OPINION:
Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders is set to win the Democratic primary in West Virginia on Tuesday, and then is favored in upcoming contests in Kentucky and Oregon, despite Hillary Clinton’s all-but-certain Democratic nominee status.
Mr. Sanders has vowed to keep fighting all the way to the Democratic convention in July, looking to influence the Democratic platform. Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state, has a significant delegate lead, clinching 2,228 or 94 percent of what she needs to win the nomination, whereas Mr. Sanders has 1,454 delegates.
In 2008, Mrs. Clinton won every county in West Virginia’s Democratic primary, but this Tuesday looks far different.
In states where more than 70 percent of the voting populous consists of white voters, Mr. Sanders either wins or pitches a tough battle. In West Virginia, more than 90 percent of residents are white. In previous contests with similar demographics, like in Vermont, and New Hampshire, Mr. Sanders won by double-digits.
Then, there’s the issue of coal. At a campaign event earlier this season, Mrs. Clinton said, referring to the transition of clean energy: “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
Coal is one of West Virginia’s primary economic resources, providing 20,000 direct mining jobs and more than 70,000 indirect jobs, generating more than $6 billion each year in positive economic impact for the state.
When officials in Logan, West Virginia, were asked to hold a rally on Tuesday for Mrs. Clinton, the answer was a firm “no.”
“Bill and Hillary Clinton are simply not welcome in our town,” they wrote in a letter to the office of Sen. Joe Manchin, who was looking to secure a spot for the Clinton rally. “Mrs. Clinton’s anti-coal messages are the last thing our suffering town needs at this point. The policies that have been championed by people like Mrs. Clinton have all but devastated our fair town, and honestly, enough is enough. We wish them the best in their campaign, however we again state they are not welcome on our city’s properties.”
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