With two days until Super Tuesday, presumed Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders was in Los Angeles Sunday night, but he spent the afternoon in the South Bay stumping for votes.
Sanders drew hundreds of supporters to a rally in San Jose on the heels of Saturday’s South Carolina primary, where former Vice President Joe Biden won by a landslide. Sanders made the case for why he thinks he’s a better candidate.
New polls show Super Tuesday could be closer than anticipated. Biden is focusing on southern states, but Sanders seems poised to win the big prize — delegate-rich California.
“Obviously it would be significant for me, it would be significant for anybody,” he said. “I think the candidate who wins here in California stands an excellent chance of winning the Democratic nomination.”
Sanders supporters are enthusiastic but aren’t taking anything for granted.
“I think he just needs to continue with the grassroots movement to get his word out,” said Shazia Qureshi of Milpitas. “Door to door works best…the way Obama’s campaign did.”
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“Anybody to beat Trump,” said another voter. “I love Bernie, but if I have to vote for Biden, I will.”
Turnout is always key, especially in a primary. Officials in three Bay Area counties — Santa Clara, San Mateo and Napa — are hoping that new voting centers will make it easier. The tree counties are using centers where voters can cast their ballot anywhere, not just at an assigned polling place. Santa Clara County has over 100 locations.
“It’s been going very well,” said Eric Kurhi, a Santa Clara County registrar of voters spokesperson. “We’ve had about a 19% turnout so far, including vote-by-mail ballots.”
