Joe Biden enjoyed big early Super Tuesday wins, with Virginia and North Carolina called for the former vice president while his archrival, Bernie Sanders, secured only his home state of Vermont.
News organizations called Virginia and North Carolina for Biden just seconds after polls closed, indicating that his wins were by such big margins that they could not be in doubt.
With Virginia and North Carolina, Biden picked up a big load of delegates and moved swiftly into a delegate lead over Sanders. Biden later in the evening won Alabama, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. The victories suggest Biden’s victory on Saturday in South Carolina, followed by the quick endorsements of former rivals Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, have given a serious boost to what had been a flagging campaign that many people were already writing off.
California and Texas are the largest delegate prizes of the night, but the large margins in eastern and Southern states will also help Biden amass more delegates in those states.
Biden is benefiting from the Democratic Party establishment, which has always feared a rout if led by the socialist Sanders, coalescing centrist support around a single alternative rather than fracturing centrist support. Nearly half of Democratic primary voters in Virginia said that they made up their minds about who to vote for in the last few days, according to a CNN exit poll.
Billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is Biden’s only remaining centrist challenger. Bloomberg said Tuesday that he has “no intention of dropping out,” asserting that Biden is “taking votes away from me.”
7:18 p.m. EST update: Biden vs. Sanders race taking shape as first polls close
Results from 14 states plus the territory of American Samoa on Tuesday will account for 1,344 pledged nominating delegates, about a third of the total. A candidate needs a majority of 1,991 pledged delegates to win the nomination on the first Democratic National Convention ballot and prevent a contested convention, in which case about 770 automatic superdelegates, party leaders such as Democratic National Committee members, and Democratic members of Congress, are permitted to vote for whomever they wish.
Delegates are allocated based on the proportion of statewide votes and votes within congressional districts (except for Texas, which allocates district delegates based on state Senate districts rather than congressional districts). Candidates must obtain 15% support statewide or in at least one district to earn delegates, meaning that a candidate could pick up some district delegates even if they do not capture more than 15% support statewide.
Polls have not yet closed in the following states:
California — 415 pledged delegates
Polls in California close at 11 p.m. EST (8 p.m. PST).
About 40% of California’s primary electorate votes absentee by mail, meaning that Biden’s wave of endorsements from former rivals on Monday could have a smaller effect there.
Mail-in ballots could also delay declaring a winner in the primary. The last ballots are expected to arrive in mid-March.
Colorado — 67 pledged delegates
Polls in Colorado close at 9 p.m. EST (7 p.m. MST).
Minnesota — 75 pledged delegates
Polls in Minnesota close at 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. CST).
Tennessee — 64 pledged delegates
Polls in Tennessee close at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. EST. (7 p.m. local time — the state is split between Eastern Standard Time and Central Standard Time.)
An overnight tornado in Nashville and surrounding areas that killed at least 22 people is likely to dampen turnout in the state. In addition to ravaging homes and businesses, the tornado damaged several polling locations, and polls in two counties opened one hour later than usual.
Texas — 228 pledged delegates
Polls in Texas close at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST. (7 p.m. local time — most of the state in the Central Standard Time, but El Paso is in the Mountain Standard Time.)
Nearly 13% of registered Texas voters cast early ballots in both the Democratic and Republican primaries.
Utah — 29 pledged delegates
Polls in Utah close at 10 p.m. EST (8 p.m. MST).
