Who is Manatee’s favorite in the Democratic primary? Sanders has stiff competition
With big wins early in the nominating process, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is establishing himself as the Democratic Party’s front-runner, but polls and campaign finance donations in the Bradenton area may point to a competitive contest in Florida.
According to the Federal Election Commission, donations to Sanders’ campaign are trailing behind former Vice President Joe Biden, who has hauled in over $140,000 from Manatee and Sarasota residents. That’s significantly more than the second-place earner, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who brought in $81,000 from area voters.
But no one is opening wallets like President Donald Trump. In his bid to remain commander-in-chief, Trump has raised nearly $600,000 from local voters since 2019.
Sanders, on the other hand, has collected about $70,000 from donors in the Bradenton area. His organizers say the race isn’t about money and are confident that the longtime independent senator from Vermont will have a strong showing in the Sunshine State.
“I think Bernie Sanders is talking to people in a very straightforward and honest way about the issues that matter to them. He’s been doing this for 50 years and people are responding,” said Coleman Pratt, who serves as a volunteer liaison between the Sanders campaign and local Democrats.
“He’s exceeding all the other Democrats, so we don’t expect money to be an issue,” he added.
A Feb. 19 statewide poll conducted by St. Pete Polls showed former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Biden holding a sizable lead ahead of Sanders among likely voters. Bloomberg, who led the poll, recently opened a field office in Sarasota.
On Monday, following the airing of a 60 Minutes interview in which Sanders said “it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad” about Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba, both campaigns used the opportunity to slam the self-described democratic socialist.
“Castro’s communism destroyed the Cuban society, and this destruction has spread throughout Latin America to Venezuela and Nicaragua,” said Bloomberg National Campaign Co-Chair Manny Diaz, a former mayor of Miami. “We cannot allow this destruction to reach the White House.”
“We already have one president who praises dictators and their mob-like tendencies; we don’t need another one,” said Cristóbal Alex, a senior adviser with the Biden campaign.
Right now, the Manatee County Democratic Party is focused on getting voters registered and sharing information about which candidates have dropped out of the race, said Chairman Tracy Pratt.
“We support all candidates equally. We’ve got an excellent slate and it’s exciting to see who becomes the nominee, but no matter what, Democrats in Manatee County are all on board for whoever wins the nomination,” Pratt said.
Pratt also dismissed any perceived “electability” concerns among the remaining candidates. Any one of them is strong enough to remove Trump from office, she said, as long as voters hit the polls.
“They’re all excellent, but the power really is in the voters. If people want to see a change in this election to get Trump out, then that power, really, is in the voter,” said Pratt.
Florida voters will determine their preferred Democratic nominee in the primary election on March 17.
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 4:35 PM.
