Former Vice President Joe Biden appears to have walked away from Super Tuesday as the new Democratic frontrunner after running up the score in the South.
Biden won more than 380 delegates on Tuesday, bringing his total to 433, after winning a tight race in Texas but picking up bigger wins in Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
Sanders, who entered the night as the frontrunner, added just 328 delegates thus far to bring his total to 388. Sanders won California, Utah, Colorado, and Vermont.
The votes are still being counted, and the count can take a long time in California, so both candidates are poised to pick up additional delegates in big states like California and Texas.
There were more than 1,300 delegates up for grabs Tuesday.
Biden clears the field:
Biden’s win came after Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropped out and endorsed his candidacy. They were joined by former candidate Beto O’Rourke and longtime Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who did not hit the 15% viability threshold in most states and only won American Samoa, announced on Wednesday that he is ending his campaign and supporting Biden.
Primaries may still be headed for contested convention:
Despite Biden’s resurgence and many candidates getting out of the way, election forecaster FiveThirtyEight projects that there is a 61% chance that no candidate will win a majority of pledged delegates. While the party may continue to coalesce around Biden, Sanders still looks strong in a number of upcoming states.
FiveThirtyEight gives Biden a 31% chance to win a majority of pledged delegates while Bernie has just an 8% chance.
If no candidate wins enough delegates, the race may go to a contested convention and a second ballot, when more than 700 superdelegates will be able to vote.
