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Bernie Sanders On His Strategy To Win Nevada

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a rally Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015, in North Las Vegas, Nev. y.
AP Photo/John Locher

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a rally Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015, in North Las Vegas, Nev. y.

He has described himself as a democratic socialist.

Vermont Senator and Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders landed his campaign in Nevada in October, and has since made numerous visits to the state.

Candidates are trying to win over the growing Hispanic vote, and Sanders unveiled his immigration reform plan to a group of about 3,000 in North Las Vegas last month. 

This week, he opened five more campaign offices, near UNLV, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Northeast Las Vegas and is expected to open as many as a dozen offices total in the state.

But some analysts say he faces an uphill battle to win an early caucus in Nevada against candidate Hillary Clinton.

From NPR: Bernie Sanders Has Stuck To The Same Message For 40 Years

On immigration reform:

"What we have called for is a path toward citizenship. We have called for comprehensive immigration reform. What we have called for is taking people out of the shadows and ending the exploitation of people who are undocumented in America." 

"Bottom line our immigration policy ought to be about reuniting families not dividing families."

On education funding:

"To my mind, instead of giving tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires or corporations that make billions and don't pay a nickel in taxes, yes I would like to see all of our public schools adequately funded"

On governors wanting to stop refugees from coming to their states:

"What I say to all Americans is, it goes without saying, that the people who come into this country have got to be well vetted and well screened. But I also say is what America has historically been about is a beacon of hope for oppressed people all over the world." 

On Assemblywoman Michele Fiore claiming she would fly to Paris and shoot Syrian refugees in the head:

"I think it's disgusting. Look, we have reached the stage now among many right-wing Republicans that there is no end to the absurdity of what they will say... but much of this is a deflection. It's an attempt to speak to the fears of the American people and deflect attention from the most important issues facing this country."

"Maybe she should stay home and make sure that the people in her district have decent paying jobs and educational opportunities and have health care and that we're addressing the planetary crisis of climate change that might make a little more sense"

On the Western Drought:

"The first thing that we have got to do when we talk about drought or we talk about extreme weather disturbances or when we talk about flooding is to recognize a simple reality that unfortunately many of my Republican colleagues do not recognize and that is the scientific community is virtually unanimous: Climate change is real. Climate change is caused by human activity. Climate change is already causing devastating problems including the drought that we're seeing in the Southwest in the United States of America."

"In my view, if we do not do that [significant steps to stop climate change] the plant we are going to be leaving our children and our grandchildren will be significantly less habitable than the planet that we enjoy and that is a moral disgrace."

On Yucca Mountain:

"My own view at this point is that Yucca Mountain is not a good depository for nuclear waste. It has a whole lot of geological issues, etc. One of the reasons I'm not a great fan of expanding nuclear power is we still do not have the kind of depository that we should have. In my own state of Vermont, we have nuclear waste right on the Connecticut river. It was supposed to be temporary but it has been there for very many years. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So we have got to figure out how we get rid of nuclear waste and we have to figure out how we do it in a way that is safe.

What do you need to win Nevada?

"Right now, we're working very hard and we have a very strong organization in Nevada. Last poll that we saw had us in New Hampshire up by 10 points. I think we're going to close the gap in Iowa. We got to focus now on South Carolina and Nevada. I think we're going to put together  a very strong coalition of workers in that that state. I think we're making in roads into the Latino community and I think we got a real shot to win it."

(Editor's Note: KNPR has invited other presidential candidates to talk about Nevada. Sanders is the first to take us up on the offer) 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, democratic presidential candidate

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Prior to taking on the role of Broadcast Operations Manager in January 2021, Rachel was the senior producer of KNPR's State of Nevada program for 6 years. She helped compile newscasts and provided coverage for and about the people of Southern Nevada, as well as major events such as the October 1 shooting on the Las Vegas strip, protests of racial injustice, elections and more. Rachel graduated with a bachelor's degree of journalism and mass communications from New Mexico State University.