Bloomberg to skip Nevada Democratic caucuses

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada Democrats will not be able to caucus for Michael Bloomberg next month.

The former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential candidate did not file with the Nevada State Democratic Party by a Jan. 1 deadline, the party announced Thursday morning.

Bloomberg is intending to bypass the four early voting states, including Nevada, which will be third to express a preference on the Democratic presidential field. Instead, he has his hopes hinged on other states, including California, where a large number of delegates are up for grabs. California is among more than a dozen states that vote on March 3, known as Super Tuesday.

“We are confident we can win in states voting on Super Tuesday and beyond, where we will start on an even footing," Bloomberg spokeswoman Galia Slayen said. She noted that because of Bloomberg's late entry into the race, many other candidates have had a “big head start” in the early voting states.

“We have enormous respect for the Democratic primary process and many friends in those states, but we are running a broad-based, national campaign to beat Donald Trump and win in November,” Slayen said.

Bloomberg's failure to file with Nevada Democrats means his name won't appear on preference cards during the Feb. 22 caucus and four days of early caucusing. Caucus attendees stand in groups to express their top candidate choices and also fill out preference cards to provide a record of their choice. There's no write-in option available.

While Bloomberg's name won't appear, 13 other Democrats, including all the top contenders, did make the list.