Nevada Democratic caucuses and convention, 2016

Nevada Democratic caucuses, 2016

← 2008 February 20, 2016 (2016-02-20) 2020 →
Candidate Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Home state New York Vermont Delegate count 20 15 Percentage 52.64% 47.29%
Election results by county.   Hillary Clinton   Bernie Sanders   Tie

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.

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:

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 allegedly received numerous death threats and threats to the lives of her family and grandchildren, a criminal investigation has yet to confirm these claims or the identities of those allegedly involved. At the convention, Sanders supporters protested until the staff cancelled the event. The event was later criticized as being violent, although there is no evidence that violence 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.'"