Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden is projected to win the majority of the states in the Democratic primary following a string of successes on Super Tuesday II.
Biden, 77, secured a key victory in his race for the White House on Tuesday, winning the vital state of Michigan, as well as Missouri and Mississippi, delivering a major blow to his rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 78.
Adding to his winning streak, the former vice president also won Idaho’s Democratic presidential primary. The state has 20 pledged delegates at stake. Democrats in Idaho are using a primary for the first time. They used a caucus in 2016 to pick Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nominee.
Officials have said switching to a Democratic primary this year from a caucus could significantly increase the number of participants and play a role in the outcome.
Speaking at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center, Biden sounded confident about Tuesday’s results, addressing the crowd with a decisively presidential tone.
“Just over a week ago, many of the pundits declared that this candidacy was dead. Now we’re very much alive,” Biden said. “Although there’s a way to go, it looks like we’re going to have another good night.”
“Tonight, we are a step closer to restoring decency, dignity, and honor to the White House, that’s our ultimate goal,” Biden said. “At this moment when there’s so much fear in the country, when there’s so much fear across the world, we need American leadership. We need presidential leadership that’s honest, trusted, truthful, and steady.”
The Democratic nominee also thanked “Sanders and his supporters for their tireless energy and their passion,” adding, “We share a common goal and together we’ll defeat Donald Trump.”
The Democratic presidential primary in Washington state, where Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by more than 40 percentage points in 2016, is too early to call. However, in the first batch of results released late Tuesday night, Sanders and Biden are essentially tied—with each claiming about 33 percent of the roughly 1 million counted votes.
Following Tuesday’s crushing defeat, Sanders returned to his home in Burlington, Vermont, without making a speech. His campaign has been slowly losing steam since winning the New Hampshire primary and the Nevada caucuses in February.
Just more than a week ago, voters in 14 states participated in the first Super Tuesday of the year on March 3, where Biden won 10 of the states and also took the lead in delegates over Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Meanwhile, in the race for the Republican nomination, out of 834 delegates, Trump collected 833 and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld won one delegate.
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