Supporters of Bernie Sanders in Colorado are threatening other Democrats in the state that they are going to take over. Speaking on Sunday at the opening of Sanders’ state office in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, state Rep. Joe Salazar, who endorsed Sanders in 2016, boasted:
The progressive movement has grown, and it’s grown up here in Colorado … In 2016, we were laughed at, the progressive movement. We were laughed at; we were chided; we were made fun of at the caucus. The establishment didn’t think that there was a real movement happening … Here we are, four years later, and we have the same candidate, who doesn’t shift based on the political winds, who’s saying the same things he said four years ago, that other candidates are trying to attach themselves to. We have him leading in states where he needs to lead, and he’s coming to Colorado to whoop some ass.
As Colorado Politics reported, Salazar continued, “It’s to show the establishment, it’s to show those people who believe in incrementalism — who are moderates — that not only are we here, we are the backbone of the party, And if you don’t want to listen to us, there will be consequences to that. Because the true Democrats are in this room … We are willing to stand up to them and say, ‘Your days are over with, and we are coming.’”
Pilar Chapa, the Sanders campaign’s state director, bragged, “We are going to win this fight. It’s a long battle, and this is a rare opportunity for us. We get to elect someone who stands for the values that we believe in.” She added, “We have to infiltrate the party. If you look at the platform, the Democratic platform, they have had to follow Bernie’s lead.”
Journalist David Sirota, a senior adviser and speech writer with the national Sanders campaign whose wife,State Rep. Emily Sirota, was endorsed by Sanders in 2018, then defeated a moderate Democrat, said critics of Sanders “are terrified — and they should be terrified, because they can see the polls that show their nonsense, the attacks they have been throwing at us, are not working … It’s not working, because we’ve built an unprecedented grassroots campaign.”
An Emerson poll was conducted last August of Colorado voters. Sanders led with 26%; former Vice president Joe Biden garnered 25% of the vote, followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren with 20%, and Senator Kamala Harris with 13%.
The Denver Post reported:
Of Colorado’s 80 delegates, 67 “pledged” spots will be apportioned based on the results of the March 3 primary. That same day, five states offer larger bounties, including 416 up for grabs in California, 228 in Texas and 110 in North Carolina … Here’s where it gets more complex: In the Democrats’ all-proportional system, any candidate who finishes above 15% in a congressional district or statewide will earn delegates, giving each state some importance. But it’s up to candidates to decide whether to build large staff operations, splurge on targeted TV and digital ads without much of a local presence, or rely on momentum out of early contests to hurriedly shift resources to new states.