Sanders crushes Clinton at Washington’s Democratic caucuses

Bernie Sanders is the first presidential candidate to win Jason Ponnequin’s vote, the Olympia man said Saturday.

Other politicians just haven’t seemed like they support the working class, he said.

“I’m 31 years old and I’ve had a hell of a time trying to make a living,” said Ponnequin, who has climbed out of homelessness but aspires to more than his current job as a custodian.

“This is the first election where there’s been someone worth voting for.”

Sanders won Washington’s Democratic caucuses Saturday in a landslide. By 8 p.m., the self-proclaimed democratic socialist was defeating Hillary Clinton by a nearly 3-to-1 margin statewide in a contest that Democrats expected would draw at least 200,000 participants.

In a Madison Elementary School gymnasium, Ponnequin was among about 600 people from six Olympia precincts who sent 26 Sanders delegates to the party’s Thurston County convention. Clinton won just five delegates there.

About 7,000 precinct caucuses at 500 sites around the state were choosing 27,170 delegates to county and legislative-district conventions.

The results will affect how 101 of Washington’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia will be allocated, although those results must first be filtered through a succession of votes at county, district and state levels. The state’s other 17 delegates are superdelegates — party leaders and elected officials who largely support Clinton.

Combined with his victory at Alaska’s Democratic caucuses Saturday, Sanders said his campaign now “has the momentum” to catch up to Clinton.

“We are on a path toward victory,” Sanders said while speaking to a crowd in Wisconsin on Saturday.

Other Washington elections have become as simple as filling out a ballot and dropping it in the mail, but the caucuses are different. To participate, many Democrats waited in line, gathered in groups, cast ballots for a presidential candidate, waited for ballots to be tallied, listened to speeches from people wanting to go to the next level of voting and picked among them.

Both candidates visited the state ahead of the caucuses. Former Secretary of State Clinton has a substantial lead nationally, but Vermont Sen. Sanders will gain ground on her in Washington.

“A caucus brings out passionate supporters,” said Dan Silver, a Clinton supporter. “I think there’s far more passion for Bernie Sanders.”

Silver didn’t much care for Clinton when he caucused in 2008 for Barack Obama and still has misgivings about her. But she won his support this time over Sanders, who he considers self-righteous and with a questionable history of attachment to the Democratic Party.

“She’s been on the world stage, knows the world leaders,” Silver said.

“And she is resilient. She has overcome huge attacks by her political opponents and she just continues to persevere. I admire her for that.”

Many participants said they would support Sanders or Clinton against a Republican in the November election.

Sue Holmquist — holding a “Feel the Bern” sign next to husband Wayde — said Clinton would have to win their support by moving to the left and adopting some of Sanders’ positions.

“We love his radical ideas,” she said. “He’s authentic, and we feel he’s the best candidate to beat the Republicans.”

Sanders supporters came in a variety of stripes.

One considered himself independent, but said he would declare himself a Democrat if that’s what it took to vote for Sanders.

Another, Trenton Ricker, backed libertarian Republican Ron Paul in 2012 after becoming disenchanted with President Barack Obama. Now he likes Sanders’ opposition to the drug war and is worried about Clinton’s contributions from Wall Street and big business.

“You can’t receive money from these people and claim to not work for them,” Ricker said.

Sanders supporters have been organizing in Olympia since last spring, said Susan Herring, the site administrator for Madison Elementary. Herring, a Clinton backer who said she would enthusiastically support the eventual nominee, said she doubts Sanders can overcome Clinton’s lead.

Herring said she thought turnout locally was close to what it was at the crowded 2008 caucuses. That year, 250,000 people participated statewide as Obama defeated Clinton.

“I enjoy this process,” Herring said. “I know a lot of people don’t because it can take a long time.”

“It’s just nice to get together and talk about what we want.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Sanders crushes Clinton at Washington’s Democratic caucuses."