Washington Democrats are “feeling the Bern.”
But Bellevue didn’t get the memo.
More than 230,000 Democrats turned up around the state on Saturday to caucus for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders — the two major candidates for the Democratic Party vying for their party’s presidential nomination.
In the 41st Legislative District (which encompasses all of Mercer Island, most of Bellevue and Sammamish and parts of Renton and Newcastle) more than 6,200 voters turned out in the precinct caucus. This caucus is the first step in a larger process to send delegates to the national convention.
The final delegate tally? Three hundred and fifty-five to 345 in favor of Clinton, with one delegate uncommitted.
This is in stark contrast to the rest of the state and even to the rest of King County, where Sanders dominated.
Statewide, the senator from Vermont won 19,145 delegates to the former First Lady, senator from New York and secretary of state’s 7,136.
According to Jamal Raad, the Washington Democratic Party’s communications director, the 41st was the only legislative district in the state to caucus in favor of Clinton.
King County overall went for Sanders by more than a 2:1 margin, with 6,704 delegates to Clinton’s 3,246. There were 46 delegates statewide who were uncommitted.
The closest county margin of victory for Clinton was in Garfield County — the least-populous county in the state — where Sanders beat Clinton 3 to 2 on delegates.
While Washington state’s GOP primary is determined by a single mail-in ballot on May 26, the state Democratic party uses a four-step series of in-person caucuses to select its delegates.
The delegates selected by Saturday’s precinct caucuses will vote in legislative district caucuses and the May 1 county convention. The county convention will lead into the congressional district caucuses and the June 17 state convention, which will pick the 101 delegates who ultimately vote at the July 25-28 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
The presidential primary will be May 24.