And Mrs Clinton has the backing of a vast majority of the superdelegates, the party officials who can back either candidate, as well as a sizeable lead in caucasus and primary delegates.
Advertisement
Shortly after Sanders was projected as the victor in Alaska, Clinton’s campaign head Robby Mook reached out to the supporters in an email saying they haven’t made it big yet in online fundraising and that the opponents could do well in all the three states that went to polling on Saturday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders handily defeated Hillary Clinton in the Washington state and Alaska caucuses Saturday, infusing his underdog campaign with critical momentum and bolstering his argument that the race for the Democratic nomination is not a foregone conclusion.
Mar 27, 2016- Bernie Sanders has won two more USA states in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, as he tries to close the gap on Hillary Clinton.
It appears Sanders himself acknowledged winning in Washington Democratic Caucus. “That is a conservative part of our country”. “We have a path toward victory”. With Clinton far in front, however, it is a hard path.
“There will be a lot of delegates at stake here in Washington”, Sanders said in Spokane.
Heading into Saturday, she led Sanders by about 300 pledged delegates in the race for the 2,382 delegates needed to be nominated at the party’s July convention in Philadelphia.
Before Saturday, Clinton had a 1,223-to-920 lead on Sanders in so-called pledged delegates, who are bound to candidates by their states’ elections.
Sanders, who’s found some success in the industrial Midwest, wants to leverage his working-class support and fiery arguments against free trade into an April 5 victory in delegate-rich Wisconsin.
Sanders held five rallies in the past week across Washington state, including one on Friday at Safeco Field, Seattle’s baseball stadium, and had the endorsement of the Seattle Times, the state’s highest-circulation newspaper.
“We knew things were going to improve as we headed west”, he said to cheers. We are very happy with the way things are going.
Mr Sanders is aiming for a clean sweep of three western states – Hawaii is also holding a contest – which would build momentum in his bid to overtake Mrs Clinton, and help stave off calls for him to pull out in the name of party unity.
The second round of voting takes place after that, results that will determine the outcome and delegate allocation.
Hawaii Democrats also voted on Saturday, awarding 25 delegates through a “presidential preference poll”, a hybrid event in which voters showed up at a scheduled meeting, like a caucus, but voted by secret ballot, like a primary. The following month, the remaining 34 delegates will be chosen and bound based on the ratio of support determined at the May 21 congressional district caucuses. Hawaii Democratic Party chairwoman Stephanie Ohigashi told the Associated Press the party saw a spike in membership online after the Republican caucus.
But there’s little question that Sanders has tapped into a powerful frustration within the party. Sanders continues to attract tens of thousands to his rallies – drawing more than 17,000 in Seattle this week – and has collected more than $140 million from 2 million donors.
Wisconsin is the next stop in the contest with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. He’s heavily favored by younger voters, who were a key part of the coalition that boosted Obama to victory twice. The problem affected both Clinton and Sanders supporters.
Advertisement
This election has been full of firsts for Kirsa Hughes-Skandijs, who caucused for Sanders in Juneau, Alaska.
