--- title: The Future of Bernie Sanders' Campaign Depends on Michigan description: “If Bernie Sanders doesn’t win Michigan, it is a critical sign that his campaign is flailing.” canonical: https://time.com/5799597/bernie-sanders-michigan-primary/ author: Lissandra Villa article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-03-09T21:01:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T08:54:29.263Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Future of Bernie Sanders' Campaign Depends on Michigan og:description: “If Bernie Sanders doesn’t win Michigan, it is a critical sign that his campaign is flailing.” og:url: https://time.com/5799597/bernie-sanders-michigan-primary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd19f3af762b6803/698a0b5216d884483ec37d9f/GettyImages-1211201349.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Holds Rally In Grand Rapids, Michigan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Future of Bernie Sanders' Campaign Depends on Michigan twitter:description: “If Bernie Sanders doesn’t win Michigan, it is a critical sign that his campaign is flailing.” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd19f3af762b6803/698a0b5216d884483ec37d9f/GettyImages-1211201349.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Future of Bernie Sanders' Campaign Could Depend on Michigan > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f84a156d-0053-4c22-94b3-7e0ecaa80f3e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A History of Socialism in America [Watch (HLS stream): A History of Socialism in America](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lPw5Z50I.m3u8) (9:42)  _Published 2020-02-12. TIME takes a look at America's long and complicated history with socialism, from early utopian settlements to the 2020 election._  by [Lissandra Villa](https://time.com/author/lissandra-villa/)  ## Lissandra Villa Mar 9, 2020 9:01 PM UTC  by [Lissandra Villa](https://time.com/author/lissandra-villa/)  ## Lissandra Villa Mar 9, 2020 9:01 PM UTC Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has a critical mission on Tuesday: beating former Vice President Joe Biden in Michigan. On a day when 352 of the [remaining delegates](https://www.npr.org/2020/03/09/813227105/6-more-states-vote-tuesday-heres-your-guide-to-michigan-and-the-rest) in the Democratic presidential primary will be awarded, Michigan is the biggest prize, allocating [125 pledged delegates](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/election-preview-sanders-is-the-underdog-in-michigan-but-weve-heard-that-one-before/). But that’s not the only reason the Midwest state is crucial for Sanders. Losing in a state that Sanders has emphasized in the days since Super Tuesday would be a symbolic setback, especially since Sanders upset Hillary Clinton in Michigan in 2016; Clinton then went on to lose it to Donald Trump. To win the Democratic nomination, Sanders will need to rally the kind of white working-class voters that comprise a large percentage of Michigan Democrats. “If Bernie Sanders doesn’t win Michigan, it is a critical sign that his campaign is flailing,” says TJ Bucholz, a Michigan Democratic strategist unaffiliated with any of the 2020 presidential campaigns. The odds don’t look great for Sanders, according to recent surveys. Multiple polls conducted in recent days have pegged Biden as [a clear double-digit favorite. (](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/mi/michigan%5Fdemocratic%5Fpresidential%5Fprimary-6835.html)[Polling in 2016](https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/03/09/polls-joe-biden-holds-lead-over-bernie-sanders-michigan-primaries/4994142002/) showed Clinton[ leading](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/09/joe-biden-michigan-poll-124399) Sanders.) Bucholz noted that Biden, who served as Vice President under Barack Obama, is also often [associated with](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/05/joe-biden-michigan-primary-governor-gretchen-whitmer-endorsement-121929) the Obama Administration’s auto bailout, a critically important rescue for a state that has long been the epicenter of the U.S. auto industry. Michigan has taken on increased importance for Sanders since Super Tuesday, when [Biden took the delegate lead](https://time.com/5795288/joe-biden-bernie-sanders-super-tuesday/) and re-established himself as the favorite to become the party’s presidential nominee. Rather than spend time in Mississippi as originally planned, Sanders’ campaign cancelled a trip there and added events in Michigan. If skipping Mississippi sends a message that he has all but ceded the South to Biden, then Sanders’ ability to demonstrate that he can do well elsewhere becomes even more important. “Right now, our focus is here in Michigan, where we think we have the agenda that can win this state,” he [told CNN’s State of the Union](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxiJ%5FbqD2Ds) this weekend. Sanders is pulling out all the stops. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, his highest-profile surrogate, campaigned for him in the state over the weekend. Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. endorsed him and spoke on his behalf. Michigan’s majority-black cities, like Detroit [and Flint](https://time.com/4188328/the-poisoning-of-an-american-city/), have been a focal point, with Sanders scheduling a town hall in Flint over the weekend. Black voters launched Biden to victory in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday, highlighting how critical their support will be for whoever ends up the nominee. So far Sanders’ support among African Americans has been lacking. “We need to expand our base of support and make sure our message is getting through,” says Rep. Ro Khanna, a national co-chair for Sanders’ campaign. The focus, Khanna says, should be improving outreach to black and older voters, constituencies Sanders has struggled to win. “I think we have to make the case of electability,” he adds. While Sanders was [reportedly prepared](https://twitter.com/rubycramer/status/1236412580245254144?s=20) to give remarks in Flint that would “directly address the African American community and make the case for why black voters should support him over Vice President Biden,” he gave a half-hour version of his regular stump speech instead. A Sanders aide reportedly said that after speaking with participants backstage, Sanders had decided to let the people of color on the panel speak to those issues. “He does not have those experiences,” Mike Casca, Sanders’ communications director, [told reporters](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rubycramer/bernie-sanders-flint-michigan-speech-black-voters). “He is a white Jewish man.” Meanwhile, Sanders is trying to make this a primary about issues, like health care and trade. Michigan is a “canary in the coal mine around sort of the same type of policies that Bernie’s has been championing,” such as trade, says Branden Snyder, executive director of Detroit Action, a grassroots organization focused on racial and economic justice issues that has endorsed Sanders. While Sanders has argued high turnout—especially new voters—will be the key to his success, Super Tuesday suggested the strategy may not be working. It was Biden, not Sanders, who benefited from increased voter turnout on Tuesday. “The progressive movement is at a moment where we really have to think about, how do we create a message that appeals both to an expanding electorate and talks to swing voters?” says Monica Klein, a progressive strategist. There are parts of Sanders’ platform, Klein said, that appeal broadly across the Democratic Party, like higher wages. “And I don’t think that one necessarily needs to negate the other, but I do think what Bernie obviously has realized, what his team has realized, is that they can’t just be feeding the base, that they also need to be speaking to more moderate voters, to African-American older voters.” ## Transcript This is looking backward. By Edward Bellamy. It was published in 1888 and was one of the most popular books in America in the 19th century. In the book, a man named Julian West falls asleep and wakes up. Over 100 years later, in the year 2000, he finds himself in a futuristic socialist society where industries are nationalized and workers retire at 45. The book had a significant impact on American thinking at the time. Across the country, 165 Bellamy Clubs formed to promote its ideas. So what would happen if Julian West woke up in the 21st century as we know it? America will never be a socialist country. When I talk about democratic socialism. Socialism is not the answer. West wouldn't be waking up to a socialist utopia, but he would find an America that had a long and complicated history with socialism. Looking at herself on television, it ain't Bernie. It is, you. It must be you. The definition of socialism can really depend on who you ask. The dictionary will tell you that socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. To many voters today, socialism means expanding social safety nets like universal health care. We asked Maurice Esterman, an expert on American socialism, to provide us with some context. For some Americans, especially those of a certain age who remember the Cold War. Socialism represents a totalitarian dictatorship where the state controls all of the what Marxists would call the means of production socialism and much of the rest of the world is understood as a system that seeks to maximize the benefits for all people. Some of the first attempts at collective ownership in America were utopian settlements that sprung up across the country throughout the 19th century. One of the most famous of these was New Harmony, Indiana, formed by social reformer Robert Owen in 1825 and New Harmony. Labor was divided, inequality was prioritized. And like many of the utopian settlements at the time, it was founded as a place where bright minds could pursue their studies without interference from capitalist life. But New Harmony was, in large part, a failure, with infighting over governance and religion leading to its collapse. After just four years, the community had split apart and Owen lost most of his money. Despite limited success, communities like this laid the groundwork for socialism to develop politically in America. And as capitalism in America picked up steam. Socialism as a political force took shape. Many industrial laborers grew unhappy with the status quo, while the countries owning class just grew richer. And the people in their own lives had seen enormous transformation. Going on in the economy. And they didn't take it just as well. That's the way it is. They still thought of society as something that was evolving. Workers around the country began to protest, and one of the largest actions was the Pullman Railroad strike outside of Chicago. The strike resulted in the disruption of Midwestern rail lines and a violent face off between strikers and federal troops as the strike came to a close. Its leaders were arrested, including this man, Eugene Debs. While in jail, Debs became a socialist. And in 1900, a number of disparate socialist groups in the United States United and formed what became the Socialist Party of the United States. Davis became the Socialist Party's go to presidential candidate, running five times between 1919 20. And in 1912, he won a million votes. 6% of the total. That's the most a socialist candidate has ever won in an American presidential election. And he wasn't alone during that period. Socialist had managed to elect more than 1000 officials nationwide, including two members to Congress. But this golden era for socialists didn't last long as a range of forces from anti-immigration sentiment to looming World War made them a target of attacks. Eugene Debs was arrested again in 1918, this time for violating the Espionage Act, a newly enacted law that made it illegal to speak out against the U.S. involvement in World War One. His arrest was part of a wider government crackdown against socialist following Russia's Bolshevik Revolution. The US government and many of its citizens feared that radical groups intended to challenge America's democratic values or even overthrow the government. At the same time, the composition of the American left was changing. Communism, which was more focused on revolution than socialism, was, became popular among American leftists, somewhat displacing socialism as a popular ideology. An organization that, on the eve of the First World War, was capable of gaining 6% of the vote. A million votes and 100,000 members was reduced to a skeleton of itself. By the early 1920s. When Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt introduced New Deal reforms such as Social Security and unemployment insurance in the 1930s, his opponents said he was carrying out a socialist agenda. But for Americans socialist like party leader Norman Thomas, the New Deal was actually seen as a blow to their mission. Norman Thomas cracked that he's carrying out the socialist platform on a stretcher because, you know, he's basically killed socialism by taking some of the more appealing of its reform proposals and leaving no room for a socialist party. This tension between socialists and Democrats continued to hurt socialist power politically for the next several decades. During the Cold War, Socialism's reputation in America was further damaged by its perceived association with communism, which had been represented by totalitarian regimes abroad. In 1962, socialist writer Michael Harrington gained notoriety for publishing the other America, a book that argued that 25% of the country lived in poverty. Some believe it partially inspired the government's war on poverty programs. Harrington went on to become a pivotal figure in the socialist movement, Harrington said. Let's work within the Democratic Party to push through a progressive agenda. And his phrase was, We should be the left wing of the possible. So in 1982, he founded the Democratic Socialists of America, or the DSA, whose candidates ran for office not as socialists, but as Democrats. The DSA remained relatively small for the rest of the 20th century. Now it's official We are in a recession. In 2008, America was hit by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and it disproportionately affected the middle and working classes. A few years later, the Occupy movement formed in reaction to growing inequality, but without specific demands. It didn't have much tangible impact. It's like the bee who stings and then dies. So Occupy died, but the sting remained. And the 2016 presidential campaign. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders emerged as a popular candidate for the Democratic Party of America. Sanders had been inspired by the work of Eugene Debs, and he had even made a documentary about him in 1979. He wasn't a member of the DSA, but he did call himself a democratic socialist. The only socialist on the democratic stage, Sanders lost the Democratic nomination. But like the Occupy movement, his impact remained. Two years later, the DSA rose to greater prominence when member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress and an overnight political celebrity. On top of her win, DSA candidates won dozens of local and state elections across the country, and membership rose from 6000 in 2015 to 50000 in 2018. That said, DSA members still represented a very small number of American voters. It reflects important demographic changes and important shift in political values and beliefs, especially on the part of younger Americans. According to Gallup polling, young Americans views of capitalism have soured over the last decade. In 2019, they viewed socialism almost as positively as they did capitalism. And with the presidential election looming. This could signal a significant shift in America's politics. Republicans have continued to use socialist as an insult. To Democrats. Be the party of socialism. Hitler was the Socialists, and Democrats have debated if and how socialism fits into their agenda. I am a capitalist. Come on. When I talk about democratic socialism, what I talk about are human rights. Will socialism continue to remain on the fringe in America as it has for over a century? 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