Bernie Sanders to Address Latino Politician Group NALEO

Wall Street Journal

By Laura Meckler

June 9, 2015

Bernie Sanders to Address Latino Politician Group NALEO 

Democrat Hillary Clinton and her upstart rival for the presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders, will shadow one another next week as they both address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the largest gathering of Latino policy makers, at its annual conference next week.

The meeting is in Las Vegas, with Nevada one of the first states on the primary calendar next year.

Mrs. Clinton will appear on Thursday, with Mr. Sanders, a Vermont independent, set for Friday, offering Mr. Sanders the opportunity to contrast his views with hers if he wants to. Another Democratic challenger, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, also has been invited but has not said if he will attend.

While Mr. Sanders has not made immigration a centerpiece issue, Mr. O’Malley has tried to position himself as having a stronger immigration record than Mrs. Clinton, and the conference could offer him a chance to make that case to more than 1,200 school board members, city and county commissioners and state lawmakers expected to attend.

Like Mrs. Clinton and Mr. O’Malley, Mr. Sanders supports a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally.

So far, only one of 15 likely or actual Republican presidential candidates invited to the conference has accepted—retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. While NALEO is nonpartisan, it strongly supports a path to citizenship for undocumented residents, making many Republicans wary of the group. Most of the GOP field is opposed to legal status for people here illegally.

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