Late last year, a group of first-term House Democrats, anxious over the party’s fractious presidential race, convened a series of discussions intended to spur unity. Led by Reps. Colin Allred of Texas and Haley Stevens of Michigan, they considered issuing a collective endorsement of one moderate candidate.
A gambit to have the powerful Democratic machine in Nevada back Biden, for instance, fizzled when the former vice president finished fifth in New Hampshire. Two outside spending groups formed to target Sanders were unable to inflict damage. His agenda has galvanized liberal voters yearning for change. Sanders finished atop the first three voting states before trailing Biden in South Carolina, and polls show him ahead in the delegate-rich state of California on Tuesday.
Top Democrats now believe that there are only two realistic paths forward in the presidential race: a dominant victory Tuesday by Sanders that gives him a wide lead in the delegate count, or a battle for delegates over months of primary elections, that might allow Biden to pull ahead or force the nomination to be decided at the Milwaukee convention in July.
The candidates themselves have made fitful or flawed efforts to garner mainstream Democratic support: A number of lawmakers open to endorsing Biden said he did little to reach out to them for most of the campaign, letting weeks or months go by without any contact from him or his aides. Christine Pelosi, one of the speaker’s daughters, last month contacted Sanders’ advisers to convey her unhappiness that actress Susan Sarandon, who is backing the Vermont senator, had called for Speaker Pelosi’s ouster, according to a Democrat familiar with the conversations. .
Pelosi also invoked her own liberal credentials: In her basement, she noted, she still had old campaign signs supporting progressive causes.It was not only the national Democratic establishment that declined to unite around Biden or anyone else. Efforts in the states crumbled or proved ineffective: After the muddled results in Iowa and New Hampshire, Biden’s campaign hoped to make a strong stand in Nevada, the first diverse state to weigh in on the nomination.
Bloomberg visited Capitol Hill and dispatched aides around the country to seek endorsements and outline his plans for the campaign against Trump. His advisers have paraded Democrats through their Times Square headquarters. And even though he was not competing in Nevada, Bloomberg visited Reid and his wife, Landra, at their home outside Las Vegas.
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