Senator sees strong support in western states to record series of strong caucus victories – but he remains the Democratic underdog in the national race

Bernie Sanders won overwhelming victories in Washington state, Alaska and Hawaii on Saturday, narrowing Hillary Clinton’s still significant lead in the race for delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president.

Sanders defeated Clinton in Washington’s caucuses 73% to 27% and 81% to 16% in Alaska’s. In Hawaii, which was called at 3.54am Sunday ET, he won by 71%-29% with 88% reporting.

“We knew from day one we were going to have a hard time politically in the deep south – that is a conservative part of the country,” Sanders told supporters in Madison, Wisconsin. “But we knew things were going to improve as we head west.

“We are making significant inroads in Secretary Clinton’s lead,” he said. “We have a path toward victory.”

The most delegates were at stake in Washington, where Sanders drew more than 15,000 people to a Friday rally at Seattle’s Safeco Field. Washington, Alaska and Hawaii all award delegates proportionally to precinct results.

Sanders’ victories follow a dominant series of performances in the states that have caucused so far. The senator has fared best in contests dominated by party activists, and won in each except for those of two early states, Iowa and Nevada, where he narrowly lost.

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He has been bolstered in Hawaii by the endorsement of Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned from a high post within the Democratic party to support the senator and has appeared in an ad on behalf of his campaign.

In 2008, Barack Obama overwhelmed Clinton in all three western contests – 68%-32% in Washington, 75%-25% in Alaska, and 76%-24% in his home state of Hawaii.

Sanders has a far more difficult path to the nomination, and even with his successes in Washington, Hawaii and Alaska, he remains a distinct underdog.

The next states to vote range along the north-east and through New England, including Clinton’s home state of New York, as Democrats hold “closed” primary elections that do not allow independent voters to participate. This is a major disadvantage for Sanders, who has won unaffiliated voters by huge margins in open primaries.

Furthermore, the Democratic party allows for “superdelegates”, party officials who vote at the Democratic National Convention but who are not bound to vote according to their states’ election results. Among those, Sanders trails Clinton by an estimated margin of 469 to 29, making his path to the nomination even more arduous.

The senator has hinted at a quiet campaign to convince some superdelegates to switch their tentative support to his cause, saying last week: “I think it might be a good idea for superdelegates to listen to the people in their own state.”

Before Saturday’s races helped him cut into Clinton’s lead, the former secretary of state had 303 more pledged delegates than the senator.

Wisconsin’s primary, on 5 April, is a crucial contest for those Sanders supporters who are hoping to somehow pull off an upset. With its long history of progressive activism, the midwestern industrial state offers the Vermont senator a chance to repeat the kind of surprise victory he managed in Michigan, and to secure his support with working-class voters whom Clinton hopes to win.

At Hudson’s Bay high school in Vancouver, Washington, Sanders’ supporters were the more numerous and the more passionate, focusing as much on Clinton’s shortcomings as on what their candidate would do for the country.

“Did you ever hear of the Hillary Clinton healthcare plan?” one argued to other voters in his precinct. He was forced to shout over the din of several hundred people from 12 precincts in the school cafeteria, where all but the loudest speakers were drowned out.

Another voter, 96-year-old Jean Matthews, said she first voted in a presidential election for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and that she now supports Sanders. She admitted, however, that she does not expect him to win the nomination, and that she does not intend to vote for Clinton in the general election.

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“I’m voting for Bernie Sanders because he’s the only person in this election you can trust,” she said. “Hillary lies all the time. She lies about any stuff that can make her look good. She stands for the status quo.”

“I’m for a revolution,” the nonagenarian continued, adding that she would likely vote for the Green Party should Clinton secure the nomination. “My son says I vote my principles. I don’t care. Principles, not personality. Hillary is a totally unprincipled person. I’ll just be sick if she gets it. I’m sitting here with a bunch of Hillary people. I don’t want to be around them.”

A man called Gregory raised eyebrows when, arguing on behalf of Clinton, he suggested that men are not up to the task of governing. “It’s a clearly stated, scientifically proven [fact] that men can’t multitask,” he said.

As the votes came in in Washington, Sanders took precinct after precinct – some by margins of 10 to one or more, others with a slim majority.