaver repeated assertions of process-rigging by Democratic Party officials, Politifact examined the evidence and concluded that, while the Party's selection process was "arcane" and "incredibly confusing", the fact is that "Clinton’s supporters simply turned out (attended the Convention) in larger numbers and helped her solidify her delegate lead." Moreover, according to Politifact: "There’s no clear evidence the state party 'hijacked' the process or ignored 'regular procedure.'"

The Nevada Democratic Party wrote to the Democratic National Committee accusing Sanders supporters of having a "penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior — indeed, actual violence — in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting." Sanders responded to demands that he denounce the use of violence by his supporters with an assertion that they were not treated with "fairness and respect."

In a widely-noted TV segment, comedian Samantha Bee reported on the fracas, as did Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Late Night with Seth Meyers in "A Closer Look" segment.

Debates and forums

October 2015 debate in Las Vegas

Main article: First Democratic Party presidential debate, October 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada

On October 13, 2015, the Democratic Party's very first debate was held at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Hosted by Anderson Cooper, it aired on CNN and was broadcast on radio by Westwood One. Participants were the candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley, and Lincoln Chafee. It was the first and only debate appearance of Chafee and Webb, who ended their campaigns on October 23 and October 20, respectively.

February 2016 forum in Las Vegas

See also: Democratic Party presidential debates, 2016

On February 18, MSNBC and Telemundo hosted a forum in Las Vegas.

Opinion polling

See also: Statewide opinion polling for the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016

Delegate count: 35 Pledged, 8 Unpledged

Winner

Hillary Clinton

Caucus date

February 20, 2016

Poll source	Date	1st	2nd	Other
Caucus results	February 20, 2016	Hillary Clinton 52.6%	Bernie Sanders 47.3%	Other 0.1%
Gravis Marketing Margin of error: ± 4.0 Sample size: 516	February 14–15, 2016	Hillary Clinton 53%	Bernie Sanders 47%
CNN/ORC Margin of error: ± 6.0 Sample size: 282	February 10–15, 2016	Hillary Clinton 48%	Bernie Sanders 47%	Others / Undecided 6%
Washington Free Beacon/TPC Research Margin of error: ± 2.9 Sample size: 1,236	February 8–10, 2016	Hillary Clinton 45%	Bernie Sanders 45%	Undecided 9%

Polls in 2015

Poll source	Date	1st	2nd	3rd	Other
Gravis Marketing Margin of error: ± 5% Sample size: 326	December 23–27, 2015	Hillary Clinton 50%	Bernie Sanders 27%	Martin O'Malley 1%	Unsure 16%
CNN/ORC Margin of error: ± 6% Sample size: 253	October 3–10, 2015	Hillary Clinton 50%	Bernie Sanders 34%	Joe Biden 12%
Gravis Marketing Margin of error: ± 5% Sample size: 416	July 12–13, 2015	Hillary Clinton 55%	Bernie Sanders 18%	Elizabeth Warren 8%	Joe Biden 5%, Lincoln Chafee 1%, Jim Webb 1%, Martin O'Malley 0%, Unsure 12%
Gravis Marketing Margin of error: ± 6% Sample size: 324	March 27, 2015	Hillary Clinton 61%	Elizabeth Warren 15%	Bernie Sanders 7%	Joe Biden 3%, Al Gore 3%, Martin O'Malley 1%, Jim Webb 0%, Unsure 10%
Gravis Marketing Margin of error: ± 6% Sample size: 324	February 21–22, 2015	Hillary Clinton 58%	Elizabeth Warren 20%	Joe Biden 8%	Bernie Sanders 4%, Jim Webb 3%, Martin O'Malley 0%, Undecided 7%

Results

Primary date: February 20, 2016
County conventions: April 2, 2016
State convention: May 14–15, 2016 (presumably)
National delegates: 43

Nevada Democratic caucuses, February 20, 2016
Candidate	County delegates		Estimated delegates
	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Hillary Clinton	6,440	52.64%	20	4	24
Bernie Sanders	5,785	47.29%	15	1	16
Uncommitted	8	0.07%	0	3	3
Total	12,233	100%	35	8	43
Source: The Green Papers

Nevada Democratic county conventions, April 2, 2016
Candidate	State delegates		Estimated delegates
	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Bernie Sanders	2,124	55.23%	17	1	18
Hillary Clinton	1,722	44.77%	18	4	22
Uncommitted	0	0.00%	0	3	3
Total		100%	35	8	43
Source: The Moderate Voice

Nevada Democratic state conventions, May 14, 2016
Candidate	State delegates		Estimated delegates
	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Hillary Clinton	1,695	50.49%	20	4	24
Bernie Sanders	1,662	49.51%	15	1	16
Uncommitted	0	0.00%	0	3	3
Total		100%	35	8	43
Source: Nevada Democrats