Former Vice President Joe Biden continued his South Carolina and Super Tuesday momentum with four wins on Super Tuesday 2.0, including the biggest prize up for grabs last night, Michigan.
Biden also won Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders was leading early Wednesday morning in Idaho and Washington state.
Addressing supporters in Philadelphia, Biden noted that many had “declared that this candidacy was dead” only days ago, but “now we’re very much alive.” He also asked Sanders supporters to back him going forward.
“We need you, we want you, and there’s a place in our campaign for each of you. I want to thank Bernie Sanders and his supporters for their tireless energy and their passion,” Biden said. “We share a common goal, and together we’ll beat Donald Trump.”
It marked a high point for the former vice president’s staff. They sipped beer and broke into an impromptu dance party after his speech, which was held close to his Philadelphia headquarters.
Biden seized a key battleground state that helped propel Sanders’ insurgent candidacy four years ago. The former vice president's victory in Michigan, as well as Missouri and Mississippi, dealt a serious blow to Sanders, who is urgently seeking to jump-start his flagging campaign.
Six states held primaries Tuesday, but Michigan and its 125 delegates were March 10’s biggest prize. Other states voting Tuesday were Washington (89 delegates); Missouri (68); Mississippi (36); Idaho (20); and North Dakota (14).
On March 17, 577 delegates are at stake in Florida (219); Illinois (155); Ohio (136); and Arizona (67).
»March 10, 2020, presidential primary results
Riding a wave of African American support in the South, Biden won 10 of Super Tuesday’s 14 states. While Sanders won the night’s biggest prize — California and its 415 delegates — Biden was widely seen as Super Tuesday’s biggest winner, resurrecting a campaign that had been declared all but dead only a week before.
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“You’re the best damn workers in the world,” Biden shouted through a megaphone while touring a Detroit auto plant as workers in hard hats chanted, “Joe! Joe!”
Biden now frequently ticks off the names of six former presidential rivals who have endorsed him just in the past week, saying he is “the candidate that they think can win.”
The former vice president has campaigned in recent days with two of them, Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, and appeared with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. All three have have been mentioned as possible vice presidential picks.
»Delegate tracker for election 2020
The day after Super Tuesday, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg quit his short-lived, $500 million presidential bid and endorsed Biden. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who didn't win a single primary and finished in third place in her home state of Massachusetts, was next to fall.
Warren has not endorsed Biden or Sanders, though speculation was rampant the night before her withdrawal that she would throw her support to Sanders.
»MORE: What happens to delegates when their Democratic presidential candidates drop out?
Trump won Michigan by only about 10,000 votes in 2016. That was even closer than Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, which, along with Michigan, are credited with handing the president a narrow Electoral College victory even as Hillary Clinton clinched the popular vote.
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Sanders, who added credibility to his insurgent 2016 primary challenge of Clinton with a win in Michigan, had predicted he would emerge victorious in that state on Tuesday. Because he did not, he might be relegated to the role of simple protest candidate as Biden piles up a wide lead in delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer in Milwaukee.
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Although he has rejected notions he could drop out of the race if Tuesday goes badly, Sanders was visiting polling stations in Detroit on Tuesday, scrounging for late-breaking supporters. He’s said he’s now battling the “Democratic establishment” and scoffed at suggestions that so much of the party’s elite supporting his opponent means Biden is more electable.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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