Sanders reported that when he started 10 months ago he was three percent in the poles and 70 percent behind Clinton. As of that day, Sanders reported he was leading Clinton by one point.
Before winning the Washington State Democratic Party caucus last Saturday, Bernie Sanders drummed up support across the state, and at least two Seattle maritime unions backed Bernie.
Inlandboatmen's Union (IBU) of the Pacific and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) held a conference on Thursday March 24 at the ILWU Local 19 hiring hall, and union representatives confirmed their endorsement for the Vermont senator. Both unions have been early supporters of Sanders.
ILWU represents close to 50,000 people who work in Alaska, California Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. IBU represents 4,000 merchant mariner and shoreside workers in the maritime industry from Alaska to Hawaii in towing and freight.
Many Ballardites know that the IBU national office is at Fishermen’s Terminal. IBU representative, Terri Mast, said when it came down to supporting Sanders, he was the obvious choice over former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
“She’s (Clinton) not strong enough on the issues that affect us most like economic justice, health care… Hillary waffled on these issues, and Bernie has been a strong advocate and on the workers’ side for years,” said Mast.
In their endorsement announcement, IBU stated that the crux of their support for Sanders hinges on collective bargaining.
“That’s the big issue…workers rights, the right to bargain. … That’s always the first question.”
Mast also listed Sanders not funding his campaign with a Super PAC as reason for supporting him.
As of last Friday, the Sanders campaign reported receiving six million individual contributions, which is more contributions to any campaign in U.S. history. The average individual contribution was $27.
Sander’s campaign across Washington culminated with a rally at Safeco Field on Friday night. Thousands of Sanders supporters were “feeling the Bern,” and filled stadium seating. Sanders reported that his campaign made over one million calls to Washingtonians that day.
“Are you guys ready to make history tomorrow?” Sanders asked the crowd, “Well at 10 a.m. in caucuses all over the state that is exactly what we will be doing.”
“We are going to say that the billionaire class cannot have it all. … We are going to tell the world that we demand a government that represents all of us not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors.”
Last Saturday, Sanders won with big margins in Washington, Alaska and Hawaii over Clinton.
“If we win in Washington, we are going to win in California. We are going to win in Oregon, and we’ve got a real path toward victory for the White House. … If we win the Democratic nomination, we are going to win the general election.”
