Chuck Rocha, a senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersNYT editorial board remembers Ginsburg: She 'will forever have two legacies' Two GOP governors urge Republicans to hold off on Supreme Court nominee Sanders knocks McConnell: He's going against Ginsburg's 'dying wishes' MORE’ (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, argued that the senator can compete with President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE in Texas, a state Democrats haven’t won in a presidential election since 1976.

Asked by Krystal Ball in a Hill.TV interview whether Texas was in play in the general election, Rocha said “I truly do,” pointing to Sanders’s success with Latino voters in Nevada’s caucuses.

“The Latinos in Texas are coming of age so quickly… it’s just a different group, they’re younger, they think differently… and now they’ve got a full-time bogeyman to focus on,” he said, referring to Trump.

Rocha said that Sanders’ winning 73 percent of the Latino vote in Nevada was “a reflection of a direct investment into the community.”

“I wanted to do something, Sen. Sanders wanted to do something, Jeff Weaver and the team wanted to do something to prove a point,” Rocha continued, referring to another member of the Sanders campaign team.

“If you invested into Latinos, they will vote. Because I’ve heard my entire life… ‘oh, Latinos are good, but they don’t vote.’ Well, we proved them wrong on Saturday.”

Rocha also said that unlike candidates like former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Michael BloombergTop Democratic super PAC launches Florida ad blitz after Bloomberg donation The Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Latest with the COVID-19 relief bill negotiations The Memo: 2020 is all about winning Florida MORE, the campaign was far more “culturally competent” when it came to reaching out to Latinos.

“We are directly advertising to them, we have people on the ground,” he said.

Rocha also addressed the upcoming South Carolina primary, the first test of Sanders’ African American support.

“We have a bunch of amazing black staff, and we have amazing teams on the ground in South Carolina,” Rocha said.

“Because you’ve had people of color at the senior-most levels of this campaign, you’ve got input from them, so we’ve been talking to African Americans in South Carolina as long as we’ve been talking to Latinos in Nevada, and our staff is reflective of that like it was in Nevada,” he added.

CORRECTION: Democrats last won the state of Texas in the 1976 presidential election. An earlier version of this story included incorrect information.