Britt Bardman
Staff Writer
Super Tuesday, the United State’s presidential primary election day, saw Joe Biden emerge as the frontrunner, winning 10 out of the 14 states that voted to have a democratic presidential nominee.
Bernie Sanders came out of last week closely trailing Biden with 545 delegates, 83 behind Biden’s 628 delegates as of yesterday afternoon. The results are still rolling in, though, as a few states have not been fully reported.
“We increased turnout,” Biden said in his victory speech according to VOX. “The turnout turned out for us!”
The Washington Post’s live results of the democratic primaries from super Tuesday and previous elections held show Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, American Samoa and Vermont are 100% reported, with Texas, Utah, Oklahoma, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts, Colorado and Maine at 85-99% – the verge of being fully reported and clear enough now for frontrunners to emerge.
Sanders won the largest prize of the night, California, and picked up three additional states. Biden emerged as the frontrunner, with a big win in Texas. He managed to pull ahead of Sanders’ initial primary success, especially with the 10 states he won in addition to Texas on Super Tuesday. Biden came back from his initial performance in earlier primaries, strongly reinforcing what has appeared to be voter’s greatest concern: who can beat President Donald Trump?
“There’s a pendulum swing of how far we go with partisanship, one way or the other. We’re at the zenith of an arch of the pendulum swing of partisanship,” said Zachary Taylor, an academic professional lecturer in the School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies at the University of Wyoming.
He said democrats are likely to prioritize electing a candidate who can face President Trump on election day, since the swing towards partisanship means Democrats need a Democrat in office to successfully unseat Trump.
The Republican primaries did not surprise many voters or politicians, showing President Trump as the obvious 2020 presidential candidate. Delegate numbers this far show President Trump’s road to candidacy which faced few challenges. The president’s closest challenger, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld had one delegate heading into Super Tuesday, although he has not announced any plans of dropping out.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropped out of the 2020 presidential race the day after super Tuesday. He urged his supporters to gather behind Joe Biden.
“I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it, and after yesterday’s vote, it is clear that the candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” said Bloomberg, CNN reported.
Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang have also suspended their campaigns after disappointing results in the primaries. Joe Biden, Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders are the remaining democratic candidates; Biden and Sanders being the two most likely to win the nomination at this point.
Wyoming’s Democratic presidential caucus is set for April 24, and the deadline to register is March 20. On Aug. 18, Democrats and Republicans in Wyoming will vote in the primaries and for other races, including Senate and House seats.
The remaining results from Super Tuesday are quickly coming, but other elections remain, leaving the official candidates unknown. For now, it seems the Democratic primary will see Biden or Sanders achieve victory, and Trump maintains his candidacy for the Republican party.
