RECAP: The Nevada caucuses

Nevada Democrats headed to caucuses Saturday afternoon to weigh in on the 2016 Democratic presidential primary and delivered former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a narrow victory.

Multiple outlets projected she would defeat Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary. Shortly after 5 p.m. ET, she held about a four-point lead over Sanders among Democratic caucus-goers.

For Clinton, it was an important victory in a state that has long been part of her "firewall" against Sanders, who defeated her by more than 20 points in New Hampshire.

Her campaign has had paid staffers on the ground since last spring, and recently unleashed several notable campaign surrogates to bash Sanders over his mixed record on immigration, a key issue in the state.

But Sanders' recent surge in popularity and fundraising helped the senator flood the airwaves with paid ads, while he deployed dozens of paid staffers from Iowa and New Hampshire to make up ground. 

Read past updates from our Nevada live blog below.

5:16 p.m. EST — The Associated Press and NBC both projected Clinton would win the caucus. Clinton took to Twitter to thank her supporters.

5:11 p.m. EST — Actress America Ferrera, a Clinton supporter, protested on Twitter that several Sanders supporters attempted to drown out prominent Latina activist Dolores Huerta when she translated caucus information to Spanish-speakers at Harrah's casino.

Clinton's campaign has worked for months to locate and train Spanish-speaking supporters to assist voters on caucus day.

5:04 p.m. EST — With 55% of precincts reporting, Fox News called the caucuses for Clinton.

Other networks held off.

4:52 p.m. EST — As more precinct reports continued to come in, Clinton maintained her slight lead. With 51% of precincts reporting, Clinton garnered 51.7% support compared to Sanders' 48.2% support.

4:38 p.m. EST — Clinton appears to be growing her lead very slightly. With 37% of precincts reporting, Clinton captured 51.4% support compared to Sanders' 48.5% support. 

4:29 p.m. EST — With 30% of precincts reporting, Clinton had a 1.5% lead over Sanders, according to the New York Times. 

4:22 p.m. EST — Like the Iowa Democratic caucuses, Nevada precinct ties are decided by chance. By 4:23 p.m. EST, at least one precinct reportedly decided its caucus by card-draw, giving the precinct to Clinton.

4:19 p.m. EST — More precinct reports trickled in, showing Clinton taking a slight lead. With 23% of precincts reporting, Clinton garnered 50.6% of the vote, compared to Sanders' 49.3%.

4:11 p.m. EST — With 14% of precincts reporting, the Vermont senator captured a one point lead over Clinton. Early results showed the former secretary of state strongest in counties in the south and west, with precincts in Reno and Nevada reporting wins for Clinton. 

4:09 p.m. EST — Clinton's campaign celebrated wins at six at-large casino precincts.

4:03 p.m. EST — A little over two hours after the caucuses began, official results showed the candidates tied with 12% of precincts reporting. 

3:48 p.m. EST — While NBC's early entrance polls showed Clinton leading among minority voters, several other early entrance polls showed Sanders leading among minority voters.

3:34 p.m. EST — CNN noted Sanders had a slight lead over Clinton, with 49% of voters polled early outside polls supporting Sanders and 47% supporting Clinton. 

Polling guru Nate Silver cautioned against reading too far into entrance polls, which he pointed out were not correct in Iowa earlier this month.

3:06 p.m. EST — CBS reported Clinton had a slight edge in early entrance polls. NBC's early entrance polls showed similar results, with Clinton maintaining a lead among female voters and voters over 45 years-old.

2:16 p.m. EST — The caucuses opened at 11:00 a.m. local time. Reporters tweeted images of lines at caucus locations around the state.

SEE ALSO: Hillary Clinton's campaign is clobbering Bernie Sanders 2 days before the next big contest

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