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Taco trucks, cookies and a ‘Battle Born’ caucus interview with Julián Castro

Political Theater, Episode 114

Showgirls pose with a tourist Wednesday near the Paris Las Vegas hotel casino, site of a Democratic presidential debate.
Showgirls pose with a tourist Wednesday near the Paris Las Vegas hotel casino, site of a Democratic presidential debate. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)

Almost 75,000 Nevada Democrats took part in a new early voting process in the Battle Born State’s 2020 presidential caucus before the debate Wednesday night.

The in-person caucuses are Saturday, and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other state Democrats see an opportunity to overtake Iowa and New Hampshire as the first contests in the nation in 2024.

CQ Roll Call traveled to Nevada for events throughout the early caucus period, from union halls to college campuses and an East Las Vegas supermarket.

And we didn’t just stay in and around Las Vegas. For the second Nevada caucus in a row, our travels brought us to Pahrump, an unincorporated town in rural western Nevada on the road to Death Valley, perhaps best known for the Sheri’s Ranch brothel.

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro speaks to Niels Lesniewski in Pahrump, Nev., on Monday. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)

It was at a get-out-to-caucus canvass for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Pahrump that Political Theater had a chance to catch up with Julián Castro, the former Housing and Urban Development secretary during the Obama administration.

The Warren campaign has dispatched Castro, a former presidential candidate and now perhaps her top surrogate, to some of the most rural parts of Nevada on the hunt for delegates. He spoke with us about the state’s diversity.

As a bonus, we heard from billionaire businessman and presidential candidate Tom Steyer about why he rented taco and cookie trucks to feed hungry early voters.

Women wait for free cookies provided by Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer on Saturday at one of the early voting locations for the Nevada Caucus. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)

Show Notes:

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