Sanders wades into Nevada House primary, backing challenger to Dina Titus

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) waded into a Nevada House primary on Thursday, throwing his support behind Amy Vilela, a former Nevada state co-chair to his 2020 presidential bid who is challenging Rep. Dina Titus (D) in the state’s 1st Congressional District, ahead of next week’s primary.

“Today, I am proud to endorse @amy4thepeople for U.S. House in Nevada’s 1st District. When elected, Amy will be a champion for working families, and will fight for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, housing for all, and progressive foreign policy,” Sanders wrote on Twitter.

Vilela said she was “thrilled” to have the Vermont senator’s endorsement, adding in a reply to Sanders’s tweet, “I’m more confident than ever that, with his support, we’re well on our way to securing another historic victory for working people in Nevada.”

Though Sanders’s endorsement may not come as a surprise given she served as a national surrogate in his last presidential campaign, he is endorsing the challenger of incumbent Democrat Titus, whose seat has been rated by Cook Political Report as a “toss up.”

Vilela previously ran for the House in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District in 2018, but Rep. Steven Horsford (D) ultimately won the Democratic primary that year.

Titus, who is in her sixth term in the lower chamber, won her latest reelection bid in 2020 with more than 60 percent of the vote. 

The Nevada primary election is set for June 14.