Sanders wins big in Nevada but some Democrats worry

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Bernie Sanders’ landslide victory in Nevada’s Democratic nominating contest has scattered his moderate challengers and injected his White House campaign with a fresh burst of momentum as he drives into the next crucial battlegrounds.

With his strong result Saturday, the Vermont senator demonstrated an ability to broaden a coalition beyond the narrow limits of leftist voters, undercutting the argument from several moderates that he would not be able to bridge the divide between progressives and centrists.

“He showed last night that he can energize our core base,” Howard Dean, a former presidential aspirant himself and former head of the Democratic National Committee, told CNN.

As of Sunday evening, Sanders was comfortably ahead in Nevada with 72% of precincts reporting.

The 78-year-old senator was leading the Democratic pack with 47.1% of the vote, followed far behind by former vice president Joe Biden at 20.9% and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, at 13.6.

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar trailed at, respectively, 9.7 and 3.9.

Sanders was quick to claim victory, saying his “multi-generational, multi-racial coalition” was “going to sweep this country.”

Dean said the senator’s result in a state far more typical of America’s demographic variety than the two earlier-voting states was “incredibly impressive.”

But he quickly added that a more definitive result will come only after voters in 14 states cast ballots on March 3, or “Super Tuesday.”