WASHINGTON ― Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) solidly defeated Hillary Clinton in Idaho’s Democratic caucus on Tuesday.
He walked away with 78 percent of the vote, compared to Clinton’s 21 percent. That gives him 17 delegates. Clinton picks up six.
There was record-breaking turnout in the deeply red state, with some waiting in line for hours to vote. It was clear who many Democratic voters were there for; a CNN reporter on the scene in Boise late Tuesday was regularly greeted with cheers of “Bernie!” as the camera panned the scene.
Sanders had a slight lead heading into the caucus, and unlike Clinton, he spent time in the state. He drew thousands of supporters at an Idaho Falls event on Friday, and held another event Monday at Boise State University. Clinton opted to send in a surrogate, Olympic silver medalist Michelle Kwan, to rally supporters at the school on Thursday. Kwan previously worked as a public envoy under Clinton at the State Department.
Despite Sanders’ romp, one thing remains the same in the Democratic race: Clinton is dominating. She swept in last week’s key primaries in Ohio, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina, and by the end of Tuesday ― Utah’s caucus and Arizona’s primary were also that day ― Clinton’s total number of pledged delegates stood at 1,214 to Sanders’ 901. It takes 2,383 delegates to lock in the nomination.
It’s nearly impossible for Sanders to win at this point, mathematically speaking. As Vox points out, he would have to prevail in practically every remaining state by huge margins in order to catch up to Clinton’s pledged delegates.
The next Democratic primaries are on Saturday, in Alaska, Hawaii and Washington state.
This article has been updated to indicate that Bernie Sanders won by a wide margin.
CORRECTION: This article originally said Michelle Kwan was an Olympic gold medalist. She is a silver medalist.
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