ESSEX JUNCTION — After months on the road, Sen. Bernie Sanders came home to mark Super Tuesday, as his front-runner status in the early contests began to falter.
“Tonight I tell you with absolute confidence we are going to win the Democratic nomination and we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country,” Sanders said when he took the stage just after 10 p.m. Tuesday at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction to cheers from thousands of Vermonters.
On his home turf, flanked by top Vermont leaders and embraced by a hometown crowd, Sanders reflected on his first election victory and his lifelong status as a political outsider who has made his mark as the only socialist in the Democratic presidential primary — in 2016 and 2020.
“It’s a funny thing — 31 years ago today we won the mayoral race in Burlington, Vermont,” Sanders said. (His first electoral victory was actually 40 years ago.) “We won that race against all of the odds, everybody said it couldn’t be done.”
“And when we began this race for the presidency, everybody said it couldn’t be done,” he added.
Sanders’ optimism belied the reality that his campaign was already ceding ground — and delegates critical to his nomination — in Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota and other contests, to former Vice President Joe Biden. As of 11:50 p.m., California was called for Sanders.
Biden’s campaign, which had been moribund prior to his stunning victory in South Carolina, picked up endorsements from his rivals, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, in a matter of 48 hours. In an unprecedented act of party solidarity, the two younger, moderate candidates bowed out of the race to embrace the former vice president as the standard-bearer for the party.
The massive Sanders crowd in Essex, however, was not deterred by the early results favoring Biden Tuesday night.
“With the results coming in tonight, he’s still in close even if he isn’t winning them outright,” said Jose Montoya, who has supported the Vermont senator for the past six years.
“They don’t change a thing for me and really they don’t discourage me,” he added. “If anything tonight encourages me.”
Brad Bissonette, another young Sanders supporter, was not dismayed by Sanders’ poor showing in the South and the prospects of a tight race playing out across the country with Biden.
“It wasn’t really surprising after South Carolina and after the moderate candidates rallied around Biden,” Bissonette said. “I figured the South was going to trend towards Biden.”
Bissonette admitted he was a little worried but was waiting for the complete reporting from California and Texas — expected to come in late Tuesday and early Wednesday morning — before he would decide how the night went for Sanders.
“I’m in wait-and-see mode,” he said. “I’m hoping he can gain some momentum next week in Washington.”
Early on in the rally, there was good news for Sanders and his hometown supporters. Vermont was called for Sanders right at 7 p.m., just as the polls closed — giving the crowd something to cheer about early in the evening.
Mollie Gribbin came to the rally with her boyfriend Ian Weider — both 25-year-old Vermont natives — to support their “presidential candidate in his home state.”
“It’s like a homecoming,” Gribbin said. “Welcome home, Bernie, you won Vermont.”
Gribbin, who went to school at University of Nebraska, said she wanted to prove to her Republican friends in the Midwest that Sanders can win elections.
At 4:30 p.m., five hours before Sanders would speak, supporters began lining up outside the venue — the same location as Sanders’ 2016 Super Tuesday rally.
The unseasonably warm 53 degree temperatures in Chittenden County turned parking areas muddy and several vehicles got stuck as rain began to come down.
The crowd was a mix of older die-hard Sanders fans — brandishing homemade signs and vintage “2006” campaign T-shirts — alongside college students and young professionals drinking light beer and snacking on french fries as they waited for the candidate to speak.
At 7 p.m., results from across the country began to trickle in, with the crowd staring at CNN election night coverage on a large jumbotron. Loud cheers resonated whenever a projection showed Sanders in the lead.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., Sanders’ successor in the House, cut into the CNN broadcast by video. Welch was the first of a string of Democratic and Progressive Vermont politicos to say why he supports Sanders.
“Number one: people trust Bernie,” Welch said. “Bottom line, he cares about everyone’s well being, not just the 1%.”
The Mallett Brothers Band featuring Phish’s Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman rallied the crowd with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s anthem “Fortunate Son.”
Next came a lineup of Sanders’ highest profile Vermont endorsements — including Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, Attorney General TJ Donovan and Treasurer Beth Pearce.
“As a proud member of the Democratic Party,” Donovan said. “Nobody gets out the vote like Bernie Sanders.”
“This is our time to come together and unite behind Bernie Sanders,” he added to boisterous cheers that drowned out the rest of his words.
Zuckerman, who has been a Sanders supporter since the early 1990s when he volunteered on his congressional campaigns, said the Vermont independent is the reason he got into politics. Zuckerman, a Progressive Democrat, announced a bid for governor earlier this year.
Zuckerman’s speech was punctuated with exclamations from the crowd as he spoke about the Vermont senator’s electability and touted his record of support from rural and conservative areas.
“That’s why he should win all across this country,” he said, as the crowd raucously applauded.
Since he announced his candidacy in February 2019, Sanders has built a grassroots campaign base in Super Tuesday states and has crisscrossed the country for months.
But Tuesday morning, Sanders was home in Burlington. He and his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, drove to their polling location, Robert Miller Community & Recreation Center in Burlington’s New North End, to cast their votes.
“Today is obviously a very, very important day. We look forward to doing well,” Sanders told reporters after casting his ballot. “We are determined to defeat the most dangerous president of the modern history of our country.”
When the senator arrived to vote, Burlington City Councilor Ali Dieng, a Democratic Progressive, running for reelection unopposed, broke from greeting constituents to hold a sign for Sanders.
“His message has always been the same message of bringing people together, working together and making sure that the American dream is accessible for every single citizen,” Dieng said.
The road to Super Tuesday
Until Feb. 29, the Sanders campaign had been pitch perfect, finishing in the top two in Iowa and coming off wins in New Hampshire and Nevada. But on Saturday, South Carolina — always a long shot for Sanders — gave former Vice President Joe Biden a decisive victory.
The following 24 hours may have been the toughest stretch for the Sanders team since the 78-year-old had a heart attack in late September.
On Monday, Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden. Soon after, Klobuchar did the same. Former Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada — a longtime Sanders’ friend — called the campaign to say he would support the former vice president. Then, Beto O’Rourke announced his endorsement of Biden.
Meanwhile, Sanders was making his final pitch to voters with rallies in Utah and Minnesota. While still in Salt Lake City —before flying to St. Paul — Sanders addressed the recent winnowing of the Democratic field.
Sanders said he was not phased by the withdrawal of moderate candidates who sided with Biden in an effort to block his path to the nomination.
“Why would I be surprised that establishment politicians are coming together?” Sanders said.
“Look, it is no secret,” Sanders said. “That there is a massive effort trying to stop Bernie Sanders, that’s not a secret to anyone in this room.”
“The corporate establishment is coming together, the political establishment is coming together and they will do anything, they are really getting nervous that working people are standing up,” he added.
Tuesday evening in Essex Junction, May Krukiel and Russ Gilfix, who traveled across Lake Champlain to come to the Sanders rally, agreed with the Vermont independent’s assessment.
“The leadership of the party is trying to coalesce around one candidate, namely Joe Biden,” Gilfix said. “But it’s really ‘anybody but Bernie.’”
Sarah Asch contributed reporting
