Sen. Bernie Sanders must finish ahead of Sen. Elizabeth Warren in New Hampshire's 2020 primary to continue his Democratic presidential bid, according to Chris Stirewalt.
Stirewalt reacted Friday on "The Daily Briefing" to a claim by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., that Sanders will win Iowa's caucuses.
Khanna, a national co-chair for Sanders' campaign, told The Hill he "fully anticipate[s] he'll win Iowa, having been on the ground there."
Stirewalt charged that Khanna raised "tough expectations" for Sanders, adding he should be concerned instead with the Vermont senator's performance against the Massachusetts Democrat in the New Hampshire primary.
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"Sanders has to deal with the fact that he cannot come in behind Elizabeth Warren in New Hampshire," Stirewalt claimed. "They're both rep neighboring states in the U.S. Senate. They're both super-left populist progressives."
"There can be only one that comes out of there. To double up and say you've got to win Iowa too - I would manage expectations if I were Sanders."
Some Sanders supporters recently claimed Democratic National Committee leadership is giving preferential treatment to current front-runner former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware.
The supporters say they mistrust polls showing Biden holding a commanding lead over the Democratic field, and some say they may stage another revolt at the party's 2020 national convention in Milwaukee, just as they did in Philadelphia in 2016, if Biden gets the nomination.
Laurie Cestnick, a Sanders supporter who founded Occupy DNC, told The Washington Times they’re frustrated that the mainstream media doesn’t cover many of their candidate's events.
“The mainstream media and the DNC are colluding against the American people," she said. "That’s what it feels like. It’s the same thing all over again."
Fox News' David Montanaro contributed to this report.