Onetime Goldwater girl Hillary Clinton won the Arizona primary on Tuesday night, making this her sixth primary win in a row over her Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders.
As the two Democrats focused on Western Tuesday, the Vermont senator told supporters that he expected the second half of the primary calendar to be just a friendly to him as the first half of the calendar was to Clinton.
Although Sanders put over $1.3 million into advertisements in Arizona, going into the primary Clinton led Sanders in the polls by 30 points, according to the RealClearPolitics averages. In contrast, Clinton spent just $600,000 in Arizona.
Although the former secretary of state won Arizona’s primary in 2008 she has only campaigned there once this cycle, just this past Monday. Instead she sent surrogates to rally the voters on her behalf, such as her husband Bill Clinton and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez.
Hispanics make up nearly 30 percent of the voter population and Arizona held closed primary, two facts that aided Clinton as she has been more popular among minority voters and registered Democrats.
Sanders spent significant time in the border state leading up to the primary, speaking to voters about the importance of immigration reform and economic equality.
As results came out in Arizona Sanders gathered with 9,000 supporters in San Diego, California. Prior to the Arizona primary, the Vermont senator declared that it would be the beginning of his comeback.
“Tonight in Utah, tonight in Idaho and tonight in Arizona there are record-breaking turnouts in terms of voters,” Sanders said in California Tuesday night. “Now, this campaign — this campaign is doing as well as it is generating the kind of energy and excitement we’re seeing here in San Diego and all over this country.”
Clinton celebrated her victory at a rally in Seattle, Washington where she warned supporters that even though she is winning the delegate count there is still much at stake in this election.
“I’m also very proud to have won Arizona tonight,” Clinton said. “it’s exciting — it’s exciting to see that result come in, because, you know, Arizona, like Washington, like a lot of the states that are going to be expressing their views and counting their votes in the weeks ahead, understand that this is not just a contest between different candidates. this is a contest between fundamentally different views of our country, our values, and our future.”
Democrats also caucused in Utah and Idaho on Tuesday, two contests where Sanders was viewed as having a better chance of winning.
