Will Bernie win because of California? Sanders rallies overtake state ahead of Super Tuesday

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Bernie Sanders spoke to tens of thousands of people in California ahead of that state’s primary election on Super Tuesday, when the remaining field of Democratic presidential candidates will compete for a share of nearly a third of all delegates to select the nominee to face Donald Trump in a general election.

More than 1,300 delegate votes are up for grabs on Tuesday, with 415 of them coming from California. Thirteen other states – including delegate-rich state Texas – and American Samoa will also hold their primary elections on 3 March. Ahead of that contest, Mr Sanders addressed packed rallies in San Jose and Los Angeles on Sunday.

He told an estimated 24,000 supporters in Los Angeles: “With your help on Tuesday, we’re going to win the Democratic primary here in California. With your help, we’re going to win the Democratic nomination, and with your help, we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in modern history.”

With some polls giving him a double-digit lead in the state, Mr Sanders’ win in California and elsewhere on Super Tuesday would solidify his candidacy as a status quo-breaking frontrunner that the Democratic Party will have difficulty edging out in the weeks ahead.

The campaign announced a massive fundraising effort in February, raising nearly $47m (£36m) from more than 2.2 million individual donations.

Volunteers knocked on a reported 1 million doors in California, and the campaign added 100 staff members and opened 23 offices in the state, banking on a significant win in the state to show his strength in the primaries ahead and at the voting booth in November.

At his Los Angeles rally, he said: “All across this country, the American people are saying ‘no’. We will not have a pathological liar in the White House for four more years. We will not have a corrupt administration for four more years. We will not have a president who has apparently not read the constitution of the United States.”

Moments before Sanders appeared on stage, Pete Buttigieg – who attracted early support as a moderate alternative to Joe Biden – announced his withdrawal from the race, urging unity among candidates in order to defeat the president, and implying a united front to remove Mr Sanders from the race. Mr Sanders’ opponents have attacked him as an ideologue or have raised red scares against his social democrat platform.

But that effort will meet the ferocity of a campaign with unmatched grassroots support, as Mr Sanders and his supporters point to a multi-racial and class-conscious coalition of Americans who are backing the candidate and, more crucially, his platform, which stands in stark contrast to his Democratic rivals.

Even in the event of a loss, the campaign is betting on the motivation of millions of Americans to continue campaigning for his signature Medicare for All healthcare plan, a Green New Deal, free public college, debt cancellation and a range of other policy proposals that have galvanised his supporters around the rallying cry and campaign slogan of: “Not me, us.”

In Los Angeles, he said: “The political establishment – you are making them very nervous ... They are seeing workers stand up and demand decent wages, young people rise up and demand a higher education without going in debt, [people] are believing health care is a right, not a privilege. The fossil fuel industry [is] catching on that the American people understand that short-term profits are not more important than the future of our planet.”

His institutional Democratic support in California is more rare. The state’s current and former governors have not endorsed a candidate, and neither has Kamala Harris, the state’s star senator who dropped out of the presidential race late last year. Senator Dianne Feinstein endorsed the former vice president to little if any fanfare or surprise.

In Los Angeles, Mr Sanders also introduced comedian Sarah Silverman, Chuck D from the hip-hop group Public Enemy and 94-year-old acting legend Dick Van Dyke, among a host of high-profile endorsements. Other backers include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who campaigned for him in 2016, and scores of musicians and comedians who have performed smaller fundraising shows across the US.

Van Dyke recently filmed an advert for the campaign urging older voters to back the 78-year-old candidate, who has struggled to capture the support of people aged 65 and older. In the ad, the 94-year-old actor jokes that: “I think somebody younger, like Bernie, is just a perfect candidate.”

“I never saw Bernie as a career politician,” he told the crowd in Los Angeles. “I just saw him as a patriot who worked hard.”

Chuck D said: “I’m an old-ass rapper ... But it ain’t about us. It’s about y’all.”