Nevada Democrats want to make state first stop of primary season
This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
Please enable Javascript to watch this video
DENVER — Nevada Democrats are making their state first stop of the primary season.
It’s a meeting scheduled for March 3, at the Denver Marriott Downtown Airport.
The party’s executive director, Brian Smith, has said they plan to have a national primary in February.
The Democrats are inviting candidates who want to participate in a national primary to participate in a party caucus in their state. If elected, candidates will go to the party’s National Convention in Denver in July to nominate their own candidate for the November general election.
If the Democrats are not able to secure a majority of votes at the caucus, state party committee members will be able to elect a new chair.
Last week, Nevada Republicans held their caucus, and the results indicated that the party was losing the caucus to the more conservative Democrats.
So the Democrats had a choice: Go to the National Convention, or go over to the Republican Party and hope to get a majority of votes. The group’s executive director, Brian Smith, says he thinks Republicans will come after Democrats in November for their party’s nominee.
“There is no doubt what we are seeing,” Smith said. “This year, as it always has been, the margin for error is very much reduced. We are seeing an increasingly negative environment for those attempting to run for office as well as the party itself.”
The Democrats have been trying to build their party from the ground up.
The party has been working on a plan to expand the number of delegates the party can send to the National Convention. They’d like to have the 2,000 delegates required for the national party’s nomination.
The Democrats say the national convention will be different, because people will be voting on a national ticket.
“The real test will be for those who choose to attend the
