Bernie Sanders Projected Winner in West Virginia Democratic Primary

— -- ABC News projects that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will win the West Virginia Democratic primary, based on vote and exit poll analysis.

Sanders’ victory in West Virginia is due in part to large turnout among men, white voters and independent voters, preliminary exit poll results show.

The Vermont senator called his victory in West Virginia "tremendous" during a campaign rally in Salem, Oregon, tonight. Sanders remained hopeful he could still pull ahead of Clinton in the pledged delegate count.

"Tonight it appears that we won a big, big victory in West Virginia," Sanders said. "If we do well in the coming weeks in Oregon, in California, in New Jersey, in Kentucky and the other states, we still have that road to victory in winning the majority of pledged delegates."

The Vermont senator, who has railed against income inequality, making it a key part of his platform, tends to do better among voters who are concerned about the economy.

West Virginia primary voters had the highest level of economic concern than any Democratic primary this election cycle.

The Mountain State used to be considered “Clinton country” and over 350,000 voters turned out to vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 election -- but it no longer seems to be the case.

“We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,” Clinton said at a CNN town hall in March. Those comments came back to haunt her in a state that’s dealing with a depressed coal industry.

At a recent campaign event in the state Clinton said she misspoke and that her comments were taken out of context.

There are a total of 37 delegates up for grabs for the Democrats in West Virginia. Despite his projected win tonight, Sanders is still well behind Clinton in delegates.

The ABC News Analysis Desk contributed to this report.