House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said Tuesday he believes Hillary Clinton will lose next week’s New Hampshire primary to the “idealist” Bernie Sanders. But she will still win the party’s presidential nomination by securing the most delegates.
“I don’t expect her to win the New Hampshire primary,” Hoyer told reporters.
Clinton on Tuesday was narrowly leading opponent Bernie Sanders in Iowa, where each garnered about 50 percent of caucus votes.
Hoyer said Sanders, a senator from Vermont who is a Democratic socialist, has a distinct advantage over Clinton because of his state’s proximity to New Hampshire.
“Bernie Sanders is a next door neighbor,” Hoyer, a Clinton supporter, said. “When everybody knows you, I think you have an advantage.”
Hoyer predicted Clinton will win the contests that follow the Granite State, including the South Carolina primary on Feb. 20 and Nevada caucuses on Feb. 23.
He believes she’ll also lead Sanders in the superdelegate count at the Democratic National Convention.
Even though Clinton and Sanders split the Iowa vote, Hoyer played down the appearance of a division within the party.
He said he was “pleased by the outcome” in Iowa and called Clinton’s tally “an impressive performance,” considering Sanders’ late surge and the high voter turnout.
Democrats, Hoyer said, “are much more united on the issues” than the GOP, where candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are surging in the polls along with the more establishment-oriented Marco Rubio.
“They are pretty deeply divided between very hard liners” and the more mainstream candidates, Hoyer said.
While Sanders is an “idealist,” Hoyer said, Clinton is “a very idealistic pragmatist” who understands what can realistically be accomplished.
