With the March 3 primary still weeks away, early voting has candidates heading to the Bay Area to lock in votes, and new advertising campaigns aimed at California are hitting the airwaves.
Pete Buttigeig will be in the Bay Area Friday, and Bernie Sanders will visit Monday. Mike Bloomberg’s campaign opened a field office in Pleasant Hill Wednesday night.
Experts said that candidates are focusing on the Golden State because California has the most delegates up for grabs, and the push is on because so many voters already have absentee ballots.
“It’s not enough to get some of the vote,” said Rebecca Eissler, Professor of political science at San Francisco State. “You have to reach 15% of the vote to get any pledged delegates. The challenge is not just to do okay, but to be above that cutoff point.”
Some voters who already have their ballots have said they are listening and waiting to send those ballots in.
“I wait until the day before,” one voter said. “You never know what’s gonna happen.”
