Outline of Michigan
Outline of Michigan

It’s once again Pri­ma­ry Day some­where in Amer­i­ca. Today, vot­ers in Michi­gan and Mis­sis­sip­pi went to the polls to cast votes in those state’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic and Repub­li­can pri­maries. It was a good night for Don­ald Trump all around, as he defeat­ed his Repub­li­can rivals in both states. And for Hillary Clin­ton, it was a good night in Mis­sis­sipi, where she hand­i­ly dis­patched Bernie Sanders.

But in Michi­gan, it’s a dif­fer­ent story.

In Michi­gan, defy­ing pret­ty much every­body’s expec­ta­tions, Bernie Sanders cur­rent­ly has a lead of sev­er­al thou­sand votes. Sanders was behind by twen­ty points in pre­elec­tion polling, but he’s held a small, steady lead that alter­na­tive­ly shrinks and grows by small amounts since the polls closed.

Take a look:

Michi­gan Demo­c­ra­t­ic Pri­ma­ry, March 8th, 2016
48% report­ing as of 7:06 PM Pacific

Can­di­datePer­cent­ageVotes
Bernie Sanders281,81249.8%
Hillary Clin­ton273,06948.3%
Other/Uncommitted10,5191.9%

Keep in mind there are still a lot of votes left to be counted.

Wayne Coun­ty, where Detroit is locat­ed, is noto­ri­ous­ly slow at count­ing votes. It is def­i­nite­ly help­ing to keep Clin­ton com­pet­i­tive, as it’s going for her by a sub­stan­tial mar­gin (near­ly 60% Clin­ton). And yet Sanders is still ahead statewide.

UPDATE, 7:48 PM: Bernie Sanders remains ahead. Plen­ty of Hillary-friend­ly areas are still count­ing votes though, includ­ing Detroit and Flint.

Michi­gan Demo­c­ra­t­ic Pri­ma­ry, March 8th, 2016
70% report­ing as of 7:48 PM Pacific

Can­di­datePer­cent­ageVotes
Bernie Sanders410,18150.9%
Hillary Clin­ton380,67947.2%
Other/Uncommitted15,3481.9%

UPDATE, 8:22 PM: Bernie Sanders has stuck to his lead in Michi­gan like peanut but­ter stick­ing to jel­ly. Clin­ton is run­ning out of time and votes.

Michi­gan Demo­c­ra­t­ic Pri­ma­ry, March 8th, 2016
84% report­ing as of 8:22 PM Pacific

Can­di­datePer­cent­ageVotes
Bernie Sanders478,35149.9%
Hillary Clin­ton461,36548.1%
Other/Uncommitted18,8802.0%

UPDATE, 9:30 PM: The pro­jec­tions are in… and Bernie wins!

Michi­gan Demo­c­ra­t­ic Pri­ma­ry, March 8th, 2016
95% report­ing as of 9:30 PM Pacif­ic (4,592 of 4,830 precincts)

Can­di­datePer­cent­ageVotesNation­al Del­e­gates (est.)
Bernie Sanders50.0%561,37965
Hillary Clin­ton48.%539,81257
Other/Uncommitted1.9%21,3680

POSTSCRIPT: The final tally.…

Michi­gan Demo­c­ra­t­ic Pri­ma­ry, March 8th, 2016
100% reporting

Can­di­datePer­cent­ageVotesNation­al Del­e­gates (est.)
Bernie Sanders49.8%595,22265
Hillary Clin­ton48.3%576,79557
Other/Uncommitted1.9%22,6260

About the author

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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