Wyoming Is So Important For This Candidate

On April 9, Wyoming will hold its Democratic caucus, and in a race that is getting tighter and tighter, every state matters. Wyoming does not have a significant number of delegates — the state only has 14, nothing in comparison to New York, which will send 247 delegates to the Democratic convention in July — however, it could prove to be an important win for one of the candidates: Bernie Sanders.

Though he would not gain very many delegates from a win in Wyoming, Sanders is campaigning heavily in the state because a Wyoming win would mean a continuation of his momentum. Sanders won the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, giving him his eighth win in a row, against his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Wyoming is the only state holding a Democratic caucus or primary between now and the April 19 New York primary, so if Sanders wins the western state, it would mean no win for Clinton for nearly a month — Clinton won Arizona on March 22. It's no surprise, then, that Sanders immediately headed to Wyoming after finishing his Wisconsin campaign, in fact, Sanders celebrated his Wisconsin win with a rally in Laramie, Wyoming, on Tuesday night.

NBC reported that Sanders is expected to win Wyoming — he's already won all of the states Wyoming borders: Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, and Utah. Demographically, the state is similar to the states he's already won, as well as similar to Vermont, the state of which he is a senator.

However, another reason why Sanders could likely win Wyoming is that the state holds a caucus in order to elect delegates, not a primary. According to The Huffington Post, Sanders does overwhelmingly well in caucuses, due to the fact that voters must attend caucuses in person and cannot vote early or by mail. Wyoming's Democratic caucus is closed, which means that in order to participate on April 9, Wyomingites must be registered as Democrats — this could only be an issue in that Sanders does best with the American youth, who are not the most likely constituency to be registered with, and loyal to a political party.

Undoubtedly, the Wyoming caucus favors Sanders, and a win in the state would continue his momentum — even if there are only 14 delegates at stake, momentum matters, no one wants to dawdle their way into the White House.