Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Hawaii caucus on Saturday, completing a sweep that marked the Vermont senator’s best day of the Democratic primary contest so far.
Sanders’ win in Hawaii followed blowup victories in Alaska and Washington state, allowing Sanders to take the first significant bite out of front-runner Hillary Clinton’s lead among Democratic delegates since his New Hampshire primary last month.
Sanders’ victories Saturday were expected. All three were awarded delegates through caucuses, rather than a statewide primary vote. Sanders fared well in caucus states. But he was quick to claim they gave him a mandate to continue his long-shot fight against Clinton, the former secretary of state for the Democratic nomination.
“It is hard for anybody to deny that our campaign has the momentum,” Sanders said in speech Saturday. Sanders said he has exactly what most campaign handicappers say he lacks, “a path to victory.”
Sanders trailed Clinto, 1,697 to 976 in delegates headed into Saturday’s voting. His wins Saturday, most importantly in Washington, which awards 101 delegates, will help him cut that gap by at least 60. Hawaii awarded 25 delegates in Saturday’s caucus contest.
Sanders, acknowledging little hope of catching Clinton in pledged delegates, says he can win by convincing so-called superdelegates who back her to switch their support to him.
It’s an uphill path. To catch Clinton, Sanders needs to soundly defeat her in four high popluation states that are still to vote: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California. Polls show her beating him in all four. In New York, which Clinton represented in the Senate, she has a massive polling lead.
In Hawaii, Sanders won with help of former Democratic National Committee vice chair, Hawaiian Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard abandoned her post as DNC vice chair in December to endorse Sanders. Her DNC post required her to be neutral in the primary. Gabbard faulted Hillary Clinton’s hawkish foreign policy views and said she wanted to help bolster Sanders’ anti-interventionist stance. It’s not clear how important a role Gabbard played in Sanders’ win.
Sanders’ wife, Jane Sanders, visited the state last week. Neither Sanders himself nor Clinton personally visited Hawaii during the 2016 primary campaign.
No Democratic primary polling was conducted in the state prior to caucus day, but many Democrats had predicted Sanders would win most of Hawaii’s 25 delegates based on anecdotal indications. The Sanders campaign has also said they expected to win the state because Hawaii is a relatively progressive state, which tends to favor Sanders.
