Bernie Sanders swept to victory in Democratic caucuses in Washington state, Alaska and Hawaii, trouncing Hillary Clinton and bolstering his argument to move forward with a campaign to be the party’s 2016 presidential nominee.
The Vermont senator had the backing of 73 per cent of voters to Clinton’s 27 per cent in Washington state on Saturday with all precincts counted, the Associated Press reported. Sanders had 82 per cent in Alaska to Clinton’s 18 per cent with all precincts tallied. In Hawaii, Sanders had 71 per cent to Clinton’s 29 per cent with 88 per cent of precincts reporting, according to the AP.
“It is hard for anybody to deny that our campaign has the momentum,” Sanders said on Twitter after the races were called.
Washington state offered the day’s richest prize, 101 delegates, including super-delegates, of whom 10 were pledged to Clinton from the outset. Sixteen delegates were on the line in Alaska and 25 delegates were at stake in Hawaii.
A candidate needs 2,383for a first-ballot nomination at the party’s national convention at Philadelphia in July.
Outsized wins
Sanders’ outsized wins, on top of easy victories on March 22 in Utah and Idaho, boost his argument that he shouldn’t concede the race to Clinton — a point he was quick to drive home at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, after Saturday’s races were called.
“We are making significant inroads into Secretary Clinton’s lead, and we have, with your support here in Wisconsin, a path towards victory,” Sanders said. “We knew that things were going to improve as we headed west.”
His chances of winning the nomination outright remain slim, though, given his opponent’s current lead in delegates. Several large states with diverse populations vote from late April onward. Sanders’ success so far has come more in states with a large percentage of white voters.
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.
Supporters cheer as Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Alliant Energy Center on March 26, 2016 in Madison, Wisconsin.
On to Wisconsin
Wisconsin, the Democrats’ next nominating contest, will take place on April 5. The small amount of polling done so far shows a tight race. Beyond that, only four contests offer more Democratic delegates than were at stake in Washington state: New York on April 19, Pennsylvania on April 26, and California and New Jersey on June 7.
There were no corresponding Republican races on Saturday.
Either Democrat would defeat Republican front-runner Donald Trump, were he to win his party’s nod, according to poll results released by Quinnipiac University on March 23. Likely voters preferred Clinton to Trump by 46 per cent to 40 per cent and Sanders to Trump, 52 per cent to 38 per cent.
While Clinton would defeat Texas Senator Ted Cruz by a slightly narrower margin, 45-42, the Quinnipiac poll showed Clinton would lose to Ohio Governor John Kasich, 47-39.
Sanders would top Cruz, 50 per cent to 39 per cent, according to Quinnipiac, while Kasich beat the self-styled Democratic socialist, 45 per cent to 44 per cent.
Monmouth University survey results released on March 24 also showed Clinton would triumph over Trump, 48 per cent to 38 per cent, and would defeat Cruz by five points, while it indicated the former first lady would lose to Kasich by a six-point margin.
Trump won Hawaii’s Republican contest on March 8, while Cruz triumphed in Alaska on March 1.
By Andrew Harris
