Franklin County area Democrats leaned way left to put their shoulders behind the Bernie Sanders bandwagon in Tuesday’s presidential primary.
With the county totals fully compiled Wednesday morning, Sanders pulled in just about three times Hillary Clinton’s total in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region, with voters overwhelmingly backing the Vermont senator — along with GOP frontrunner Donald Trump — by large margins, sometimes as wide as nearly 3 to 1.
In Greenfield, the county’s largest town, Sanders beat Clinton with 3,003 votes to her 1,142. Turnout was running as high as 62 percent, a high number even for hotly contested presidential primaries like this one, which the Hawley town clerk said brought out many new young voters, even in one of the state’s smallest towns. The local trend differed from the statewide early results, which saw the two Democrats seesawing for the lead throught night after polls closed at 8 p.m. Clinton eventually took the state with a narrow lead at 50.1 percent, though Sanders dominated almost every town in the state outside the Greater Boston area, Springfield and Worcester.
While Clinton had much of the party establishment behind her, Sanders banked on strong support from the state’s college-age voters to help keep his candidacy afloat.
GOP frontrunner Donald Trump cruised to an easy victory in Massachusetts as Clinton and Sanders battled for delegates. In a number of Pioneer Valley towns, Ohio Gov. John Kasich managed a second place showing. On the Republican side in the county, Trump, with 2,421 votes, was followed by Kasich with 1,239, and Marco Rubio with 1,018.
On the state level, Trump soared over his competitors, reeling in 49.3 percent of the vote while Kasich was a distant second with 18 percent. Rubio came in third at 17.8 percent.
Notably, Rubio won in Franklin County’s smallest town, Monroe, with just 6 votes.