Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday morning that his success at the Democratic convention and winning the White House will depend on large turnouts in the remaining caucuses and primaries -- which includes California.

Sanders, fresh off victories in Idaho and Utah but a loss in Arizona, added that now the primaries and caucuses are largely outside of the the South, he will find more support in more liberal states.

“We are moving West where you find Democrats are much more progressive,” he said at a news conference at the Kona Kai Resort on San Diego Bay.

Democrats have primaries in Alaska, Hawaii and Washington on Saturday.


Sanders’ comments came around 12 hours after he ended a speech at the San Diego Convention Center that drew more than 10,000 supporters. He headed up to Los Angeles later Wednesday for meetings and an event at The Wiltern theater.

Sanders said he’s hopeful for success in New York’s April 19 primary, as well as California’s June 7 contest. He also said he benefited by big turnouts in Idaho and Utah and suggested that would be part of the recipe to overtake Clinton.

He said he suspects that as the Republican Party gets closer to naming Trump as its nominee, Democrats, and importantly, superdelegates, will see him as a progressive choice with the best odds of defeating a conservative candidate.

“In every, virtually every national poll, Bernie Sanders does significantly better against Donald Trump than does Hillary Clinton,” he said.


Clinton won California in 2008, beating then-Sen. Barack Obama by receiving 51.5 percent of the vote to his 43.2 percent. Clinton won eight of the 10 Southern California counties, as well as much of the Central Valley. Obama won the Bay Area.

Clinton also leads Sanders in contributions from California donors; she has received $26.12 million to Sanders’ $9.46 million.

Sanders said he’s received much more grassroots support than Clinton, and that advantage will pay off at the ballot box.

“I am not going to tell you that I think it’s going to be easy to win here in California, but we are going to work very very hard,” he said, noting that his team is creating campaign infrastructure in the state.


Californians 548 delegates and is the second-to-last primary, ahead of just Washington D.C. Delegates are awarded proportionately.