2016 Michigan Democratic presidential primary

2016 Michigan Democratic presidential primary

← 2012 March 8, 2016 (2016-03-08) 2020 →

Candidate Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton Home state Vermont New York Delegate count 67 63 Popular vote 598,943 581,775 Percentage 49.68% 48.26%

Results by county Congressional district results Sanders:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Clinton:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

Elections in Michigan
Federal government U.S. President 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 Dem 2008 Dem GOP 2012 Dem GOP 2016 Dem 2020 Dem GOP 2024 Dem GOP U.S. Senate 1835 1840 (sp) 1841 1847 1849 (sp) 1853 1857 1858 1862 (sp) 1863 1865 1869 1871 1874 1877 1879 (sp) 1881 1881 (sp) 1887 1889 1893 1895 1895 (sp) 1899 1901 1903 (sp) 1905 1907 1907 (sp) 1911 1913 1916 1918 1922 1924 1924 (sp) 1928 1928 (sp) 1930 1934 1936 1940 1942 1946 1948 1952 1952 (sp) 1954 1958 1960 1964 1966 1970 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2012 2014 2018 2020 2024 2026 U.S. House 1835 1837 1838 1840 1843 1844 1846 1847 1st sp 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1871 4th sp 1872 1873 5th sp 1874 1876 1878 1880 1881 7th sp 1882 1884 1886 1888 11th sp 1890 1891 5th sp 1892 1893 1st sp 1894 1895 3rd sp 1896 1898 1900 1901 10th sp 1902 1904 1906 1907 5th sp 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1917 2nd sp 1918 1920 13th sp 1921 3rd sp 1922 1923 3rd sp 1924 1925 3rd sp 1926 1928 1930 1931 8th sp 1932 1934 1935 3rd sp 1936 1938 1940 5th sp 1942 1944 1946 1947 11th sp 1948 1950 1952 1954 1955 15th sp 1956 1958 1960 1961 1st sp 1962 14th sp 1964 1968 1970 1972 1974 5th sp 8th sp 1976 1978 1980 13th sp 1981 4th sp 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1993 3rd sp 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 11th 11th sp 2014 2016 2018 13th sp 2020 2022 2024
State government State elections 2010 2014 2016 2018 2020 2021 2022 2024 Gubernatorial elections 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1849 1851 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Attorney General elections 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Secretary of State elections 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Auditor General elections 1962 State Senate elections 2002 2006 2010 2014 2016 4th sp 2018 2021 (sp) 2022 State House elections 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
Ballot proposals 1996 Proposal E 2004 Proposal 04-2 2006 Proposal 06-2 2008 Proposal 1 2012 Proposal 1 Proposal 2 Proposal 3 Proposal 4 Proposal 5 Proposal 6 2015 Proposal 1 2018 Proposal 1 Proposal 2 Proposal 3 2020 Proposal 1 Proposal 2 2022 Proposal 1 Proposal 2 Proposal 3
Detroit Mayoral elections 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1834 (sp) 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1861 1863 1865 1867 1869 1871 1873 1875 1877 1879 1881 1883 1885 1887 1889 1891 1893 1895 1897 1899 1901 1903 1905 1907 1901 1903 1905 1907 1909 1911 1913 1915 1917 1919 1921 1923 1925 1927 1929 1930 (recall) 1930 (sp) 1931 1933 1935 1937 1939 1941 1943 1945 1947 1949 1950 (sp) 1951 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 (sp) 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025
Flint Mayoral elections 2015 2017 (recall) 2019 2022
Grand Rapids Mayoral elections 2015 2019 2024
Lansing Mayoral elections 2017 2021
v t e

The 2016 Michigan Democratic presidential primary was held on March 8 in the U.S. state of Michigan as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

On the same day, the Democratic Party held a second primary in Mississippi, while the Republican Party held primaries in four states, including their own Michigan primary. Bernie Sanders' narrow win was a massive upset, with polling before the primary showing him trailing Hillary Clinton by an average of 21.4 points.^[1]

Clinton lost Michigan by a narrow margin of 0.23% in the general election, against Republican nominee Donald Trump.

On March 6, 2016 the Democratic Party held a seventh presidential debate at The Whiting at the Flint Cultural Center. Flint, Michigan was chosen as the center of the ongoing Flint water crisis.^[2] The debate was hosted by Anderson Cooper and aired on CNN. Participants were Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. At the end of the debate, Cooper announced a labor union fund had committed $25 million in low-interest loans towards repairing the water system.

The next day, on March 7, 2016, a Town Hall event, was held as the eighth democratic forum. It started at 6:00 p.m. E.S.T., at the Gem Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, and was aired by the Fox News Channel.^[3] The forum was moderated by Bret Baier.

Bernie Sanders's narrow, one-point win in Michigan was seen as a major upset for the Clinton campaign, since Bernie Sanders had never led a poll in that state. Many theories about the failure of the Michigan polling circulated throughout the media, with most centering on pollsters' erroneous assumptions about the composition of the electorate stemming from the 2008 primary in Michigan not having been contested due to an impasse between the state party and DNC.^[73][74][75] Although Clinton expanded her delegate lead with a lopsided victory in Mississippi that same day, some journalists suggested Sanders' upset might presage her defeat in other delegate-rich Midwestern Rust Belt states,^[76] such as Missouri, Ohio and Illinois, who voted a week later on March 15, along with North Carolina and Florida, where Clinton was more clearly favored.^[77][78]

Sanders beat Clinton among white voters in Michigan, who made up 70% of the electorate, by a margin of 56–42, a margin perhaps larger than the Clinton campaign had anticipated. Independents, who made up 27% of the electorate, backed Sanders 71–28. As was true in other primaries, Clinton won the votes of women and African Americans, but Sanders's margins with Independents and rural voters, mostly working class whites who felt disaffected and disenfranchised by trade deals championed by Hillary Clinton and her husband,^[23] were not able to be surpassed, even by Clinton's large leads in major cities such as Detroit and Flint. Among voters who said their primary concern was the U.S. economy, Sanders won 56–40, even though Clinton had hammered him on his 2009 vote against the auto-bailout which she believed would resonate in a state whose economy depended upon manufacturing and the auto industry. Among unions, Sanders had beaten Clinton 49–46, even though in previous contests union households had broken for Clinton.^[24] Hand-wringing began on the Clinton side, with the campaign worrying they turned their attention to the general election too soon, as Hillary Clinton had pleaded "the sooner I could become your nominee, the more I could begin to turn my attention to the Republicans."^[23]

Sanders thanked supporters after his surprise win, "What tonight means is that the Bernie Sanders campaign, the people's revolution that we're talking about, the political revolution that we're talking about, is strong in every part of the country [...] And, frankly, we believe our strongest areas are yet to happen."^[23]

Clinton went on to win the next five states in the Democratic primary, including Ohio, Illinois and Missouri.

Alongside Wisconsin, Michigan was among the two "Blue Wall" states won by Bernie Sanders in the primary election that Donald Trump would ultimately flip in the 2016 United States Presidential Election.