De Blasio ‘rolling the dice’ in Nevada in bid to shake up 2020 field
Mayor Bill de Blasio is betting big on Nevada in his quixotic quest to win the White House.
The long-shot president wannabe spent a second straight day in Las Vegas on Sunday, meeting with members of the teachers union.
It was his second visit to the Silver State in less than two months.
Campaign experts said the strategy suggested a desperate move by Hizzoner to distinguish himself from the 23 other Democratic candidates and boost his rock-bottom poll numbers.
“He wants to roll the dice to see if he can make a splash in Nevada,” said Democratic consultant Dave Hamrick. “It’s such a crowded field and he’s coming in late. I’m sure his team is trying to figure out: Hey, how do we find some space for our candidate?”
Leading political analyst Larry Sabato noted that while Nevada is one of the first states to vote during the presidential nominating process, “it’s often the one that receives the least attention.”
“The candidates who are well ahead in every respect — staffing, fundraising, polling, you name it — have been focusing intensely on Iowa and New Hampshire for months,” said Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “I haven’t heard anybody say, ‘I’m going to make my stand in Nevada,’ so maybe that’s what he’s doing.”
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Nevada, which holds its Democratic caucuses on Feb. 22, will be the third state to cast votes in the party’s presidential nominating process, following New Hampshire and Iowa.
The Big Apple’s typically tardy mayor kicked off his campaign on May 16, making him the 24th Democratic contender to challenge President Trump’s bid for re-election next year.
In addition to the crowded field, de Blasio faces deep-seated opposition to his campaign at home, and a Quinnipiac University poll last week showed him with an unfavorability rating of 45 percent.
Hamrick, who managed former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s failed 2016 Democratic presidential bid, said de Blasio’s brand of progressive politics could conceivably help him make inroads with union activists and Latinos.
Before leaving New York on Friday, de Blasio said that “Nevada is a very important part of this equation.”
Additional reporting by Bruce Golding
