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Hillary Clinton got 58 percent of the vote in New York state, but on Staten Island, her margin of victory was much smaller, with Bernie Sanders within a few points. (Sean Simmers/PennLive.com via AP)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - It was a clear victory for Hillary Clinton in New York on Tuesday, but Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders gave the former secretary of state a run for her money on Staten Island, where allegiances were much more closely divided.

Statewide, Clinton took home 58 percent of the vote to Sanders' 42 percent -- she got 139 delegates out of it, he got 106.

But on Staten Island, Sanders got 47 percent of the vote to Clinton's 53 percent, a closer margin than many here expected.

In the North Shore's 61st Assembly District, Clinton won with 59 percent of the vote.

But in the South Shore's 62nd district, Sanders won with 54 percent.

Clinton won the mid-Island's 63rd AD, with 53 percent, but again, Sanders won the East Shore's 64th AD, with 53 percent.

Robert Holst, a pro-union electrician who twice considered running for Congress, is co-founder of the Middle Class Action Project, which endorsed Sanders for president.

He saw a big push for the candidate here.

"I think that everybody got out who wanted to move people and it was a pretty busy campaign on Staten Island," he said.

Like Trump, who had a historic victory on the Island, Sanders "also taps into the same kind of people that are just tired of the status quo," he said.

What worked here was the tried-and-true method of going door-to-door, meeting people face-to-face, Holst said, something that Tom Shcherbenko, a district leader for the local Democratic committee and a Sanders supporter, said is owed in large part to members of the local chapter of Communications Workers of America (CWA).

The employees were on strike against Verizon and Sanders walked the picket lines with them -- not on Staten Island -- and showed solidarity, speaking at their rallies.

CWA members used their local office as a sort of headquarters for grassroots campaigning for Sanders, and members went door-knocking, getting out the vote.

"Once they got on board with the campaign, those guys are amazing," Shcherbenko said. "I have to give them a lot credit."

Dominick DeRubbio is president of the Island's Young Democrats Club and a Sanders supporter who was "surprised" at the high turnout for the candidate on the Island.

He said he thinks Sanders supporters chose him because, "they just don't trust her" he said of Clinton, particularly the speeches she gave to Wall Street companies that she won't make public.

As for Sanders, "The guy is honest, he has never wavered from his position, he has been pretty consistent with his policies and his views -- which I don't agree with them all but I have to give him respect for being consistent," DeRubbio said.

According to a detailed breakdown of support provided by the New York Times, four Staten Island neighborhoods made the list of the 10 areas that support Sanders the most -- Huguenot-Eltingville, New Dorp-Midland Beach, Oakwood-Oakwood Beach and Southern Staten Island.

Richard Flanagan, political science professor at the College of Staten Island, said demographic turnout may answer the question of how Sanders did so well here.

Indeed, white voters turned out in big numbers on Staten Island, while black voters -- which support Clinton by large margins -- didn't come out in high numbers.

He pointed out that more women support Clinton over Sanders and they may not have voted as prolifically as male voters.

While Flanagan can't put his finger on the key to Sanders' success in the borough, he said just the same, "that doesn't bode well for her, this should have been her county all the way. Everybody stayed home and the Bernie bros came out."

Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant who advised Bill Clinton in his 1996 presidential campaign, has an easier time identifying the key to Sanders' success on the Island.

Like Trump, who got 82 percent of the vote here, Sanders appeals to a jaded audience.

"Both candidates represent the revolt by people who feel they are being used by government, taken advantage of by New York elites and whose voices aren't heard, and that corresponds with what Staten Islanders feel every day," Sheinkopf said.

He said he thinks Sanders should leave the race but he won't.

"He's a cause candidate and not a victory candidate," he said. "They hold out hope to change the nature of the electorate."

He's losing the delegate battle but he's hoping to continue to get support.

"He's making serious inroads into the least happy Democrats, just like Trump is making with the least happy Republicans," Sheinkopf said.

Could it be that outsider status that's so appealing to Staten Islanders?

Shcherbenko thinks so.

"We are the outside borough and I guess there is that bit of a culture going on ... we're outside of the whole political establishment," he said.