Elections

Bernie Sanders Wins Washington State, Alaska and Hawaii Democratic Caucuses

Carrie Dann
WATCH LIVE
Bernie Sanders
Jim Urquhart | Reuters

Bernie Sanders swept all three Democratic caucus on Saturday, with decisive victories over front-runner Hillary Clinton in Washington state and Alaska and a projected win in Hawaii, according to NBC News analysis.

Speaking to a rapturous crowd in Madison, Wisconsin, after his victory in Alaska, Sanders declared his campaign was making "significant inroads" into Clinton's big delegate lead.

The Vermont Senator also had breaking news to his jubilant supporters.

"OK, are you ready for a news alert? We just won the state of Washington!" Sanders told the crowd to cheers and applause. "That is what momentum is about."

"So don't let anybody, don't let anybody tell you we can't win the nomination or win the general election — we're going to do both of those things," Sanders said.

More from NBC News:

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Despite Sanders' expected delegate gains in the Pacific contests, he still trailed Clinton heading into Saturday by a significant amount — 294 — in the race for pledged delegates to the summer convention in Philadelphia. When the group of unbound elected and party officials known as super delegates are added to the tally, Clinton's margin over Sanders grows even larger — to 709.

But the Vermont senator has pledged to keep fighting on, arguing that the states that have yet to vote in the primary represent the most favorable ground yet for his insurgent campaign.

The race now heads to the April 5 showdown in Wisconsin, where the two candidates will battle over a total of 96 delegates.

Although Clinton has not yet wrapped up the nomination, she has increasingly pivoted to a general election message, more often taking explicit aim at the remaining GOP candidates. She also spoke out forcefully in the wake of the terror attacks in Brussels this week, emphasizing her foreign policy experience and contrasting her vision for America's role in the world with the stances of leading Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.