Juneau to Barrow, data shows Sanders landslide consistent across state

Alaska Democrats have overwhelmingly picked Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as their choice for the party’s presidential nominee over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. With all 40 state districts reporting, Sanders has 81 percent of the vote, tentatively securing the bulk of Alaska’s 20 delegates to the national convention in July.

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On Saturday, polling locations across the state were overwhelmed by record-breaking turnout.

Anchorage’s West High School hosted 13 house district from around the city. Organizers expected around 3,100 people, up from 2008’s record turnout. Instead, roughly 5,000 showed up, with lines still stretching far out the doors and packed hallways at the hour caucusing was expected to begin.

During remarks in the school’s crowded auditorium, Alaska Democratic Party Executive Director Kay Brown announced a delay to the day’s program in order to accommodate safety concerns as people continued pouring in.

“They’re telling me the fire marshal has arrived,” Brown said from the stage to loud applause, and at least one cry of “Feel the Bern!” from an audience member.

“I’m asking you to stay put, and we will be back in touch shortly,” Brown said.

Several hundred people from District 18, representing parts of Midtown, Spenard, and West Anchorage, had to be sent outside to caucus in the parking lot. Watching proceedings shortly before a Jeep cautiously backed out through the parting crowd, District 18 Representative, Harriet Drummond estimated it was twice the constituency’s 2008 turnout.

The scene was chaotic, with organizers struggling to lock down counts as attendees and vehicles tried to exit.

“It’s 352 Bernie, and 69 Hillary,” said a volunteer into a megaphone after the first count, prompting an uneven volume of cheers.

“I understand if people need to go, we’ve been waiting a long time,” the volunteer added, prompting one of several skirmishes over protocols for the district’s caucus.

Resident Sabra Tryck said the process was so frustrating that she’ll never caucus again.

“You have to spend all day here. People with families—if they both want to participate and be counted—have to bring all of their children with them,” Tryck said angrily. “It’s disorganized, as you can see.”

Beyond Anchorage, other problems with the caucus structure emerged for some rural communities.

In Unalaska, Jeff Hancock, a member of the union representing longshoremen, said the hours-long process kept away some of his members, who would have caucused for Sanders.

“We have longshore workers today who had to decide whether they were going to come here to participate in this and give up a full day of pay. Or in some cases their economic situation was such that they couldn’t afford to do that, so they’re still on the job today and not able to participate in this caucus.”

Across the state’s 42 caucus locations, not only were the strong Sanders results consistent, but turnout exceeded expectations, as well.

In Nome, instead of the 30 people organizers anticipated, 58 packed in to the small breakfast cafe where the event was held.

“We got organized, we got accomplished what we wanted to do, and no fistfights broke out,” said volunteer Lew Tobin. “We’re still all friends, I think. Everyone went home happy.”

In Sitka, debate was spirited as people tried to pull the few undecided caucus-goers to their side of the room. There, too, Sanders was the overwhelming favorite. 25-year-old Brian Richardson says he’s one of the few people in his age-group supporting Clinton.

“I think that Hillary Clinton represents a more nuanced world-view, and has the experience to address more complex issues,” Richardson said.

The Democratic caucus saw less-than half the participants as the Republican Party’s Presidential Preference Poll earlier in the month: 10,617 to 23,010.

The Alaska Democratic Party is assessing primary options that could make it easier for rural residents to participate. In District 37, representing the Aleutians and much of the Bristol Bay region, local party chair Mike Davis worked through the telecommunications challenges of gathering results from nearby communities.

“Can you hear me Darryl?” asked Dillingham Democratic Party chair Mike Davis into a phone.

“Yeah, I hear ya,” answered Darryl Thompson over a spotty line.

“How many do we have in Togiak?” Davis asked.

“Uh, we still have just me,” Thompson replied.

He ultimately supported Sanders. Most of the state did, in fact, with Alaska one of the most decisive victories for the campaign nationally.

(Map by Ben Matheson/APRN)

The wide margins in Sanders favor were consistent across the state. Clinton’s best showing was in District 24 representing southwest Anchorage, where she received just under 35 percent of the vote.

In the Rural Interior sixth district, as well as districts representing Homer, Kodiak, and Barrow, Clinton did not reach the 15 percent threshold for viability, and Sanders received 100 percent of the delegates.

Sanders did well not only in urban centers like Anchorage and Juneau, but small rural districts, as well. Jone Suleski of Kodiak said she believes Sanders’ progressive economic focus is appealing to fiscally minded Democrats.

“We don’t have one-percenters here. People realize that he is fighting for the middle class, he is fighting for us,” Suleski said. “I don’t think that we see that Hillary will go that far.”

An economic platform that aligns with residents’ concerns is one explanation for the Sanders landslide, explained James Primm, vice-president of the Alaska Young Democrats. The candidate has also made a priority out of education, climate change, and healthcare. All of which are issues that resonate with Alaska’s liberals.

But another reason is idealism. Alaska has not traditionally been effectual in presidential politics, and Primm said Democrats in the 49th state tend to vote idealistically rather than strategically.

“Bernie represents the ideals of what Democrats and liberals are looking for. If you really think about the difference between Hillary and Bernie—issue-wise—(it) isn’t very far apart,” Primm said as the last group of organizers trickled out of West High. “What Bernie represents is what people want, and what people want in Alaska is a progressive agenda.”

At present count, Sanders is projected to receive 13 national delegates from Alaska, Clinton three, with four “super-delegates” uncommitted. Alaska’s delegate totals for the Democratic National Convention aren’t official until after the state’s convention in May.

Correction: an earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Clinton did not reach the 15 percent viability threshold in the district representing Bethel. Clinton received 16 percent of the vote, and won three state delegates. 

Reporting for this story was contributed by Ben Matheson in Anchorage, Kayla Desroches in Kodiak, Hannah Colton in Dillingham, Greta Mart in Unalaska, Emily Russell in Nome, and Emily Kwong in Sitka.