The tight race for the Michigan primary lasted into the night, but it has just been determined that Senator Bernie Sanders has taken his ninth state in the 2016 primary race. With 90 percent of the vote calculated, networks projected that Bernie will win the great state of Michigan.
When the vote was called at 11:30 pm EST, Sanders had 50.1 percent of the vote in Michigan to Clinton’s 48 percent. Because Clinton won Mississippi on Tuesday, this puts the state win count at 9 for Sanders and 12 for Clinton.
Polls leading up to the Michigan primary on Tuesday had Hillary Clinton maintaining a respectable lead over her Democratic Socialist opponent, but it appears that Sanders’s debate and Town Hall performance might have gone far in swaying Michiganders. Sanders’s performance in Michigan places polls in other key states in question – can the Clinton lead in Florida or Ohio truly be trusted?
Michigan is an important state for Sanders to have won as it is a large and diverse state with a population that is in many ways representative of the country as a whole. Both campaigns have spend a considerable amount of time in the key state, visiting the city of Flint which is facing a massive environment and human rights crisis with lead-poisoned water. On Sunday, the candidates broadcast a CNN debate from the city as well. Reports in Flint said that turnout in the town was as high as it has been in 20 years.
Some have argued that if Sanders had lost Michigan, it would be the end of his viability as a real Democratic candidate. Host of The Young Turks Cenk Uygur said during their election live-stream that if Sanders won the Michigan primary it would be the “biggest upset in primary history.” Nate Silver agreed, saying that the upset would be “among the greatest polling errors in primary history.”
It appears that once again, Sanders has toppled the odds and his campaign will live to fight another day.
