Three days after the Iowa caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont declared victory over Democratic presidential rival Pete Buttigieg in the first contest in the presidential nominating calendar.
Speaking to reporters Thursday at a news conference at his New Hampshire campaign headquarters in Manchester, Sanders thanked Iowans “for the very strong victory they gave us.”
“Even though the vote tabulations have been extremely slow, we are now at a point with some 97 percent of the precincts reporting, where our campaign is winning the popular initial vote by some 6,000 votes. In other words, some 6,000 more Iowans came out on caucus night to support our candidacy than the candidacy of anyone else, Sanders explained.
And if there was any question, he emphasized it again.
“When 6,000 more people come out for you in an election than your nearest opponent, we here in northern New England call that victory,” said the populist senator from Vermont who’s making his second straight bid for the White House.
He said such a margin, with eight candidates and a turnout of 180,000 people was “pretty decisive.”
Sanders’ declaration comes three days after the former South Bend, Indiana mayor declared a pre-emptive victory, saying to supporters in Iowa that “we don’t know the results. But we know, by the time it’s all said and done, you have shocked the nation…because, by all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”
Buttigieg has pointed to his lead in state delegate equivalents – which are the traditional way the Iowa caucus results have been reported for half a century.
But after Sanders narrowly lost to eventual nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic caucuses, he and his supporters complained to the Democratic National Committee and urged that the popular raw vote totals also be released. The DNC mandated that Iowa increase its reporting. The state party went even further, not only reporting the first round of raw vote totals but also the second round, after the realignment.
“To the best of my knowledge, either I or Mr. Buttigieg will end with a tiny fraction of an advantage in the SDE’s,” Sanders explained. “But this difference, no matter who inches ahead in the end, is meaningless because we are both likely to receive the same number of national delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.”
Asked why he should be considered the winner instead of Buttigieg, the senator stressed “because I got 6,000 more votes.”
Minutes before Sanders came before cameras and microphones, DNC Chair Tom Perez called on the Iowa Democratic Party to “immediately begin a recanvass” in the state, adding that “enough is enough.”
But Sanders said a recanvass wouldn’t change the results.
“What is not going to change is that we won a very significant victory in the popular vote, we won a very signification victory in the realignment vote,” he emphasized. “The person who gets the most votes wins. We got the most votes.”
After limping into New Hampshire after a lackluster fourth-place finish in Iowa, former Vice President Joe Biden admitted his campaign need to do better.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” he said. “We took a gut punch in Iowa.”
“This is not the first time in my life I’ve been knocked down” he said, vowing at a campaign event in Somersworth that “we’re going to come back.”
New Hampshire is now immensely more important for the former vice president, with the candidate once seen as the unrivaled front-runner in the Democratic nomination race with little to no momentum and plenty of concerns.
With Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts enjoying a degree of home-field advantage, the Biden campaign has always seen Nevada and South Carolina – which directly follow New Hampshire and have a more diverse electorate – as better prospects. And South Carolina, with a majority black electorate in the Democratic presidential primary, has long been considered Biden’s firewall.
Biden’s fielded a formidable staff in New Hampshire, but he’s seemingly never gone all in for New Hampshire. Following his weak finish in Iowa, another weak showing could threaten that South Carolina firewall and hurt Biden’s ability to catch up to Sanders and Buttigieg in the battle for campaign cash.
As of Tuesday, Biden was spending roughly $200,000 to run ads in New Hampshire in the final week leading up to the primary, according to data from the ad tracking firm Advertising Analytics. That’s below every one of his main rivals.
Those ads will be needed, as the latest polls suggest Biden trailing both Sanders and Buttigieg.
Longtime New Hampshire Biden supporter Terry Shumaker of Concord, a well-known attorney and consultant in the state and a former ambassador, acknowledged that New Hampshire’s results will be more important because the results out of Iowa are muddled.
“Even when they get final numbers, they’ll still be under a cloud a bit,” he said.
“I think our support here is very solid, and I think it’s underestimated,” he added.
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang let go of dozens of campaign staffers on Thursday.
The move comes in the wake of a lackluster finish by the tech entrepreneur in Iowa, where he had just 1 percent of state delegates from Monday’s caucuses.
“These actions are a natural evolution of the campaign post-Iowa, same as other campaigns have undertaken, and Andrew Yang is going to keep fighting for the voices of the more than 400,000 supporters who have donated to the campaign and placed a stake in the future of our country,” said Yang campaign manager Zach Graumann.
Among those let go are the campaign’s national political director, the deputy national political director, multiple policy staffers and some staffers based in Iowa. The firings were first reported by Politico.
When Yang declared his candidacy two years ago, he was the longest of long shots for the Democratic nomination. But last year, thanks to the popularity of his proposed ‘Freedom Dividend’ – a universal basic income that would pay each adult American $1,000 per month – and h is unconventional and energetic approach to campaigning, Yang soared to middle tier status in the polls. His fundraising figures surged as well late last year early this year.
But Yang registers at just 4 percent and 2 percent support the latest two poll in New Hampshire, ahead of next Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Still, he will be on the stage at Friday night’s Democratic presidential debate after failing to qualify for January’s Democratic nomination debate in Iowa.
Seven of the Democratic presidential candidates will be in Concord on Saturday – for a presidential forum hosted by NARAL, the influential national organization that opposes restrictions on access to abortion and supports candidates that back abortion rights.
Warren, Buttigieg, Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Michael Bennet of Colorado, Yang, environmental and progressive advocate Tom Steyer, and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick are confirmed to attend the forum, which will take place at NHTI, known as Concord’s community college.
The event gets underway at 8 a.m.