The first wave of Democratic voters will soon be making their choice for who they think should be the party鈥檚 presidential nominee. Nevada is the first state in the West to weigh in. It鈥檚 also the most diverse, making the Silver State more of a bellwether than other early voting states.
鈥淲e are a blueprint for what the rest of the United States looks like,鈥� says Yesenia Moya, a field organizer for the Nevada Democratic Party.
Nevada is third in line to cast votes after Iowa and New Hampshire. And its demographics are markedly different. One-third of Nevada鈥檚 population is nonwhite, and 28 percent is Hispanic or Latino, while Iowa and New Hampshire鈥檚 nonwhite populations are under 10%.
鈥淣evada is literally a microcosm of the rest of the states, from the diversity that we have here,鈥� says Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat.
Cortez Masto was elected in 2016 to fill the seat left by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid recently made headlines for saying Iowa and New Hampshire shouldn鈥檛 be the first states to vote, because 鈥渢hose states are not representative of our country anymore.鈥�
Cortez Masto says that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 important for presidential candidates to visit her state.
鈥淭ruly, if you can win Nevada, and you have a message that resonates in Nevada, then you鈥檙e going to succeed in the rest of the states,鈥� she says.
Rebecca Lambe, a political strategist and former aide to Sen. Reid, calls the West, specifically the Interior West, 鈥渢he new battleground.鈥� Beyond ethnic diversity, she says urbanization is giving the entire region a bluer hue.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been a tremendous amount of growth over the last decade in the Mountain West,鈥� Lambe says. 鈥淎nd I think that you鈥檝e seen the West really turn to support Democrats: Colorado, Nevada, now Arizona, and I think eventually, while it鈥檚 not part of the Mountain West, is very reflective of some of these states, eventually we鈥檒l see Texas.鈥�
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, one of the 15 Democrats seeking the presidential nomination, says the shift is well underway.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got two Democratic senators now from Nevada, we鈥檝e got two Democratic senators from New Mexico,鈥� Bennet says, 鈥渁nd I believe in this election we鈥檙e going to get two Democratic senators from Arizona and two from Colorado, which is really exciting because, in many ways, we represent the future of the party out here.鈥�
Bennet says winning the White House will require campaigning in the region.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really important for us to have a Western perspective in this race, if we鈥檙e going to win these purple states,鈥� he says.
After Nevada鈥檚 Democratic caucuses on Feb. 22, the next two Mountain West states to vote are Colorado and Utah, both on March 2, or 鈥淪uper Tuesday.鈥�
Jeff Merchant, chair of the Utah Democratic Party, says that while Utah is still a conservative state, have him confident in the long-term prospect of flipping it blue. Utah hasn鈥檛 favored a Democrat for president since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
鈥淣evadans and Utahans have a lot in common, and I think that while there are some significant differences between our states, what Nevada is going to be doing is important to all of the states here in the Western United States,鈥� Merchant says.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada, the O鈥機onnor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, and KRCC and 萝莉少女 in Colorado.
Copyright 2020 KUNR Public Radio. To see more, visit . 9(MDAxNDQ2NDAxMDEyNzU2NzM2ODA3ZGI1ZA001))
