Unable to muster young voters, Sanders faces changed 2020 race

After disappointing results on Super Tuesday where he won only four of fourteen states, Bernie Sanders heads to Michigan on Friday facing a dramatically different race for President, as he looks for ways to blunt the new momentum of Joe Biden, and tries to figure out why his 2020 campaign has not been able to push new voters to the polls.

"Have we been as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in?" Sanders said to reporters earlier this week in his home state of Vermont. "The answer is no."

The Sanders schedule makes it very clear where his campaign wants to make a stand on March 10, as his campaign has now added stops on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Michigan.

Originally, Sanders was to campaign in Mississippi on Friday - a state where Joe Biden is strongly favored - but that was changed in favor of a rally in Detroit.

"Michigan is obviously an enormously important state," Sanders told reporters on Wednesday in Vermont. "We are going in there with the full expectation and the hope that we will win."

Four years ago in 2016, Sanders did win in Michigan in a close race over Hillary Clinton, but Clinton's easy victory in Mississippi gave her the edge that primary night.

In 2020, Michigan is the biggest prize in the six contests set for Tuesday, with 125 delegates at stake.

Also voting with Michigan will be, Washington State (89 delegates), Missouri (68), Mississippi (36), Idaho (20), and North Dakota (14).

On Thursday, the race further narrowed as Elizabeth Warren dropped out, joining Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg, and Amy Klobuchar, as the Democratic field has rapidly narrowed in less than a week.

Sanders supporters had hoped that Warren might endorse their candidate, but instead she will stay on the sidelines for now in the Biden-Sanders fight.

While Warren remains uncommitted, Klobuchar is throwing herself right back on the campaign trail for Biden, going to Michigan for a series of Biden events on Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, Michigan Democrats began to come off the bench on Thursday for Biden, continuing an absolutely unprecedented wave of party endorsements for the former Vice President.

"We need a president who will show up and fight for Michiganders, and Joe Biden has proven time and again that he has our back," said Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

"Today, I filled out my absentee ballot for Joe Biden," said Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a freshman Democrat in Congress from Michigan.

The quick reshuffling of the deck in the Democratic race was also showing a dramatic edge for Biden in Florida, which holds its primary on March 17 - and could provide a further boost for Biden over Sanders - as a new poll showed Biden leading Sanders by 49 points.

Florida has 219 delegates at stake on March 17. A win of that size for Biden would more than erase the 60-plus delegate advantage that Sanders currently has in California, where votes continue to be counted in Tuesday's primary.

352 delegates are up for grabs in six states on March 10.

577 delegates are at stake on March 17 from Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Arizona.

mobile apps

Everything you love about wokv.com and more! Tap on any of the buttons below to download our app.

amazon alexa

Enable our Skill today to listen live at home on your Alexa Devices!