A prominent left-wing Latino organization has given its first-ever presidential endorsement to Senator Bernie Sanders less than a week before the Nevada Primary.
“Trump’s re-election is a direct threat to our communities,” the organization, Mijente, wrote on its Twitter account. “Sen. Bernie Sanders has a long history of progressive stances + consistently remains on side of working people. That’s why we’re proud to endorse Sanders for president.”
Mijente has around 1,000 dues-paying members according to Politico, however its email subscribers number over 300,000. The organization will use its reach to mobilize Latino voters in Nevada and other state primaries.
“It’s an honor to receive Mijente’s first presidential endorsement. They’ve mobilized a powerful grassroots network to stand up to Trump,” Sanders wrote on Twitter. “Together we will build a multiracial, multigenerational movement to sweep him out of office and transform this country so it works for all.”
Around 29 percent of Nevada’s population is Latino, the largest of any early-voting state.
Sanders on Friday snagged the endorsement of progressive New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The Vermont senator goes into Nevada having won the New Hampshire primary and finished in a virtual tie with South Bend, Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg in the Iowa Caucus.
Nevada’s powerful Culinary Workers Union, whose members work primarily in the state’s casinos, declined to endorse a candidate. The union had been critical of Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan, believing it represented a threat to the union’s own generous and painstakingly negotiated health care plan.
“We will not hand over our healthcare for promises,” read a leaflet passed out by the group.