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Sen. Elizabeth Warren is greeted with a three-minute ovation at the New Hampshire Democratic Convention on Saturday in Manchester. Photo by Kit Norton/VTDigger

MANCHESTER, N.H. — It seemed as if Sen. Bernie Sanders would be leaving Saturday’s New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention as the clear frontrunner, with five months to go before the Granite State primary.



Then Sen. Elizabeth Warren took the stage.



Much like Sanders energized the progressive voter base in 2016 with his anti-establishment facade, Warren is seeing New Hampshire Democrats gravitate towards her professorial demeanor and policy platform in 2019.



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Sanders has heavily focused on the Granite State during this election cycle and has consistently polled strongly with voters as he has kept his sights on Democratic nominee frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden.



Warren, the progressive Massachusetts senator, has been just behind Sanders for much of 2019, but has surged ahead of the Vermont senator in a number of recent national surveys, as well as the latest poll of New Hampshire voters.



In a CBS/YouGov poll published Sunday, Warren, who like Sanders has targeted New Hampshire with a strong ground game, is leading the field with 27%. Sanders is two points behind at 25% and Biden placed second with 26%.



On Saturday, in Manchester, with a crowd of around 5,000, that widespread support for Warren was on full display, with fans doing their best to outdo the noise made by Sanders’ backers from just a few speakers earlier — not allowing Warren to speak for a full three minutes as they chanted her name and cheered.



The din made by the Warren faithful even made Sanders, who is known to keep his eye on crowd sizes, repeatedly turned away from an interview with a local newspaper reporter to check on the performance by his friend and Democratic opponent.



Throughout the year, Sanders and Warren have been vying to lead the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, both battling it out on policy proposals on everything from erasing student debt to criminal justice reform.



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But while many of their platforms are similar, many in the crowd of New Hampshire Democrats said that though they had supported Sanders in 2016, they would be backing Warren this time around.



“I will not be voting for him again. I think his time has passed,” said John Corrigan about Sanders.



“Warren is a more mainstream Democrat, definitely a progressive Democrat, and I think she’s a better messenger,” he added.



Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks to about 5,000 people at the New Hampshire Democratic Convention in Manchester on Saturday. Photo by Kit Norton/VTDigger

Sanders, who entered and exited to John Lennon’s song “Power to the People,” energized the crowd in a way no other top tier candidate — including Biden, Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, or South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg could.



During his remarks he stuck with a hit list of his classics, touching on his Medicare for All plan and income inequality while also calling President Donald Trump a “racist” and a “xenophobe.”



When Warren strolled onto stage, she went for an approach similar to Sanders, but with a markedly different tone that has been the major difference between the two candidates who inhabit much of the same political space.



Warren said she is aware that there will always be wealthy people and poor people in America, and that this is not necessarily bad as long as political influence is not hijacked.



“The rich are going to own more shoes and own more cars and own more houses,” Warren said. “But they shouldn’t own more of our democracy.”



Supporters of Elizabeth Warren wave signs for her as she appeared on stage at the convention on Saturday. Photo by Kit Norton/VTDigger

Jennifer Soldati, a longtime New Hampshire Democrat, said this was the first time in her life that she had attended a Democratic convention and that the reason she came was to hear Warren.



In 2016, Soldati decided to back Sanders, even though she would have liked to see Warren run. She will not be making the same decision 2019, she said, and like Corrigan believes Sanders’ time has past.



“Warren can really articulate an issue and she can articulate a solution,” Soldati said. “I don’t think Bernie’s as good at that. I kind of see him as a grumpy old man.”



However, while some are backing Warren for now, many voters, presidential nominees and Democratic Party officials were preaching support for whomever the nominee may be.



National Democratic Committee Chair Tom Perez preaches party unity to people at the New Hampshire Democratic Convention in Manchester on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019. Photo by Kit Norton/VTDigger

“Fall in love with many and then when we get the nominee, go speed dating,” said Tom Perez, the chair of the Democratic National Committee.



“Take multiple candidates, you can do that. But folks, when we have our nominee, remember in order to govern we must first win. In order to win we are at our best when we are united,” Perez continued.



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According to the poll conducted by CBS/YouGov, 8 of 10 Sanders supporters would be “enthusiastic or satisfied” if Warren becomes the Democratic nominee for president. Eight of 10 Warren supporters said the same about Sanders.



During her speech, Warren said primary voters should support who they believe in, not who is the most likely winner.



“We cannot choose a candidate we don’t believe in because we are scared. And we cannot ask other people to vote for someone we don’t believe in,” she said.



As Warren said this, a middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap holding two “Bernie Sanders” signs patrolled the stands in front of Warren’s cheering fans.



“You’re being awful,” a female Warren supporter yelled at him.



“We weren’t rude for you,” she said. The man then slunk back to his seat, still holding the Sanders signs high.



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