FLASHBACK: Bernie Sanders Once Bashed Early Primary States Like South Carolina: ‘Kind Of Distorts Reality’

As former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) come to a face-off in South Carolina, a recently resurfaced clip reveals the socialist senator previously bashed early primary states as being out of step with reality, and argued that more “progressive” states like California deserve to have the first say in the nomination process.

Speaking with former Comedy Central host Larry Wilmore during the 2016 primary, Sanders said that the early southern state primary “distorts reality” and even suggested that the election was “rigged.” It should be noted that Hillary Clinton had all but clinched the party nomination at the time.

“Well, you know, people say, ‘Why does Iowa go first, why does New Hampshire go first,’ but I think that having so many Southern states go first kind of distorts reality as well,” Sanders said, as reported by Fox News. “Our path is with the math. We started off this campaign having to run in the Deep South—”

“Trust me, I know about running in the Deep South,” Wilmore interjected.

“Since we got out of the South we’re doing pretty well,” replied Sanders.

“When a lot of these so-called superdelegates begin to see which candidate is the strongest candidate … I think some of these guys are going to be coming our way.”

The resurrected comment from Sanders echoes talking points that some hardcore progressives have raised during the primary season, such as when CNN’s Van Jones lamented that states like Iowa are too dominated by white people to have an early say in the nomination process.

“I just think that the idea of the caucus has failed to meet the viability threshold,” said Jones. “The idea of the caucus itself has failed to meet the viability threshold because we’ve all been saying the whole time, ‘Why Iowa in the first place? It’s 90% white.’ When you have a party as diverse as this to be in a state that’s not as diverse is terrible. People ain’t going to be able to vote and go home. I don’t like caucuses in the first place, but if you can’t even deliver on your one job … you have only one job, Iowa.”

Former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe agreed with Jones, adding that the early primary votes should be regional. “I think we should start regionally; You should do three or four or five states; you shouldn’t have one; it shouldn’t be Iowa; it shouldn’t be New Hampshire,” said McAuliffe. “You look at these entrance data; 90% of the caucus-goers today were white. Well, if you take the whole landscape of the election, it’s 60%. So it’s way skewed out of line. I would get rid of all the caucuses, first of all.”

The coming primary vote in South Carolina will be Joe Biden’s last stand against Bernie Sanders before Super Tuesday on March 3. Leading up to the vote, the former vice president has emphasized his appreciation for such early states, primarily, the high proportion of African-American voters in South Carolina.

“It is important that Iowa and New Hampshire have spoken, but we need to hear from Nevada and South Carolina and Super Tuesday and beyond,” Biden said after the New Hampshire primary. “We haven’t heard from the most committed constituents in the Democratic Party—the African-American community—or the fastest-growing segment of the party—the Latino Americans.”