Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:15 pm
Bernie Sanders needed an upset victory in Michigan on Tuesday night to keep his presidential campaign at least somewhat afloat, but he didn’t get one.
According to NBC News, former vice president Joe Biden is projected to win the key rust belt state when all the votes are counted – a huge blow to Sanders who saw Michigan as a firewall for his campaign.
As of this writing, Biden is leading Sanders by a double-digit margin in the state, which the Vermont senator won in the 2016 primary.
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Michigan was so important Sanders this time around that he pulled out of Mississippi in the final days of the campaign in order to spend more time there.
The extra hours on the ground in the Wolverine State didn’t push him across the finish line, though, and it may have even helped Biden run up his score in Mississippi.
Sanders won Michigan in 2016
Another fact that makes Sanders’ loss in Michigan even more painful for his campaign is the he actually beat Hillary Clinton in the state by about two points in 2016.
For Sanders, page one in his playbook for becoming the 2020 Democratic nominee should have always been to win all the primary and caucus states he won in 2016. Then, build out from there and expand his base – something he hasn’t been able to do over the course of this campaign.
While Michigan is not the first state Sanders has lost this year that he won four years ago, it’s likely the most painful as it is filled with the type of working class voters that the Vermont senator claims he can attract to his campaign.
Ultimately, it’s increasingly clear that Sanders hasn’t only failed to expand his base beyond his core group of supporters, but he isn’t even competing at the same level he did against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
It’s hard to see how Bernie Sanders bounces back after this crushing defeat in Michigan.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
