Students react to Senator Bernie Sanders winning New Hampshire

Buttigieg follows in second with 24.4%

Written By Jake Dabkowski, Co-News Editor

Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire Democratic Primary with 25.7 percent of the vote. He earned nine pledged delegates. Pete Buttigieg came in second, with 24.4 percent of the vote, also earning him nine pledged delegates. Amy Klobuchar came in third, with 19.8 percent of the vote, earning her six pledged delegates. No other candidates met the 15 percent vote threshold for viability, meaning that both Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden did not receive any delegates.

“This victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump,” Sanders said, during a speech late last Tuesday night, after CNN projected him as the winner of the state’s primary.

Pete Buttigieg took the opportunity to congratulate Sanders in his speech, but also criticized Sanders, saying that most Americans don’t want to choose between revolution and the status quo.

These results come off the back of the Iowa Caucus, which had problems with reporting results. Results were logged in on an app, which inaccurately reported results, forcing the Iowa Democratic Party to resort to having the results called in by phone. The results are still not fully in. Questions have been raised by many about the integrity of the results, as well as Pete Buttigieg’s campaigns connection to the app.

“I can’t help but think there was something shady going on. If the democrats want to beat Donald Trump, they have to band together instead of doing all of this infighting. It’s a waste of energy,” Dan Russo, a freshman Broadcast Production major said.

Buttigieg and Sanders both declared victory in Iowa. Buttigieg won more delegates, however Sanders won the popular vote. Many Sanders supporters view Sanders’ success in New Hampshire to be indicative of his ability to win the nomination.

“I believe the results are a good indicator of the success Bernie showed in Iowa, which was questioned by supporters of other candidates. New Hampshire solidified as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination,” Ava Scassera, a freshman Intelligence and National Security major, said.

“The New Hampshire primary solidified Bernie Sanders as the official front runner in the 2020 race. It also showed the fallout of Joe Biden’s candidacy and showed that South Carolina is his last hope to regain momentum,” Marc Palombo, a freshman Acting major, said.

Joe Biden left New Hampshire early in an effort to campaign in South Carolina. Appearing on Meet the Press last Sunday, Biden admitted that South Carolina was important for his campaign.

“I think I have to do really well in it,” the former Vice President said, then adding “I’m confident we’re going to be in good shape.”

Amy Klobuchar’s third place finish came as a surprise to many. Klobuchar describes her campaign as being for the people who stayed home in 2016 but now feel as though they may have made the wrong decision.

“We’ve beaten the odds,” Klobuchar said, in a speech after the results were reported. “My campaign has always been about reaching out and not shutting people out, but bringing them with me.”

According to polls conducted by Business Insider, Amy Klobuchar polls highly with the 45-60 and 60+ demographics, however she does poorly with the 18-29 Demographic, something that seems to be representative of Point Park.

Shortly after the polls closed, Andrew Yang announced on Twitter that he would be dropping out of the race. Colorado Senator Michael Bennet announced he was dropping out as well, and Former Governor of Massachuessets Deval Patrick announced a few days later that he was also dropping out.

The next steps in the Democratic Primary are the Nevada Caucus on February 22nd, the South Carolina Primary on February 29th, and then Super Tuesday on March 3rd, which is the Primaries for several states all on the same day. Pennsylvania’s primary will be held on April 28th.