But that’s not a given for some Warren backers. Chris Petzold, a progressive activist who founded a chapter of Indivisible in Washington and backed Warren, said those voters are „evenly split between Biden and Bernie.“ Petzold herself is still undecided on who she will back. And Biden has secured some significant endorsements in the state, including from Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.
“We’re stuck between a progressive candidate who wants to burn it all down, and another who would re-implement the establishment status quo that led to Trump,“ Petzold said. „It’s really tough.“
The late stages of the contest will unfold in a bizarre landscape on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
While Sanders was campaigning in Michigan over the weekend and Biden will arrive there Monday, the campaigns in Washington are operating in an environment that is discouraging crowds.
The outbreak is not expected to significantly affect turnout, because Washington uses only mail-in ballots. Still, the state Democratic Party postponed a major dinner planned for Saturday until later in spring. No candidate visits are expected.
“Nobody is talking about [the election] very much here right now,” preoccupied instead with the coronavirus, said former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire.
Gregoire, a Biden supporter, said she would “never count Bernie Sanders out in Washington state.”
But given a higher-turnout primary and a Biden’s momentum, she said, “it’s really possible that Joe cannot just do well, but pull it off.”
Gregoire previewed the narrative Sanders will be facing from Biden’s allies if the former vice president does manage to turn Washington in his favor.
“Here we are a really blue state, very progressive, very supportive of Bernie four years ago,” she said. “So, if Bernie Sanders can’t win, and win big here, I think that is a really troubling message for the campaign for Bernie Sanders.”
Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a prominent Sanders endorser, said the Sanders campaign was „in conversation“ with her to come back to the Seattle area for a rally ahead of the primary, „but now I think, if he does come out here, it’ll probably be to the eastern part of the state.“
She also noted that the campaign was planning canvass launches with „hundreds of people all weekend,“ but was forced to cancel them.
„The challenges are two-fold: we have a first-time primary and we are dealing with this public health crisis,“ Jayapal said. „I do think that Biden probably gets advantaged by a primary system in general — or a candidate like Biden would get advantaged by that — but I also think that Bernie Sanders has deep roots in the state from four years ago and has a really strong following across the state.“
Source: politico.com
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