The Illinois Democratic establishment threw its support behind Joe Biden in the state’s 2020 presidential primary, and it paid off.
The two-term vice president earned 58% of the vote to Bernie Sanders’s 34.4%, with 3% of precincts reporting Tuesday night.
The Vermont senator rallied supporters in Illinois before the March 10 primaries but canceled events last week to spend more time in Michigan and then because of coronavirus concerns.
Biden’s own attempts to navigate post-outbreak campaign terrain experienced a rocky start, encountering significant technical difficulties during a tele-town hall hosted specifically for Illinois Democrats. His opening remarks were garbled, meaning his team had to push his pandemic-centric address out to the press via email.
“I’m sorry this is such a disjointed effort here,” Biden said before signing off.
Heading into Tuesday’s contest, Biden was leading Sanders by an average of 29.5 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics data.
Illinois offered the two White House candidates their share of 101 pledged delegates. Before Tuesday, Biden had 871 delegates in his ledger, compared to Sanders’s 719, with 1,991 delegates required to lock down this election cycle’s Democratic nomination.
Ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Biden won support from the Democratic governor of Illinois, J. B. Pritzker, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, among other party luminaries.
