In the face of nationwide Sanders defeatism, Indiana kept the faith

So Bernie repeated the Miracle of Michigan in the Hoosier state.

With a 43 to 37 final delegate count in his favor, this primary win ends a brutal string of losses in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and New York. And it gives Bernie’s army of supporters another reason to say their candidate — not Hillary — would take the Midwest in the general.

Sanders released a statement soon after his surprise win: “I want to thank the people of Indiana for the great upset victory that they gave us tonight. This is the 18th state that we have won, and we expect more victories in the weeks to come.”

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As a Sanders supporter and Indiana native recently graduated from IU in Bloomington, I was hoping that this Midwestern state would respond to the choice of candidates in a fashion similar to Michigan.

I’m a Zionsville-to-Bloomington transplant. Those two environments — entrenched on opposing ends of the political spectrum — made me a poor predicter of the Democrats in my state would vote. Bloomington is often referred to as the liberal oasis of Indiana. When I took my little brother to the Zionsville Town Hall for his first time voting, there wasn’t a Clinton or Sanders sign in sight.

But what I saw in the past week pointed towards Sanders.

I went to Clinton’s Indianapolis event on Sunday — an almost totally white rally in a black neighborhood. “Does it mean that Bernie is about to pull off a Michigan-style upset in the Midwest?” I wondered.

On the other hand, the on-campus voter turnout among Sander’s coveted IU students was dismally low, indicating a possible lack student voters, which have helped Bernie previously.

Before the poll results started coming in — which initially showed Clinton in the lead — my mind was in a prediction tug-of-war between the two pieces of information.

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One poll showed the two at a “statistical tie.” Many had Hillary ahead.

But it was quite amazing to see Sanders supporters still hitting the polls and phones to stand by their candidate when the pundits have more or less written his chances off.

And not all primaries can be total blowouts with endorsements from college basketball’s revered Gene Keady of Purdue and Bobby Knight of IU. Well played, Donald J. Trump.

If you listen close on a quiet Indiana night, Hoosiers can still hear the muffled sobs of the ghost of the Cruz campaign drifting over the shuffling rows of corn.

It felt good to see Indiana in the national spotlight as a place of political significance beyond Mike Pence’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act and newest legislations against women’s reproductive rights. There unfortunately isn’t certainty for Bernie’s campaign over the weeks ahead. But, at the present I am just going to enjoy this little moment. It’s not every day we get to see Indiana on the right side of history.