As expected, Bernie Sanders continued his winning streak in caucuses and came out victorious in Wyoming on Saturday. Yet it wasn’t all bad news for Hillary Clinton, who did better than expected. With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Sanders won 56 percent of the vote. With this latest victory, Sanders has won seven of the past eight states that have held a nominating contest. Wyoming shared several characteristics with many of the states Sanders had won, primarily that it was a caucus in a largely white and rural state.
Despite Clinton’s string of losses, she continued to have a 219-delegate lead before Saturday, and considering Wyoming only has 14 delegates up for grabs, it isn’t going to change much. Sanders likely picked up seven of the state’s 14 delegates, while Clinton got six. One delegate still needs to be assigned, reports the Associated Press.
Even though the delegate math isn’t really changing after Saturday, that doesn’t mean the Wyoming victory is meaningless. “Coming after Mr. Sanders’s recent big victories in Washington State, Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Hawaii and Wisconsin, it was more evidence of Mrs. Clinton’s weaknesses among white and liberal voters as the race moves to major primaries in New York and elsewhere in the Northeast,” points out the New York Times. Overall, Sanders has won 16 states, while Clinton has come out on top in 18.
The focus now is in New York, where there are 247 pledged delegates up for grabs on April 19. In fact, Sanders was giving a speech in New York when his wife interrupted him with news of the Wyoming victory. “News bulletin, we just won Wyoming,” Sanders told the crowd. “That is really great because there are probably more people in this room than there are in Wyoming.”
Read more Slate coverage of the Democratic primary.
