Bernie Sanders handily won Alaska’s Democratic caucus on Saturday, according to the Associated Press and networks, boosting his delegate count and making good on his pledge that his campaign would do better in the western primary states.
Sanders said Satuday that the win shows he has “path to victory” despite Hillary Clinton’s daunting delegate lead.
“I think it is hard for anybody to deny that our campaign has the momentum,” Sanders said.
Though Alaska awards a modest 16 delegates, the win is part of what could be Sanders’ best day of the primary campaign. He was also crushing Clinton in Washington’s caucus and favored to win in Hawaii.
Although little polling was conducted in the state leading up to the vote, a January Alaska Dispatch poll showed Hillary Clinton leading the Vermont senator just 44-41. But in the time since the only poll was taken, Sanders’ wife Jane visited Alaska, while the former secretary of state has sent no representatives to the state. While in Alaska just this week, Jane Sanders held a rally, town hall/community potluck event and met with tribal leaders.
Additionally a group of Sanders supporters in Anchorage broke off from the campaign to create America’s Youth PAC, a super PAC aimed at Alaskan millennials.
