Does the outcome of next Tuesday’s California primary matter? Conventional wisdom says no; news outlets are already pinpointing the precise time of the evening when Hillary Clinton will clinch the nomination with victories elsewhere—three hours before the polls close in the Golden State.

Naturally, this perturbs Bernie Sanders fans, who see it as one more way the Democratic nomination contest has been rigged from the start. But they should know that the election in California is of critical importance—not to deciding the 2016 Democratic nomination (already a done deal), but to determining the future of the Democratic Party. The coalition Sanders has assembled in California, and the way he’s campaigned in the state, is a sneak preview of the next generation of liberal politics, in a state that’s always seen as a bellwether for the rest of the nation. In a sense, the final vote tally really doesn’t matter—because, in the most important and lasting ways, Sanders has already won California.

I’ll be perfectly honest: As a California resident, I never thought Sanders had a chance to win the state, or even to compete as strongly as he has. I’ve seen way too many ideologically strident campaigns fail to deliver results in what’s generally considered America’s most liberal state. I remember one House candidate in 2008, backed by Progressive Democrats of America, who lost a primary to someone who never spent a dime, mainly because she had “educator” as her ballot designation. That race had incredibly low turnout, which is sadly the norm in a state without much of a political culture.

Delegates and vote counts and nominations aside, the Sanders campaign has reinvented Democratic politics in California.

California is a liberal state, but it’s also a “machine” state: The labor federation’s preferred candidates, or the Democrats with high name recognition, are typically quite successful. The state is so massive that organizing on the ground can prove impossible. So can encouraging higher turnout among normally less-reliable voting groups.

This all made Hillary Clinton look like the perfect candidate for California. She garnered all the important endorsements, including governor and one-time bitter rival Jerry Brown. She certainly has the name ID. And she’s had an edge throughout the Democratic primary season with minority voters—which bodes well for a majority-minority state. A year ago this time, Clinton was up on Sanders in the well-respected Field Poll by a rather intimidating margin: 66-9.