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Super Tuesday: Biden gets off to flying start as first polls close Super Tuesday: Biden surges with early victories as Sanders wins California
(about 3 hours later)
Biden earns wins in Alabama, Virginia and North Carolina while Sanders wins in Vermont and Colorado Former vice-president sweeps southern states on pivotal night as senator takes key state where 415 delegates up for grabs
Joe Biden racked up five early victories on Super Tuesday including in the key southern states of Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama, in a strong start to the most pivotal night of the Democratic presidential primary race. The former vice-president Joe Biden surged to early Super Tuesday victories in eight states in the most pivotal night of the Democratic presidential primary race but rival Bernie Sanders won the key state of California.
Senator Bernie Sanders took an early home-state win in Vermont as expected, and followed with a win in Colorado, as polls continued to close in the 12 other states voting from California to Utah. After the Vermont result, a huge roar went up at Sanders’ Super Tuesday rally in his home town of Burlington, with chants of “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!”. Exit polls indicated the Vermont senator had an approximate 15-point lead in California, where 415 delegates were up for grabs, the most of any state in entire Democratic primary.
But Biden was quickly declared winner in the battleground state of Virginia, the delegate-rich state of North Carolina, and Alabama, where 52 pledged delegates were up for grabs, by a large margin of victory. They were followed by wins in Tennessee and Oklahoma, suggesting this could be a difficult night for Sanders, who went into Super Tuesday as the frontrunner. The win gave Sanders a much-needed boost after a rejuvenated Biden swept the southern states of Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Oklahoma, propelled by black voters, and scored surprise wins in Massachusetts and Minnesota.
The victories in heavily African American states complemented the former vice-president’s resounding win in last weekend’s South Carolina primary. Winning Virginia, which had 99 delegates available, was an early lift for Biden after Sanders and the billionaire former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg heavily contested it over the past week. “It’s a good night and it seems to be getting better,” Biden told supporters in Los Angeles. “They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing.”
Bloomberg won the US territory of American Samoa, which has just six delegates in play, but was poised to receive no delegates in Virginia, where he spent nearly $18 million on advertising. Exit polls also indicated Bloomberg was struggling to clear the 15% threshold required to net delegates in North Carolina, where he spent more than $17 million and built a large field operation. Senator Elizabeth Warren came in a disappointing third place in her home state of Massachusetts, and struggled to break through the viability threshold of 15% in other states. Speaking in Detroit, ahead of Michigan’s primary next week, Warren appeared defiant, saying: “You don’t get what you don’t fight for. I am in this fight.”
Early results were also disappointing for senator Elizabeth Warren, who was trailing Biden and Sanders in her home state of Massachusetts. The California result came in after Sanders took an early home-state win in Vermont as expected, and followed with a win in Colorado. After the Vermont result, a huge roar went up at Sanders’ Super Tuesday rally in his home town of Burlington, with chants of “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!”
The first polls closed at 7pm ET on Super Tuesday – the most consequential voting day of the Democratic presidential primary race – after millions of voters across the US cast their ballots for the candidate they want to see take on Donald Trump in the November election. But Biden’s victories in heavily African American states complemented the former vice-president’s resounding win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary and presented a serious challenge for Sanders, who went into Super Tuesday as the narrow frontrunner.
Sanders headed into this critical day as the frontrunner, well positioned to dominate in two of the biggest states – California and Texas – with the support of energized liberals, young voters and Latinos. In Texas – the second biggest Super Tuesday prize with 228 delegates up for grabs – early results indicated an extremely tight race between Sanders and Biden. With almost half the votes counted, Sanders held a two-point lead over Biden in the overall vote count. The delegate count remained completely unclear, however.
But the race had shifted dramatically in the 72-hours between the South Carolina primary and polls opening on Tuesday, and Sanders was fighting to blunt the sudden rise of Joe Biden, emboldened by a wave of endorsements from the former vice-president’s ex-rivals Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, who both dropped out of the race in recent days. The billionaire former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, who appeared on the ballot for the first time in the Super Tuesday states, did not see his $500m gamble pay dividends.
Sanders and Biden represent starkly different visions for the Democratic party and the country. The choice may be clearer after Tuesday, when a third of all Democratic delegates will be awarded. Bloomberg, who has funneled huge sums of his fortune into his own campaign, won the US territory of American Samoa, which has just six delegates in play, but was poised to receive no delegates in Virginia, where he spent nearly $18m on advertising.
“The political establishment has made their choice: Anybody but Bernie Sanders,” Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir wrote in a fundraising email to supporters. Exit polls also indicated Bloomberg was struggling to clear the 15% threshold required to net delegates in North Carolina, where he spent more than $17m and built a large field operation.
At a rally in Dallas on Monday night, Klobuchar urged the Democratic party to unite around Biden. She was joined on stage former Texas congressman and one-time presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who also announced his support for Biden. Bloomberg would discuss with his advisers on Wednesday “whether there’s a reason to continue with this”, NBC News reported.
“We need to unite our party and our country and to do it not just with our words, but with our actions,” Klobuchar said. “As the results come in here’s what is clear, no matter how many delegates we win tonight we’ve done something no-one else thought was possible,” Bloomberg said in a 10-minute speech to supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida. “We’ve gone from one percent in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.”
“If we spend the next four months dividing our party and going at each other, we will spend the next four years watching Donald Trump tear apart this country,” she added. Super Tuesday is the most consequential voting day of the Democratic presidential primary race, with millions of voters across the US casting their ballots for the candidate they want to see take on Donald Trump in the November election.
The day will also test for the first time the strength of billionaire former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, who skipped the early voting states and poured millions of dollars into a campaign that has focused on Super Tuesday. Sanders, a Democratic socialist and the most progressive candidate in the race, represents a starkly different vision for the Democratic party and the country than Biden, a moderate who has run on his record as Barack Obama’s vice-president.
Fourteen states, from California to Virginia, and Arkansas to Massachusetts, have been holding caucuses or primaries as the race moves from a series of intimate, single-day contests to something more akin to a national vote. By the time polls close on the west coast at 11pm ET, nearly 40% of the total delegates to the party’s convention will have been awarded. Sanders headed into this critical day as the frontrunner, well positioned to dominate in two of the California and Texas with the support of energized liberals, young voters and Latinos.
That means Super Tuesday has the potential to clarify a dramatically unsettled race. But it is still unclear whether any candidate will establish a controlling advantage. If that happens, it would pave the way toward a contested convention, the likes of which the party has not seen since 1952. But the race had shifted dramatically in the 72 hours between the South Carolina primary and polls opening on Tuesday, and Sanders was fighting to blunt the sudden rise of Biden, emboldened by a wave of endorsements from the former vice-president’s moderate ex-rivals the Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who both dropped out of the race in recent days.
Biden’s commanding victory in South Carolina on Saturday revived his flagging campaign and positioned him as the leading moderate contender to take on Sanders, a Democratic socialist who is the most progressive of the candidates. Yet Sanders remains powerfully positioned to expand his narrow delegate lead following strong showings in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. “If we spend the next four months dividing our party and going at each other, we will spend the next four years watching Donald Trump tear apart this country,” Klobuchar said.
Bloomberg remains something of a wildcard. The field of major Democratic candidates – which reached more than two dozen at its height last year – has narrowed to five people, including Biden, Sanders, Bloomberg, the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and the long-shot Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Fourteen states, from California to Virginia, and Arkansas to Massachusetts, held primaries on Super Tuesday, as the race moved from a series of intimate, single-day contests to something more akin to a national vote. On Wednesday, nearly 40% of the total delegates to the party’s convention, who eventually nominate the presidential candidate, will have been awarded.
Super Tuesday traditionally has the potential to clarify a dramatically unsettled race. But it was still unclear whether Biden or Sanders would establish a controlling advantage. If that happened, it would pave the way toward a contested convention, the likes of which the party has not seen since 1952.
Sanders, who raised a staggering $46m in February alone, had benefited from a fractured opposition. While Biden, Bloomberg, and, to a lesser degree, Warren, compete for overlapping shares of the Democratic electorate, Sanders has edged past by consolidating support among the party’s left wing.Sanders, who raised a staggering $46m in February alone, had benefited from a fractured opposition. While Biden, Bloomberg, and, to a lesser degree, Warren, compete for overlapping shares of the Democratic electorate, Sanders has edged past by consolidating support among the party’s left wing.
In recent weeks, Democratic leaders and officials have warned that a splintered result on Super Tuesday would put Sanders on a runaway path to the nomination. Biden’s burst of support has not yet quelled those fears. In recent weeks, Democratic leaders and officials have warned that a splintered result on Super Tuesday would put Sanders on a runaway path to the nomination.
“You’re making them really nervous,” Sanders said at a rally that drew more than 15,000 people in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. “They’re getting quite upset.”“You’re making them really nervous,” Sanders said at a rally that drew more than 15,000 people in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. “They’re getting quite upset.”
Propelled by young voters and Latinos, Sanders holds a commanding lead in California and Texas, according to surveys published before the South Carolina primary. They are the two states with the highest number of delegates to award on Tuesday. Democrats award delegates proportionally, dividing the spoils between any candidate who reaches a 15% threshold in a state or its congressional districts. If the result is split, Democrats expect a drawn-out primary race that could last all the way to the party’s convention in Milwaukee in July, where a nominee will be decided.
If Sanders opens a wide lead, it could become mathematically difficult for his rivals to catch him. Perhaps no candidate stood to lose more on Super Tuesday than Bloomberg. His support has more than doubled since his late entry in November, but recent polling suggests he has lost ground after a widely criticized debate performance last month, during which he came under attack for his past comments on women and people of color.
But Biden hopes the momentum from his decisive victory in South Carolina will carry him into states with large African American electorates, like Alabama, Arkansas and Virginia, where he has been boosted by a slate of new endorsements from national lawmakers and local leaders.
Perhaps no candidate stands to lose more on Super Tuesday than Bloomberg. His support has more than doubled since his late entry in November, but recent polling suggests he has lost ground after a widely criticized debate performance last month, during which he came under attack for his past comments on women and people of color.
Speaking to reporters from a campaign stop in Miami on Tuesday morning, Bloomberg said his only path to the nomination may be a contested convention.Speaking to reporters from a campaign stop in Miami on Tuesday morning, Bloomberg said his only path to the nomination may be a contested convention.
“I don’t think I can win any other way,” he said, acknowledging that he faces long odds in the 14 states voting on Tuesday. “I don’t know that we’re going to win any.”“I don’t think I can win any other way,” he said, acknowledging that he faces long odds in the 14 states voting on Tuesday. “I don’t know that we’re going to win any.”
Democrats award delegates proportionally, dividing the spoils between any candidate who reaches a 15% threshold in a state or its congressional districts. If the result is split in delegate-rich states like California and Texas, Democrats expect a drawn-out primary race that could last all the way to the party’s convention in Milwaukee in July. American Samoa awarded the long-shot candidate Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard one delegate, but that could be enough to secure her place at the next Democratic presidential debate in Arizona, which votes on 17 March with Florida, Ohio and Illinois.
Warren faces an uphill battle on Tuesday after a string of disappointing finishes. Her campaign manager, Roger Lau, outlined in a memo released on Sunday how the Massachusetts senator could still win the Democratic nomination. Additional reporting by Daniel Strauss in Richmond, Virginia, Richard Luscombe in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Ed Pilkington in Essex Junction, Vermont
Lau argued that no candidate is likely to accumulate enough delegates to win the nomination outright. He touted as signs of strength the campaign’s biggest fundraising totals to date, increased ad spending in critical states and an expected delegate pickup on Super Tuesday from “nearly every state”.
“We’re in this race for the long haul,” he wrote, adding: “In the road to the nomination, the Wisconsin primary is halftime, and the convention in Milwaukee is the final play.”
Additional reporting: Oliver Laughland in Dallas, Texas, Ed Pilkington in Burlington, Vermont and Joan E Greve in Washington DC