Biden Takes Texas, Sweeps the South; Sanders Wins California, Setting Up A Fight For the Nomination

It looks like a contested convention is a likely outcome which won’t help the communist.

Biden Takes Texas, Sweeps the South; Sanders Wins California

Former Vice President Joe Biden picked up wins across the South and dealt a blow to Sen. Elizabeth Warren after winning her home state of Massachusetts. Sen. Bernie Sanders picked up California, the state with the most delegates. s

By Chad Day, Julie Bykowicz and Gabriel T. Rubin, Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2020:

Biden won Texas, AP projected, and swept the South. But Sanders won California, the biggest Super Tuesday state, setting up a fight for the nomination.

Joe Biden notched an impressive string of Super Tuesday victories, while Bernie Sanders won delegate-rich California, as the pair broke away from the field in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The results in Tuesday contests undercut the big-spending strategy of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had hinged his candidacy on performing well in March contests. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s dismal performance ratcheted up pressure on her to prove she still has a viable path to the nomination after losing her home state of Massachusetts to Mr. Biden.

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The former vice president also won in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, continuing his strength in Southern states, and scored victories in Oklahoma and Minnesota, home to his former rival, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who gave him a key late endorsement this week.

Mr. Sanders also won his home state of Vermont as well as Utah and Colorado, the Associated Press projected. Mr. Bloomberg, who had vastly outspent Mr. Biden in some states only to lose to him, won the territory of American Samoa, according to the AP. He appeared likely to pick up a much smaller number of Democratic delegates than the two front-runners.

The other big delegate prize, Texas, remained too close to call late Tuesday. While Mr. Sanders was declared the winner in California shortly after polls closed, the final allocation of the Golden State’s 415 pledged delegates might not be decided for days because of the large number of mail-in ballots. Delegates are distributed on a proportional basis at the district and state level, but the share awarded depends on how many candidates meet the threshold of 15% of the vote.

Speaking at a victory rally in Vermont ahead of the results, Mr. Sanders said he was “cautiously optimistic” about California and noted he had performed well in Texas.

“When we began this race, everybody said it couldn’t be done. But tonight I tell you with absolute confidence, we’re going to win the Democratic nomination,” Mr. Sanders said.

Mr. Biden benefited from the momentum his campaign generated since his South Carolina victory on Saturday, exit polls published by CNN showed. About half of Democratic primary voters in Virginia and Oklahoma said they made their decision within the past few days, and Mr. Biden won roughly six in 10 of those voters in both states. Late-deciders represented a smaller proportion of the vote in North Carolina and Alabama, but he also had the largest share of those voters there.

“It’s a good night. It’s a good night,” Mr. Biden said to cheers at a rally in Los Angeles, adding: “They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing.” On Tuesday, one-third of the party’s pledged delegates were allocated to the party’s summer convention.

He credited Ms. Klobuchar for his win in her home state, where exit polls showed about half of Democratic primary voters made their decisions in the last few days and the largest share went for Mr. Biden.