Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont won landslide victories Saturday in the Democratic presidential caucuses in Alaska, Washington and Hawaii, giving his campaign fresh momentum for a prolonged battle against front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Sanders crushed Mrs. Clinton in Alaska 81 percent to 18 percent, in Washington 72 percent to 27 percent and in Hawaii 69 percent to 30 percent, according to unofficial results.
The big wins provided a timely boost for Mr. Sanders heading into a key primary April 5 in Wisconsin, where Mrs. Clinton’s appeal with blue collar voters will be put to the test.
But Mr. Sanders will continue to face an uphill battle to overtake Mrs. Clinton and secure the party’s nomination.
Mr. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist from Vermont, celebrated the victories at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin. He said that his campaign had the “momentum and energy.”
“We are making significant inroads in Secretary Clinton’s lead and we have with your support coming here in Wisconsin — we have a path toward victory,” he told a crowd of thousands at the rally.
“Don’t let anybody tell you that we can’t win the nomination or win the general election. We are going to do both of those things,” Mr. Sanders declared.
Mr. Sanders has regularly drawn thousands to his rallies, far more than attend most of Mrs. Clinton’s events.
Still, Mrs. Clinton remains far ahead in the delegate race and the heavy favorite to win the party’s nomination.
Heading into Tuesday’s caucuses, where 142 delegates are up for grabs, Mrs. Clinton had collected 1,690 delegates to 946 for Mr. Sanders, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
The figures include delegates awarded from primaries and caucuses and so-called superdelegates, elected officials and party leaders who have overwhelmingly sided with Mrs. Clinton.
Based on that count, Mr. Sanders still needs to win 58 percent of the remaining delegates from primaries and caucuses to have a majority of those delegates before the party convention in July in Philadelphia.
It takes 2,383 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.