NASHUA, New Hampshire — After a close loss in Iowa during the 2016 caucuses, Bernie Sanders established himself as a serious alternative for Democratic voters when he defeated Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary by nearly 23 points.
Three years later, Sanders, now 77, finds himself struggling to replicate that performance. Elizabeth Warren, also from a neighboring New England state, threatens to crowd him out carrying her own liberal torch as the two battle to be the populist alternative to Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.
While the Massachusetts senator receives media coverage and praise for her detailed public policy plans, Sanders’ brand of socialism no longer seems so revolutionary, much to his frustration. During her appearance at last Wednesday’s Democratic debate, Warren proudly declared she was “with Bernie on Medicare for All” after remaining conspicuously vague on the issue of healthcare for months.
“Everybody said our ideas are crazy and wild and extreme, and now it turns out all the other candidates are saying what we said four years ago,” Sanders said Saturday in Hudson, New Hampshire.
Yet the fact that most of his rivals have taken on his rhetoric is precisely what’s making many Democrats view Sanders as more aspirational and less practical. For a candidate such as Warren, who has no problem outlining policy minutiae on the campaign trail, that’s paying off: A June CBS/YouGov poll put Warren at third in New Hampshire with 17 points, just behind Sanders’ 20 points. Biden led both candidates at 33 points.
“Sanders needs to be specific about how he wants to fund the healthcare project he’s proposing, which I support. I know it can work, but he has to come up with specific plans,” Michele Liene, 61, a Sanders supporter who worked on President Jimmy Carter’s first presidential campaign, told the Washington Examiner at a campaign stop in Nashua.
“He has to get down to the nuts and bolts like Warren has. Sanders hasn’t learned anything. I think his framing needs to get down on Planet Earth and more concrete. I think Warren has a better way of bringing not so exciting policies, but making them dynamic for the layperson to understand it.”
As in 2016, gender has proven to be a liability for Sanders. Earlier this month when pressed on why his polling numbers had stalled, and Warren’s risen, Sanders said women candidates might be a more attractive option for Democratic voters.
“Well, I think we are running against a lot of problems,” Sanders said. “I think that there are a certain number of people who would like to see a woman elected, and I understand that,” he continued. “There are people who would like to see somebody who was younger, and I understand that also. There are a lot of factors out there.”
Warren’s team has also invested heavily in New Hampshire. Her campaign, by far the largest in the field, already has 50 staffers employed in the state, whereas Sanders is relying on roughly a dozen campaign workers and a network of volunteers to get voters to the polls.
On top of being out-staffed, Sanders no longer holds the geographic advantage he once had, hailing from the neighboring Vermont. Warren, a Harvard law professor-turned Massachusetts senator, has campaigned heavily in the state and draws crowds in the hundreds during her events in the Granite State.
While Warren, 70, might seem fresh to some Democrats who have grown weary of Sanders, resentment still lingers from 2016.
“I feel distressed that Bernie has been overlooked by the mainstream media. I think Warren had her chance to endorse Bernie in 2016 and she could have made a huge difference, but I haven’t really gotten over that missed opportunity,” New Hampshire state Rep. Catherine Sofikitis, who has endorsed Sanders, told the Washington Examiner.
“She endorsed Hillary and helped her get all those superdelegates before the primary even began. It really bothers me a lot, it was a very telling moment, she could have swayed so many people.”
For Democratic voters less familiar with interparty politics, Sanders’ challenges are more apparent without an easy villain like Clinton to campaign against.
“I love Bernie, and I’d never vote for anyone else, but I saw the debates and I’m a little concerned that someone like Kamala Harris or Warren could take away his supporters. Adela Hersch, 45, said in Hudson, New Hampshire. “I like Warren and I like Bernie and they’re really close on the most important issues, but Bernie is still my guy. I am concerned, though.”
