AUGUSTA, Maine — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has announced he will visit Maine on Wednesday, four days before the state’s Democratic caucuses.
The rally is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at The State Theatre, 609 Congress St., Portland. The visit comes amid stepped-up focus by Sanders on the Pine Tree State. Last week, actress Susan Sarandon made a swing through Maine for Sanders, and Sanders opened his fifth campaign office in Maine just a few days before.
Sanders’ populist appeal was evident in July 2015, when he attracted nearly 9,000 people to a rally he held at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
An independent U.S. senator from Vermont who caucuses with Senate Democrats, Sanders won the New Hampshire primary after a surprisingly strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, which he lost by a narrow margin to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. But since then, he lost resoundingly Saturday to Clinton in the South Carolina primary after falling to her the previous Saturday in Nevada’s caucuses.
Clinton holds a substantial lead in pledged delegates, and that lead grew after Clinton won seven of 11 Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses.
Sanders easily won the primary in his home state of Vermont and a primary in Oklahoma. He won caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado. He suffered a significant political blow in Massachusetts, where Clinton edged him for her first win in the Northeast, which is considered to be Sanders’ stronghold.
Polling of Maine voters’ presidential preferences has been sparse, but the state’s demographics are similar to those in New Hampshire and Vermont, giving the campaign hope he could win in Maine. Maine Democrats strongly supported Barack Obama over Clinton in the 2008 caucuses, the last time the party’s nomination process provided a genuine contest.
Sanders is the first presidential candidate to announce a visit to Maine for the caucuses, though the other candidates are likely focused on Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses happening in a dozen states.
Doors open at 11 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. Seating will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis, but RSVPs are encouraged.
