Sanders soundly defeats Clinton in Alaska, Mat-Su caucuses

WASILLA — Sen. Bernie Sanders soundly defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Alaska Democratic caucuses on Saturday, including large margins in Mat-Su Valley districts.

The final vote count was released by the Alaska Democratic Party just before 7 p.m. Saturday night. The figures show Sanders earned 81 percent of the statewide vote, giving him 13 delegates to the national convention. Clinton picked up three Alaska delegates.

Houston High School hosted caucuses for voters in districts 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 on Saturday, with 714 participants turning out to the event. Of those, 607 (85 percent) went for Sanders, 106 supported Clinton and one person voiced support for Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente.

The Sanders margin of victory was slightly larger in the Mat-Su than statewide. The heaviest Sanders support was in the Big Lake district, which went 98-12 for the Vermont senator. Clinton’s strongest support came in the District 9 (Mat-Su/Delta/Valdez) caucus, which gave her 24 percent of the vote. District 9 voters caucused in Valdez, Houston, Mendelta and Delta Junction.

Sanders also won big on Saturday in Washington and Hawai’i, but still trails Clinton in the overall delegate race. As of Sunday morning, Clinton had 1,712 delegates compared to 1,004 for Sanders. Candidates need 2,383 delegates to win the party’s nomination and there are 2,049 delegates still remaining. As of Sunday, Clinton needed to win 33 percent of remaining delegates to earn the nomination.

The Republican Party held its Presidential Preference Poll in February, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and New York businessman Donald Trump splitting 28 delegates. That contest drew 21,930 voters, with 7,973 Alaskans going for Cruz, 7,346 supporting Trump and the rest split between Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Maryland neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Rubio and Carson have since quit the race. Mat-Su voters narrowly supported Cruz over Trump.

According to the Alaska Democratic Party, 10,617 registered voters turned out statewide for Saturday’s caucuses. Of those, 886 Democratic voters participated in the six districts covering the Mat-Su area. That compares to 5,846 Mat-Su district Republicans who voted in that party's preference poll.

Caucuses are different from preference polls and primaries in that they require voters to gather in a centralized place to stand in support of their preferred candidate. Preference polls and primary elections are done by ballot at local precincts. For more on the Alaska Republican Preference Poll process, click here. For more on the Alaska Democratic caucus process, click here.

Complete results from Saturday's caucuses can be seen at the Alaska Democratic Party's website.

Mat-Su Valley Democratic caucuses

WASILLA

Sanders 116 80%

Clinton 29 20%

BIG LAKE

Sanders 98 89%

Clinton 12 11%

HOUSTON/TALKEETNA

Sanders 112 84%

Clinton 21 16%

PALMER

Sanders 160 85%

Clinton 28 15%

MAT-SU/ANCHORAGE

Sanders 121 88%

Clinton 16 15%

DeLaFuente 1 0.1%

MAT-SU/DELTA/VALDEZ

Sanders 130 76%

Clinton 41 24%

*Source: Alaska Democratic Party

CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this story said District 9 voters caucused in Valdez. District 9 caucuses were held in four locations: Valdez, Mendelta, Delta Junction and Houston High.