Karl Baker

The News Journal

Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have announced Delaware campaign stops.

Delaware is holding its primary election on Tuesday.

Sanders is expected to hold a rally Saturday and Clinton is planning a Monday event.

The Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns each announced Friday the candidates will be appearing in Delaware in advance of the Tuesday primary.

Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, will hold a rally at The Chase Center on the Riverfront, 815 Justin St., at 1 p.m Saturday, it was announced Friday morning.

The Clinton campaign late Friday announced she will hold a rally at the World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market St, at 11:15 a.m. Monday.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Hirak Mukhopadhyaya, president of the University of Delaware College Democrats, said that the competitive nature of the of the national race has likely convinced the candidates to visit Delaware — a rare move for presidential contenders at this stage in the primary.

Mukhopadhyaya said he was initially surprised when he learned of Sanders' visit, but noted that campaign has had a goal to visit many less-populated areas. Clinton's choice to come to Delaware, he said, might have been a reaction to Sanders' decision.

"It's in the candidate's best interest to win the whole mid-Atlantic," Mukhopadhyaya said, who declined to comment on his own candidate preference. "So the whole region is one color."

Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are also all holding their primaries Tuesday, in the final sprint to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July. Sanders on Saturday also is scheduled to campaign in Baltimore, and Clinton appeared in Pennsylvania on Friday.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, also campaigned for Sanders on Tuesday in Wilmington, and former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter canvassed for Clinton earlier this month.

The tight nature of the race has made Delaware, which generally gets limited attention during the candidate selection process, a critical state in amassing delegates. In February 2008, then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama held a campaign rally in Wilmington's Rodney Square, which drew an estimated 10,000 people.

This cycle, Clinton is leading in the Democratic contest with 1,428 pledged delegates. Delaware has 21 pledged delegates that will be awarded proportionally to Democratic candidates based upon the results of Tuesday's primary.

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State Democratic Party Chairman John D. Daniello said the party is not working with either the Sanders or Clinton campaigns, but he noted that the competitive Democratic race has been less vitriolic and more focused on policy than the Republican race.

"You should watch how our candidates handle each other versus the other side," he said.

During a campaign event Thursday, Sanders cited favorable comments from Vice President Joe Biden that stopped short of an endorsement of his campaign. Biden told The New York Times he prefers Sanders' "aspirational approach" to rival Hillary Clinton's "caution."

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Sanders told a crowd at the Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, that he thinks "the vice president is exactly right."

But earlier this month, Biden also stated that he "would like to see a woman elected," an apparent nod to Clinton.

A primary poll by Gravis Marketing of Delaware voters said Clinton was the preferred candidate for 45 percent of those polled, with Sanders at 38 percent, and 17 percent of undecided.

The poll showed Donald Trump, who campaigned in Harrington on Friday, with a 37-point lead over Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329.​

Delaware primary