Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the press conference. File photo

Former Vice President Joe Biden brought an alarmist warning to a diverse crowd of Democrats late Saturday in early-caucus Nevada during a town hall at an elementary school in a historically minority Las Vegas neighborhood.

Biden opened the event saying that as long as Donald Trump is president, the security and future of the United States is at risk.

"As long as he’s there, everything we care about as a nation, and the issues we care about, are in the balance,” Biden said.

With fewer than 100 days before Nevada Democratic party caucuses, Biden is among the front-runners in crowded field of Democratic candidates for president.

His evening appearance drew more than 250 people one day before Biden and most other Democratic presidential candidates are due to attend a campaign event at a Las Vegas Strip resort. Biden skipped another Democratic party event in the Los Angeles-area city of Long Beach to be in Nevada.

He also plans to fly Sunday to a campaign event in Elko, a ranching hub in northeast Nevada and home to the annual midwinter National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

Many in his Las Vegas audience said they knew who and what they were going to see.

Associated Press