Joe Biden courts Nevada voters after South Carolina win

Los Angeles — President Joe Biden took his pitch for re-election to Nevada voters on Sunday as part of a two-day stop in the battleground state ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

The president is hosting at least two campaign events in the arid Western state, which has just more than 3-million people, most of them clustered in or near the gambling centre of Las Vegas.

Biden appears on Nevada’s Democratic presidential primary ballot along with self-help author Marianne Williamson and other lesser-known challengers. Democratic US representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota missed the filing deadline and will not appear on the ballot.

Biden narrowly beat his Republican rival Donald Trump in Nevada by 33,596 votes, or less than 3%, in 2020, and opinion polls show a rematch between the two, which seems likely in 2024, would be close. About 30% of Nevada’s population is described as Latino or Hispanic on the US census and Republicans are making some inroads with these voters nationwide.

Nevada, with six electoral college votes towards the 270 needed to be elected president, is viewed as a litmus test for Latino and Hispanic support and for independent voters.

On Saturday, Biden won the South Carolina Democratic primary — the first officially sanctioned race of the party's nominating season — with returns showing him swamping two other candidates, according to Edison Research. While he faced little opposition, the vote was being closely watched amid concerns about his popularity, especially among black voters. 

Republicans hold a primary on February 6 in Nevada as well, but Trump will not be on the ballot as he has opted to participate in a February 8 caucus in the state instead. Tuesday’s Republican and Democratic primary voters also have the option to vote for “none of these candidates”.

Nevada has about 705,000 registered Democrats, 646,000 registered Republicans and nearly 768,000 who are “nonpartisan”, according to the latest state figures.

As the November election draws closer, Biden and his team are travelling the US to talk about the recession-defying economy, and the impact of the president’s clean energy tax breaks, union support and infrastructure investment.

In December, Biden visited Las Vegas to tout a new high-speed rail that will connect the city and Los Angeles. Treasury secretary Janet Yellen’s visit in August highlighted union training programmes, but also illustrated the tough sell that “Bidenomics”, the president’s economic plan, has been for his team as Americans grapple with high prices.

Last March, the Biden administration created a new national park, Avi Kwa Ame, the Mojave name for Spirit Mountain, in southern Nevada. The site is sacred to Native American tribes including the Paiute and Chemehuevi, and provides habitat for species such as the desert bighorn sheep and the desert tortoise, as well as a Joshua tree forest.

In recent weeks, Biden has stepped up his direct attacks on Trump, describing him as a threat to democracy and questioning his mental capacity.

Biden’s strategy, which included moving senior White House staff to the re-election campaign, reflects the view that Trump will be the Republican candidate, despite his nomination competition with former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.

Reuters