Democrats in Washington state are set to caucus in support of either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders as their party’s presidential nominee.
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Caucuses are also under way in Hawaii today. Mr Sanders was leading on 73 per cent in Washington state while Ms Clinton was on 25 per cent. The two Democrats were also competing in Hawaii’s caucuses.
Party officials say more than 150,000 people have preregistered for Washington state’s Democratic caucuses as of Saturday morning.
“It is hard for anybody to deny that our campaign has the momentum”, Sanders yesterday told more than 8,100 cheering supporters who filled an arena on the University of Wisconsin campus last night after results of the primaries in Washington and Alaska were out.
“There will be a lot of delegates at stake here in Washington”, Sanders said in Spokane.
Clinton entered Saturday’s contests with a lead of more than 300 delegates over Sanders.
Sanders has now won 14 primary contests, nine of which were caucus states.
Winning delegates, the people who endorse a candidate at the party conventions in July, is key to securing the nomination.
Wylie, in a pink suit with a Hillary button pinned to the lapel, said she supports Clinton for her consistent work on women’s health, sexual violence prevention and access to health care.
Caucus-goers raise their hands during Washington state’s Democratic caucus on March 26, 2016. Sanders traveled to Washington to campaign this week, as did former President Bill Clinton on behalf of his wife, Hillary.
Sanders’ brand of democratic socialism may take some explaining in some parts of the United States, but not in Seattle, where people lined up for hours before doors opened to Safeco Field for the Friday evening rally. Sanders returned to the state Thursday for rallies in Spokane and Yakima, and another rally is set for Friday in Seattle.
In addition, some of his strongest performances in the nomination battle have come from states in which white voters make up a large share of the electorate, pointing to an edge in Alaska and Washington.
However well the Vermont senator does, however, the math in the long run favors Clinton given her lead coming into Saturday and Democratic party rules that divide delegates proportionately.
There are 86 pledged delegates up for grabs in Wisconsin, and Sanders typically does well in Midwestern states with large college student populations.
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A series of recent polls has shown Sanders consistently doing better than Clinton against Republicans Trump, Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich.
