Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waves to the crowd with his wife, Jane Sanders, by his side during a campaign rally Tuesday evening in the Arts and Sciences Auditorium at the University of Wyoming campus. (Blaine McCartney/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Bernie Sanders’ Wisconsin victory is a message to superdelegates.
The senator from Vermont had a great night Tuesday. He won in Wisconsin and still managed to deliver a positive speech about his policies and vision for the future. His campaign should be proud of its ground game and improving odds to win the nomination.
His victory was also a victory for Democrats. Exit polling shows Democratic primary voters believe Sanders has an incredible vision for the country, but many also believe former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has the best chance to beat the Republicans in the fall.
So, not to rain on the Sanders’ parade, but Clinton also had a good night in Wisconsin.
How? Well, overall the night wasn’t a total shellacking and she picked up delegates to add to her growing lead. Moving forward, the big delegate prizes in New York and Pennsylvania are looking incredibly good for Clinton, and the prized superdelegates — party VIPs who can support the candidate of their choice at the convention — still overwhelmingly support her campaign.
Right now, Clinton has a double-digit lead over Sanders in the polls in New York and Pennsylvania. However, this election cycle has shown that polls don’t always represent what voters will do on primary day, and it’s easy to imagine Sanders can defy the odds. His team has an impressive ground game and plenty of small donations flooding in, so they’ve got the money to keep fighting.
What happens now? Math says winning the nomination with the most delegates will be a challenge for Sanders. And again, the upcoming primaries in larger states favour Clinton. Sanders’ team must remain focused on turning out voters, but also speak more about superdelegates. His campaign understands these party representatives are huge assets to Clinton — in fact, they’re pretty critical to securing the nomination. He needs to win big and make them think twice about supporting Clinton.
Wisconsin wasn’t a turning point for either campaign. However, the party and its beloved superdelegates should pay close attention to the results in the remaining states. The stakes are too high to have unrest within the party and since both candidates will be staying in the race until the end, now is not the time to sling mud and create talking points for Republicans in the fall.
Democrats would be well-served to focus on keeping voters engaged and excited for the fall election.
Stay strong Bernie and Hillary supporters, we’ll have a nominee soon enough.
— Olivia Benson is a millennial, a democratic strategist, and the former director of youth policy for the City of Pittsburgh.
