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So, What's Next After Wyoming?

by Chris Tognotti

On Saturday, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders extended his winning streak, beating Hillary Clinton in the Wyoming primary by 13 points (although he tied her in delegates, so yeah, kind of a strictly symbolic victory). And with that, it's going to be a few weeks before the Democrats will hold any more caucus events ― the next one in in the U.S. territory of Guam, on May 7th. Which means the next several contests will be of the primary variety! So, what primary comes after Wyoming?

Let's just say it's going to be a big one, and both candidates have a lot on the line: it's the New York primary on April 19, with a whopping 291 total delegates up for grabs. It's a showdown that has some personal relevance for each candidate ― Sanders was born and raised in Brooklyn, while Clinton served as senator of the state from 2001 through 2009, and currently makes her residence in Chappaqua, New York.

Like all the Democratic primaries, the New York primary will use a proportional system of delegate allocation, meaning that a narrow win in one direction or the other won't fundamentally change the race in the way that a lopsided win might. As it stands now, Clinton is leading Sanders by 219 pledged delegates.

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From the looks of things heading into New York, there's no doubt who's favored to win. Clinton is leading Sanders in the polls in New York by double-digits, although not by the insurmountable margins she did in early primary states like Florida or South Carolina ― RealClearPolitics has her polling advantage over Sanders at 13.3 percent. That's a very comfortable margin — but lest the Clinton campaign feel too confident, they need only remind themselves of that shocking Sanders upset in Michigan, when he prevailed despite the polls having showed him down by as many as 20 points.

It'll be interesting to see just what tenor the campaigns will take, as the calendar rolls closer to April 19. There's also one more debate scheduled for April 14, the only one the two candidates will have in New York. If you're a resident of the Empire State and you're planning to participate in the Democratic primary, you'll want to keep in mind what times you can head to the polls ― they're opening at 6:00 a.m. ET, and closing at 9:00 p.m. ET. Also worth remembering: New York is a closed primary state with a hard deadline on party registration, so if you haven't been a registered Democrat since Oct. 9, you won't be eligible to participate.