The Washington Post - 05.03.2020

A6 eZ re THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020

election 2020

Stephen Nuño-Perez of L atino D e-

cisions, a nonpartisan polling firm

that focuses on Latino political

and social attitudes and that has

done work for Democratic organi-

zations.

Exit polling suggested that

Biden won the votes of roughly

70 percent of black voters in Vir-

ginia and Alabama and did nearly

as well in North Carolina and Tex-

as, getting roughly 60 percent of

the vote. Biden also won in Ten-

nessee, o klahoma and Arkansas.

Darren Peters, who worked on

the presidential campaigns of Bill

and Hillary Clinton, said Biden’s

strong showing with black voters

in Southern states could help him

if h e becomes the party’s n ominee.

“It shows an ability to galvanize

the kinds of constituencies that

are going to be needed to win in a

general election,” Peters said,

highlighting the importance of

the black vote in key swing states

like Pennsylvania and michigan.

While some Democrats have

wondered if Biden, a familiar face

with a long track record, would

lose in the same way as Hillary

Clinton, Biden drew broader sup-

port in N orth Carolina and Virgin-

ia than Clinton did in 2016. Clin-

ton won 86 percent of Virginia

precincts and 65 percent of North

Carolina precincts in 2016. Biden

won 93 percent of precincts in

both states.

rep. Tim ryan (D-ohio), who

ended his presidential bid last

year, said Trump should be ner-

vous about Biden’s ability to “con-

nect with the Whole foods moms

and the suburban women” who

may have voted republican in the

past but have been turned off by

the p resident’s d ivisiveness.

“I think t here’s a silent majority

of people who want Donald

Trump out of office,” ryan s aid.

“They don’t want to have heated

discussions with people about it.

They don’t want to get in fights

with people about it. They don’t

want to be on social media about

it, but they’re appalled at his be-

havior.”

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[email protected]

[email protected]

lenny Bronner, Paul Kane and Mike

DeBonis contributed to this report.

burgeoning coalition during his
victory speech Tuesday night in
Los Angeles.
“our campaign reflects the di-
versity of this party and this na-
tion, and that’s how it should be,”
he told supporters. “Because we
need to bring everybody along,
everybody. We want a nominee
who will beat Donald Trump, but
also keep Nancy Pelosi the speaker
of the House, and win back the
United S tates Senate.”
His surprise overnight eleva-
tion to delegate leader pleased
moderate Democrats and un-
nerved some republicans who
had expected Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I-Vt.) to come out in front after
14 s tates v oted on S uper Tuesday.
The results also harked back to
the 2018 midterm elections, in
which Democrats won back the
House and prevailed in several
competitive gubernatorial races
by capitalizing on disdain for
Trump among moderate and sub-
urban voters, combined with high
turnout among members of the
Democratic base.
rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.),
who flipped a republican con-
gressional seat in 2018, said
Biden’s s tring of victories was r em-
iniscent of his win in a district
containing the suburbs of C harles-
ton.
“A l ot of folks who came o ut and
supported us are the same ones
who came out and supported
him,” said Cunningham, who en-
dorsed B iden.
In a campaign where electabili-
ty has been a major theme, Biden
has taken to calling himself an
“obama-Biden” Democrat and
pledging to rebuild the kind of
diverse electorate that helped for-
mer president Barack obama se-
cure two terms.
But with Sanders capitalizing
on energetic crowds and support
from many young voters, o bama’s
coalition has not fully rallied be-
hind Biden, said Amy Walter, na-

BIden from A1 tional editor of the Cook Political
report. While Biden has trailed
Sanders among young people and
Hispanic voters, he has quickly
put together an emerging coali-
tion that capitalizes on the strong
anti-Trump sentiment among
black voters and suburban wom-
en, s he s aid.
“Every campaign should have
its o wn coalition that i s organic for
the candidate and is the right co-
alition for the moment,” Walter
said. “These suburban voters who
in years past would split their
votes more evenly between Demo-
crats and republicans are now
coming out overwhelmingly
against Trump.”
Virginia, where voters showed
up in record numbers for Tues-
day’s primary, i s a case in point.
roughly 1.3 million Virginia
voters cast ballots, about 21 per-
cent of the electorate, according to
unofficial results. That’s up from
the previous record of about
986,000 votes and 18 percent of
the electorate in 2008, when
obama was challenging Hillary
Clinton for the party’s nomina-
tion.
“The interest... in defeating
Donald Trump is so intense that
it’s almost unprecedented,” rich-
mond political scientist Bob Hols-
worth said.
Biden was t he beneficiary o f the
Virginia groundswell, easily beat-
ing Sanders a nd t hree o ther candi-
dates.
“It’s just extraordinary. In the
commonwealth of Virginia, folks
are fired up. They want to beat
Trump,” former governor Te rry
mcAuliffe (D) s aid in an interview.
He pointed to massive jumps in
turnout in the once-purple D.C.
suburbs, which he said reflected
“the intensity of the anti-Trump
feeling in Northern V irginia.”
Cities with large African Ameri-
can populations also registered
strong gains, with black voters
accounting for a quarter of all
ballots c ast.
Biden also prevailed in minne-

Biden’s romp suggests a

strong anti-Trump hand

BY SEAN SULLIVAN

AND ROBERT COSTA

BURLINGTON, VT. — Tuesday
night was the 39th anniversary of
Bernie Sanders’s narrow victory
to become the mayor of this liber-
al lakeside city, the race that
launched the career of one of the
country’s most prominent left-
wing politicians.
But what could have been a
triumphant homecoming for a
political revolutionary seemingly
on course to become the Demo-
cratic presidential nominee in-
stead morphed quickly into a mo-
ment of reckoning — a sign that
the political movement he has
built may not be enough to get
him to the White House.
By Wednesday, Sanders sought
to regain his footing from prima-
ry election defeats in several key
states as his campaign advisers
looked to address his glaring in-
ability to win African Americans
and traditional Democrats.
Hours after Joe Biden racked
up wins in at least 10 of the 14
Super Tuesday states, Sanders
took sharp aim at the former vice
president’s record, a sign of what
aides said would be a more con-
frontational posture in the com-
ing weeks. Sanders also unveiled
a pair of television commercials
critical of Biden’s r ecord on Social
Security and trade in states voting
later this month.
“Joe and I have a very different
vision for the future of this coun-
try, a nd Joe and I are running very
different campaigns,” Sanders
said. “my hope is that in the
coming months, we will be able to
debate and discuss the very sig-
nificant differences that we have.”
Sanders’s reset attempt, coming
less than a week before another
critical set of primaries, reflected
a divide among some of his sup-
porters about how to proceed.
In some parts of the Sanders
orbit, there have been private dis-
cussions about how to reassure
Democrats that Sanders — a dem-
ocratic socialist who frequently
lambastes the party establish-
ment — is an ally of the party.
The campaign released an ad
featuring an audio clip of former
president Barack obama praising
Sanders, a clear attempt to under-
cut the benefit that has accrued to

Biden, particularly among black

voters, as the loyal lieutenant to

the country’s first African Ameri-

can president.

The flurry of activity amounted

to the clearest acknowledgment

yet that the coalition Sanders has

built — w hich is composed largely

of young people, liberals, work-

ing-class voters and Latino voters

— has failed to expand since

Sanders’s upstart 2016 bid, all as

the rest of the party h as coalesced

behind Biden.

The Tuesday results, in which

Sanders led in California while

winning Colorado, Utah and Ver-

mont, offered a reminder that he

retains a forceful position in the

party — win or lose the nomina-

tion — with support from a quar-

ter to a third of the base.

But much of his team’s focus

Wednesday was on the need for

improvement.

Exit polls showed that the

struggles Sanders experienced

among black voters four years ago

against Clinton were largely un-

changed. Black voters boosted

Biden across Southern states on

Super Tuesday, with exit polling

showing that he won the votes of

roughly 7 in 10 black voters in

Virginia and Alabama, and did

nearly as well in North Carolina,

Te nnessee and Te xas, getting

roughly 60 percent of the black

vote.

Sanders’s push to broaden the

electorate with scores of new vot-

ers rallying behind him hasn’t

been realized. And he has strug-

gled to persuade voters that a

leftist political revolution is the

best way to beat President Trump.

Now, Sanders is confronting a

radically different political land-

scape from 11 days ago, when he

was flying high after a decisive

win in Nevada seemed to put him

in the driver’s seat in the Demo-

cratic race. Divisions in the mod-

erate wing of the party that en-

abled him to succeed with a limit-

ed, if loyal, base have been re-

solved.

on Wednesday, Sanders ap-

peared frustrated by the decision

by former New York mayor mike

Bloomberg — w ho ended his cam-

paign after a disappointing show-

ing — and others to end their

campaigns and line up behind

Biden.

“How do we stop Bernie Sand-

ers?” the senator from Vermont

said. “What you do is you get

candidates out of the race to rally

around Joe Biden.”

Sanders campaign officials

were hopeful that as more votes

were tallied in California — Tues-

day’s biggest prize — the delegate

advantage Biden had built would

shrink or disappear entirely. Even

if it does, though, the path ahead

for Sanders is a treacherous one,

with some states that present op-

portunities but many others that

seem more favorable to Biden.

Campaign officials are also eye-

ing michigan, a populous state

where Sanders defeated Clinton

in 2016. But florida, another

d elegate-rich state where many

Democrats were angered by

Sanders’s recent comments prais-

ing fidel Castro, is likely to be

much tougher.

mississippi, which holds its

primary next week, could be an-

other difficult contest for Sanders

due to the state’s high concentra-

tion of black voters.

Sanders planned to travel fri-

day to Jackson, miss., to deliver a

speech at a civil rights museum,

although his aides declined to say

what he would talk about.

His struggles were apparent in

the closing days of the South

Carolina primary, when he drew

mostly white crowds.

Chokwe Lumumba, the African

American mayor of Jackson,

miss., where Sanders will be fri-

day, spent time in South Carolina

campaigning for Sanders last

week. He recalled meeting a

young African American man

who told him, “my student loans

are killing me.”

“I asked who he was voting for,

and he said Joe Biden,” recalled

Lumumba. “I said, ‘I don’t know

what his policy is around your

student loans, but I know where

Bernie Sanders is.’ ”

Some close Sanders allies be-

lieve the distance between the

Sanders movement and the party

have caused broader issues, espe-

cially when Biden is portraying

himself as a unifier. Now, some

are trying to bridge that gap in

hopes of mending old wounds

and preventing new ones.

“our campaign is deeply proud

of the Democratic Party and con-

tributions to America,” said rep.

ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a national

co-chair of the Sanders campaign.

“We are open to listening and

earning the trust of every Demo-

crat from every ideological spec-

trum to earn the right to lead this

extraordinary party.”

Some Sanders allies believe the

problem is deeper than party

identity.

As Sanders spoke in Vermont

on Wednesday afternoon, a hand-

ful of his prominent supporters

quietly connected by phone and

text message, according to three

Democrats familiar with those

discussions who spoke on the

condition of anonymity to de-

scribe private deliberations.

In these discussions, some de-

bated whether Sanders’s anti-

establishment message was

enough. “We’ve got to be ready for

when the party gets cold feet on

Biden and looks to us,” one of the

Democrats said. “We can’t just

keep running the same playbook

again and again.”

A second Democrat involved

said there are plans to reach out

to supporters of Sen. Elizabeth

Warren (D-mass.) in key states,

should she drop out, but those

efforts are not being directed by

Sanders’s inner circle since they

are busy with primary contests,

ads and travel.

The second Democrat added

that there are some leading liber-

als in Sanders’s orbit who would

like to see “less michael moore

and the Squad” on the campaign

trail.

Warren’s intentions were not

clear on Wednesday, and her con-

tinued presence in the race is

hurting Sanders, some of his al-

lies privately acknowledged. As

the senator from massachusetts

hunkered down to consider her

future after failing to gain trac-

tion anywhere on Tuesday, she

and Sanders spoke, according to

the senator from Vermont.

Sanders said it was important

to “respect the time and the space

that she needs to make her deci-

sion.”

one bright spot for Sanders on

Tuesday was California, where he

was leading and performed well

among Latino voters.

Analilia mejia, Sanders’s politi-

cal director, said the campaign

sought to capitalize early on what

it saw as a chance to make inroads

with Latino voters by immersing

itself in Hispanic communities

through intimate meetings, the

hiring of staff who knew local

areas best and by encouraging

young Latinos to persuade their

parents to consider supporting

Sanders.

“What people see outwardly,”

mejia said, is “a rally at a particu-

lar location or state or city. What

isn’t always apparent is we build

clutches with leaders and com-

munities before and after those

rallies.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

emily guskin in washington

contributed to this report.

After Super Tuesday struggles, Sanders faces a reckoning

Poor showings with

traditional Democrats,

black voters loom large

sAlwAn georges/tHe wAsHIngton Post

Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) attend a rally at Champlain Valley exposition in essex Junction, Vt., on Tuesday. While Sanders

was able to win his home state, former vice president Joe Biden racked up victories in at least 10 others on Super Tuesday.

sota, massachusetts and across

the South, building on a swift-

moving series of events in which

two of his main moderate chal-

lengers dropped out of the race

and e ndorsed him b efore Tuesday.

The endorsements by former

South Bend, Ind., m ayor Pete Butt-

igieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of

minnesota, combined with

Biden’s resounding win Saturday

in South Carolina, had an impact.

Voters who decided late heavily

backed Biden, according to exit

poll results.

While Biden came away from

Tuesday’s primaries w ith the most

delegates, the contests revealed

some of the challenges he faces as

he tries to secure the nomination

and pull together a fractured par-

ty.

He was trailing Sanders in the

country’s most populous state,

California, a s votes were still being

counted, and he continues to lag

with Hispanics and younger vot-

ers. It’s also not clear how Biden

would win over the liberal wing of

the party, which has supported

Sanders’s agenda advocating

more sweeping changes.

But Biden’s victories also

brought into sharper relief Sand-

ers’s failure to deliver on his

pledge to drive a surge in turnout

among young people and disaf-

fected voters he contended would

power his campaign to a revolu-

tion-style victory.

Sanders on Tuesday acknowl-

edged he was disappointed in the

turnout figures.

“I will be honest with you, we

have not done as well in bringing

young people into the political

process,” h e told reporters in Burl-

ington, Vt. “It is n ot easy.”

According to exit polls, about

13 percent of v oters in Super Tues-

day states were 18-to-29-year-olds,

compared with 3 in 10 who were

65 or older.

republicans were quick to

point out that Biden entered the

race last year as a presumed lead-

er, only to falter b ecause of uneven

performances on the campaign

trail a nd lackluster f undraising.

“Just a few days a go, Democrats

had left Joe Biden for dead be-

cause they realized he was a terri-

ble candidate. Nothing has

changed,” said Trump campaign

spokesman Tim murtaugh. “He’s

still a terrible candidate, and we

still don’t know if he’ll be Presi-

dent Trump’s o pponent.”

Trump and his campaign have

sought t o interfere with the D emo-

crats’ primaries, openly pushing

for a protracted fight between the

party’s liberal and moderate

wings that could last through the

nominating convention i n July.

Sanders said Tuesday that he

planned to move forward with his

campaign and attacked Biden as a

member of the “establishment”

who has v oted f or bad trade d eals.

A drawn-out Democratic battle

over delegates and party rules

would allow Trump to continue

his attempts to build his coalition

ahead of the general election.

Trump, who spoke to the Latino

Coalition Legislative Summit on

Wednesday, has been making a

public appeal to m inority voters t o

back his campaign.

Some younger Latino voters,

who have backed Sanders over-

whelmingly, distrust Biden be-

cause of the high number of de-

portations that took place during

the obama administration, said

lUKe sHArrett for tHe wAsHIngton Post

Supporters watch Joe Biden speak last month in Georgetown, S.C. Strong backing from African

Americans, suburbanites and moderate white voters propelled Biden’s string of Super Tuesday wins.