Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Wisconsin Democratic voters showed the rest of the country that the state is indeed "Feelin' the Bern."

Fox News and NBC News called the Democratic primary race for Vermont senator Bernie Sanders at around 8:20 p.m. That makes Wisconsin the sixth state Sanders has won out of the last seven.

As of Wednesday, with 100 percent of the votes tallied, the Associated Press reported Sanders led with 56 percent of the vote, compared to 43 percent for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Of the 86 pledged delegates up for grabs, Sanders claimed 45 delegates to Clinton's 31.

Speaking from a rally in Laramie, Wyo., Sanders thanked Wisconsin voters "for their strong support."

He went on to discuss momentum and the moves voters made toward his campaign since he decided to run last year. At the outset, Sanders faced a 60- to 70-point deficit to Clinton and was considered "a fringe candidate" by the media he said.

But he said people across the country know how change has happened throughout history, and they know Sanders is the candidate to ignite it.

"They understand real change never takes place from the top down. It always takes place from the bottom up," he said.

Polls and pundits predicted Sanders would win the state heading into the primary, and his campaign responded.

For more than a week, Wisconsin voters saw much more of Sanders than Clinton, both in-person and on the airwaves.

Sanders held events in the state nearly every day in the week leading up to Tuesday's primary and purchased 5,774 ad spots. Clinton made appearances on three days and bought 3,278 ads. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, also stumped for her at Lawrence University in Appleton.

In a tweet, Clinton congratulated Sanders on his victory in Wisconsin and thanked her supporters for their efforts.

The outcome wasn't a surprise for those at a Clinton watch party in Madison, said Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison. Despite the loss, Clinton fans were in good spirits.

"In the end, we will all come together to support the eventual nominee, which pretty clearly, Clinton is in a good spot to become the eventual nominee," she said. "Sanders will see a little bit of a delegate pick-up here in Wisconsin, but it doesn't come anywhere near closing that 250-ish delegate gap."

In an appearance on CNN Tuesday night, Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver said, "We're going to an open convention. Everybody's talking about a Republican open convention. The Democrats are going to an open convention."

Clinton had a 224-pledged delegate lead going into Wisconsin's primary, according to fivethirtyeight.com.

Political experts have said throughout the week that while Sanders was expected to be the favorite in Wisconsin, he wouldn't put a dent in Clinton's delegate lead unless he won the state by a double-digit margin, and continues to win big.

The most recent Marquette University Law Poll had Sanders ahead of Clinton, 49 percent to 45 percent, with 6 percent of voters undecided. The university conducted the poll from March 24 through March 28, and released the results on March 30, six days before the election. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Despite how people said they were planning to vote, 77 percent felt Clinton is the likely nominee for the Democratic party, the poll showed. That compares to only 19 percent who thought Sanders could win the nomination.

Jen Zettel: 920-996-7268, or jzettel@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @jenzettel