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Bernie Sanders Win in New Hampshire Dems Primary

Bernie Sanders waves to supporters

Bernie Sanders waves to supporters (by Gage Skidmore)

Posted: February 11, 2020 at 11:45 pm   /   by   /   comments (0)

Wednesday, 12:45 am EST: With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Senator Bernie Sanders is projected to win in the Democratic New Hampshire primary with 25.8 percent of the vote. Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar also had good nights, bringing in 24.4 and 19.7 percent, respectively. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vice President came in 4th and 5th. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang announced his resignation Tuesday night after a disappointing performance in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

Bernie Maintains Lead Out of Iowa

Despite the mess out of the Iowa Caucus last week, Bernie Sanders and Buttigieg have maintained their first and second positions, with Sanders gaining more votes. Results from Iowa have Sanders in the lead with the popular vote, while Buttigieg took home more state delegates. It was unclear how much the muddled Iowa results would impact the first primary. Yet, it seems that the promised momentum for a strong Iowa showing has had the desired result for the Sanders, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar campaigns.

Sanders won with about a 4,000 vote lead over the former South Bend mayor in the 10+ candidate race. In 2016, Sanders won New Hampshire with 60 percent over Hillary Clinton. Though it was a very different race with only two candidates, some have criticized Sanders for failing to bring voters in during the 2020 Iowa and New Hampshire races as promised.

Bernie spoke last Tuesday night after ABC announced him the projected winner, claiming victory both in New Hampshire and Iowa. “This victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump,” he stated. Sanders expressed solidarity with fellow Democratic candidates and shared a message of unity against Trump. He also hit at candidates who “take money from billionaires”. “The reason we are going to win is because we are putting together a multi-generational, multi-racial political movement,” Sanders announced to a room of raucous cheers. 

Buttigieg and Klobuchar Split the Moderate Vote

Moderate and independent voters appear split between Buttigieg and Klobuchar. The two are now vying to lead the moderate wing of the party after the blow to the Biden campaign. Buttigieg has been consistently neck and neck with Sanders, while Klobuchar’s sudden and dramatic surge to nearly 20 percent in New Hampshire comes as a surprise.

Early exit polls from ABC indicated that two-thirds of Klobuchar voters were women. This indicates that the Senator may have access to a key demographic whom many assumed would be drawn to Warren. Klobuchar only placed fifth in Iowa, however her performance there and on the New Hampshire debate stage earlier this week clearly had an impact on voters. 

Buttigieg and Klobuchar both gave victorious speeches after exceeding expectations. Mayor Pete congratulated Sanders and his other competitors, and also shared a message of unity, stating, “Vote blue, no matter who.”

Biden and Warren Fail to Perform

Warren placed 4th at nine percent, while Biden came in fifth at eight percent. Once the national frontrunner, the New Hampshire primary was a major hit to the former Vice President. Although he tried to set expectations low during last week’s debate, meeting low expectations hardly instill confidence.

Biden left New Hampshire early for South Carolina, where he hopes to perform better with access to more diverse voters. Biden has touted his appeal to black voters, in particular, as demonstrative of his electability. Yet, even with black voters as about 13 percent of the US population, it’s hard to see how that one demographic could make up for a severe underperformance pushing him down to the single digits. 

Biden and Warren will both be looking to the next elections to get them back in the top three. The Nevada caucus takes place on February 22nd and the South Carolina primary on February 29th. These elections will be their last chance to make prove electability before into Super Tuesday on March 3rd, when a large number of state delegates are up for grabs.

Andrew Yang Drops Out

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang suspended his campaign early Tuesday night after early results showed a disappointing turnout for him. Yang, once touted as a “longer-than-long shot”, surprised the nation by making it this far with no political experience. His campaign centered his flagship proposal, the Freedom Dividend, which would provide universal basic income (UBI) to all Americans. In his resignation, Yang expressed support for the future nominee and an interest in continuing to advocate for UBI.


Update Wednesday, 2:19 pm: With 98% of results in, Bernie Sanders is officially declared the winner in New Hampshire. He and Buttigieg each receive nine state delegates, and Amy Klobucharreceives six.

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