Bernie Sanders’s victory speech: Super Tuesday is not “winner take all”

Bernie Sanders spent his Super Tuesday surrounded by friends and family in his home state, claiming a win in Vermont’s primary.

The senator gave his Vermont victory speech early in the night, before many of the results from the night’s primaries had come in.

Sanders, who was expected to win in his home state, hit all his crowd-raising campaign points Tuesday night, reminding his supporters that even if Super Tuesday does not go fully his way, the fight is far from over.

“Now, I know that Secretary Clinton and many of the establishment people think that I am looking and thinking too big – I don’t think so,” Sanders said. He said that close races would still favor him in terms of delegate counts.

“This is not a general election. It is not winner take all,” he reminded the crowd. “If you get 52 percent, you get 48 percent, you roughly end up with the same amount of delegates in a state. By the end of tonight, we are going to win many hundreds of delegates.”

“At the end of tonight, 15 states will have voted, 35 states remain. And let me assure you that we are going to take our fight for economic justice, for social justice, for environmental sanity, for a world of peace to everyone of those states.”

Below is a rush transcript of Sanders’s speech:

Thank you. Thank you. It is good to be home.

You know, I have been all over this country, but the truth is, it is great and great to come home and see all my friends.

You know, we want to win in every part of the country that goes without saying. But it does say something and means so much to me that the people who know me best, the people who knew me before I was elected, who knew me as mayor, congressman and know me as senator – have voted so strongly to put us in the White House.

Thank you so much. This campaign is I think all of you know, this campaign is not just about electing the president. It is about transforming America. It is about making our great country the nation that we know it has the potential to be. It is about dealing one in unpleasant truths and having the guts to confront the untruths. It is about recognizing that in our state, we have town meetings and people come out, they argue about budgets, and then they vote. One person, one vote. In Vermont, billionaires do not buy town meetings, and in America, we are going to end a corrupt campaign finance system.

We can disagree in a democracy, and that’s what a democracy is about, but I hope all of us agree that we’re going to not allow billionaires and their Super PACs to destroy American democracy.

In our state, in our state, you all know that we have many, many thousands of Vermonters working not just one job, they’re working two jobs, they’re working three jobs. And you all know that while our people are working so hard, almost all of the new wealth and income generated in America is going to the top one percent.

Well, together, what we are going to do is create an economy that works for all of us, not just the people on top. And together, we are going to end and reform a broken criminal justice system.

This country, the wealthiest country in the history of the world should not be having more people in jail than any other country on Earth. That’s wrong. So we are going to invest for our young people in education, in jobs, not jails or incarceration.

Now, I know many of my Republican colleagues think that climate change is a hoax. Well, I believe that you don’t develop real public policy unless you listen to the science and the science is clear. Together, we are going to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

Now, I know that Secretary Clinton and many of the establishment people think that I am looking and thinking too big. I don’t think so.

So let me go on the record and say as you have heard me say for years, health care is a right for all people. And let me also say that in the United States of America, when we talk about public education, it’s not just first grade through 12th. That has got to be expanded to make public colleges and universities tuition free.

What I have said from day one in this campaign and I suspect many of you went down on the lake with me when we announced on that beautiful day. What I have said is that this campaign is not just about electing a president. It is about making a political revolution.

What that revolution is about is bringing millions of millions of people into the political process. Working people who have been so disillusioned, they no longer vote. Young people have never been involved.

The political revolution is about is bringing our people together. Black and white, Latino, Asian Americans, gay and straight, people born in America, people who have immigrated to America. When we bring our people together when we do not allow the Donald trumps of the world to divide us up.

When we bring our people together and when we have the courage to stand up to the billionaire class and tell them they can’t have it all. That our government belongs to all of us, not just Super PACs and wealthy campaign contributors.

Now, tonight, you’re going to see a lot of election results come in. Let me remind you of what the media often forgets about. These are not -- this is not a general election. It is not winner take all. If you get 52 percent, you get 48 percent, you roughly end up with the same amount of delegates in a state. By the end of tonight, we are going to win many hundreds of delegates.

Ten months ago as you know, better than any other group in America, when we were out on the lake, we were at three percent in the polls. We have come a very long way in ten months.

At the end of tonight, 15 states will have voted, 35 states remain. And let me assure you that we are going to take our fight for economic justice, for social justice, for environmental sanity, for a world of peace to everyone of those states.

Now, Wall Street may be against us and the Super PACs may be against us. But you know why we’re going to win? Because our message is resonating and the people when we stand together will be victorious.

So on a personal note, I want to thank all of you for the love and the friendship that you have given our family. You have sustained me.

And I am so proud to bring Vermont values all across this country. So thank you again for helping us win here in Vermont. Tonight, and I look forward this evening to just saying hello to so many old friends.

So thank you all very much.