California, the state with the most Democratic primary delegates on the map, has long loomed as an important ending point for Bernie Sanders. | Getty Sanders' California director leaves campaign

Bernie Sanders’ campaign parted ways with its California state director Michael Ceraso on Wednesday morning, 27 days before the primary in the state that Sanders has repeatedly said is crucial to his effort to capture the Democratic nomination.

The surprise move came after a period when Ceraso advocated for a California strategy that involved more investment on field and digital organizing than on television advertising — a staple of Sanders’ campaign elsewhere so far — he told POLITICO.


Sanders’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ceraso, who was Sanders’ deputy state director in New Hampshire and helped lead the teams in a series of March-voting states, had been working for the Vermont senator in California for weeks. As the campaign turned more of its attention to California and its 475 delegates late last month, it also brought in Robert Becker — Sanders’ Iowa state director and another veteran of a series of other contests since then, including New York — to work in the state.

California, the state with the most Democratic primary delegates on the map, has long loomed as an important ending point for Sanders, whose campaign believes it can win over a significant portion of the state's liberal and working-class population.

A win or a close performance there, senior aides believe, would go a long way to helping him stockpile as many delegates as possible before the Democratic convention in July.

Sanders himself has started spending more time there in recent days, but he has yet to spend any money on television ads there after months of outspending Hillary Clinton in primary battlegrounds. Campaigns traditionally rely heavily on television in California, which has 11 media markets. But Sanders himself suggested to the Sacramento Bee on Monday that he may not spend on TV ads.