Sanders wins Alaska, Washington caucuses

UPDATE: Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is projected to win the Democratic presidential caucuses in Washington, potentially garnering three-fourths of the vote in the state. With a third of precincts reporting Saturday evening, Sanders had 75 percent of the vote. Clinton, who has dominated primaries in southern states, faces stiffer competition from Sanders west of the Mississippi River, where he has won eight of 16 states’ primaries or caucuses.

“We just won the state of Washington. That is what momentum is about,” Sanders said. “Don’t let anybody tell you we can't win the nomination or we can’t win the general election. We’re going to do both of those things.”

OUR EARLIER REPORT (5:54 p.m.): Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., won the first of three Democratic presidential caucuses today, defeating Hillary Clinton in Alaska by a wide margin.

“Thank you, Alaska! Together we are sending a message that this government belongs to all of us,” Sanders tweeted.

Alaska has 20 delegates, but they won’t be officially assigned to a candidate until the state convention May 14. Going into today’s caucuses, Clinton led the Democratic delegate race, 1,692-949. The eventual nominee needs 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

Sanders also led the Democratic caucus in Washington state, which has 118 delegates, with about 25 percent of precincts reporting. Democrats in Hawaii are caucusing today, too; party meetings there are expected to wrap up at 7 p.m. EDT.

Visit WORLD’s Election Center ’16 for vote totals as they come in.