NH Democratic Primary
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- Created on Thursday, 11 February 2016 16:38
- Written by Alex Paduch
CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Candidates from both parties have packed up their campaigns in the Granite State and headed for warmer weather. Tuesday proved a wild ride for the Democratic Party, whose “establishment candidate” in Hillary Clinton lost by over 22 percentage points to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
“Thank you New Hampshire, now it’s onto Nevada, South Carolina and beyond,” said Sanders to a raucous audience at his victory rally in Concord.
Coming off a narrow victory in the Iowa caucus, Clinton pushed hard the last week making attempts to differentiate herself from Sanders in town hall events, both local and nationally-televised. These attempts proved futile once the returns began to come in, showing Sanders with a substantial lead from even the earliest of precincts.
At the Barley House, located in the shadow of the state capital building in Concord, Sanders supporters gathered to watch the results from each precinct come in live. Many of those in attendance at the well-known bar on North Main Street traveled from all across New England to support Sanders.
“[It’s just] an incredible, unprecedented energy and passion elicited that otherwise would not have been brought up by anyone else,” said Brooklyn, New York native Jeff Stirewalt.
Stirewalt, a young voter, is a member of Sander’s key demographic—voters under the age of 30. Sanders received over 80 percent of those votes on Tuesday, making it extremely difficult for Clinton.
“I know I have some work to do, particularly with young people, but I will repeat again what I said this week,” Clinton said in her concession speech. “Even if they are not supporting me now, I support them.”
While Sanders took the popular vote 60% to Clinton’s 38%, he also took home the delegates. Sanders had almost double the delegates of Clinton, coming in at 15 to 9. Democratic delegates are based on the proportion of the popular vote for each candidate.
Looking forward, South Carolina hosts the second primary in the nation Saturday, February 27th.
