- We’re continuing to get results from Super Tuesday, when 16 Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses took place on the same day.
- We do not expect an official call for the winner of the presidential primary in Maine or California until sometime Wednesday morning at the earliest.
- Former Vice President Joe Biden crushed expectations with big wins in Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and, most recently, the delegate-rich state of Texas.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was knocked back on his heels, so far winning only the relatively small states of Colorado, Utah, and his home state of Vermont.
- Right now, Sanders’ last opportunity to catch up to Biden on the day is to run up the score in California, the biggest delegate prize of the primary, where he led with over half of the vote reporting.
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Super Tuesday is by far the biggest day in the Democratic presidential primary process. Follow along for live results here.
Here’s what happened so far:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden started the night strong by overwhelmingly winning the Virginia presidential primary, kicking off a winning streak across the country — including in places where Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont led in the polls.
- Biden went on to win the Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Texas primaries.
- Sanders has so far won only smaller states like Colorado, Utah, and his home of state of Vermont.
- We don’t expect an official call determining the winners of the Maine or California primaries until Wednesday morning at the earliest.
- A core constituency of the Democratic primary is consolidating behind Biden — Southern black voters carry Biden to huge victories on Super Tuesday
- The former vice president got a boost from late deciders — Joe Biden’s big Super Tuesday wins are likely helped by voters who decided last minute, polls suggest
- Biden faced a harrowing moment during his big night — Dairy-industry protesters stormed the stage during Biden’s victory speech on Super Tuesday
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts knocked former Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City down several pegs in the debates, but it wasn’t enough to save her campaign — Super Tuesday was a nightmare scenario for Elizabeth Warren
- Other than winning the American Samoa caucuses, Bloomberg had a terrible night — Bloomberg spent 50 times as much as Biden in Virginia and still got demolished and Bloomberg saw disastrous Super Tuesday results after spending a quarter of a billion dollars
- President Donald Trump was having a fun Super Tuesday online — Trump tweets video of ‘Mini’ Mike Bloomberg licking his ‘dirty’ fingers while eating pizza in apparent coronavirus reference
- Tulsi Gabbard’s one delegate from the American Samoa caucuses could land her back on the debate stage — Tulsi Gabbard may have just qualified for the next Democratic debate thanks to American Samoa
Here’s the current delegate count, including the early results from Super Tuesday states:
Here’s what next:
- Polls closed in California at 8 p.m. local time. California and its huge chunk of delegates pose a crucial opportunity for Sanders as Biden crushes him almost everywhere else in the country, including in states like Minnesota and Massachusetts where Sanders was largely favored to win.
- We’re also monitoring important down-ballot US Senate and House races in North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and California.
- Biden has officially overtaken Sanders in the delegate race — Decision Desk HQ estimates that Biden has won 242 pledged delegates so far compared with 186 for Sanders, 29 for former Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City, and seven for Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Stay tuned for more delegate updates.
Pre-primary coverage:
All about Super Tuesday:
Everything you need to know about Super Tuesday on March 3, the biggest day in the Democratic primaries
Here’s how Democrats will elect their presidential nominee over the next several months
What’s at stake on Super Tuesday?
Every state has a certain number of delegates to allocate, determined by factors including how big the state is, how Democratic it leans, when it votes, and whether it votes with its neighbors.
On Tuesday, 1,357 pledged delegates, accounting for 35% of all the delegates allotted throughout the Democratic nomination process, will be allocated from 14 states and one US territory, and from Democrats living abroad:
- Vermont allocates 16 pledged delegates to the convention, or 0.4% of the total. Polls closed at 7 p.m. ET.
- Virginia allocates 99 pledged delegates to the convention, or 2.3% of the total. Polls closed at 7 p.m.
- North Carolina allocates 110 pledged delegates to the convention, or 2.8% of the total. Polls closed at 7:30 p.m.
- Alabama allocates 52 pledged delegates to the convention, making up 1.4% of the total delegates allocated throughout the primary. Polls closed in most Alabama counties at 8 p.m.
- Maine allocates 24 pledged delegates to the convention, or 0.6% of the total. Polls closed at 8 p.m.
- Massachusetts allocates 91 pledged delegates to the convention, making up 2.3% of the total. Polls closed at 8 p.m.
- Oklahoma allocates 37 pledged delegates to the convention, making up 0.9% of the total. Polls closed at 7 p.m. CT.
- Tennessee allocates 64 pledged delegates to the convention, or 1.6% of the total. Polls in the Tennessee counties closed at 7 p.m. CT.
- Texas allocates 228 pledged delegates to the convention, accounting for 5.7% of the total. Polls closed at 7 p.m. CT.
- Arkansas allocates 34 pledged delegates to the convention, making up 0.8% of the total. Polls closed at 7:30 p.m. CT.
- Colorado allocates 67 pledged delegates to the convention, making up 1.7% of the total. Polls closed at 7 p.m. CT.
- Minnesota allocates 75 pledged delegates to the convention, accounting for 1.9% of the total. Polls close at 8 p.m. CT.
- Utah allocates 29 pledged delegates to the convention, making up 0.7% of the total. Polls close at 8 p.m. MT (10 p.m. ET).
- California allocates 415 pledged delegates to the convention, making up 10.7% of the total. Polls closed at 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET), but final results may be delayed for days as officials count mail-in and absentee ballots.
- American Samoa allocates six pledged delegates to the convention. Because American Samoa is six hours behind ET, we won’t have results until Wednesday afternoon.
- Democrats abroad vote absentee March 3-10 and account for 13 pledged delegates to the convention, making up 0.3% of total delegates.
Democrats allocate most of their pledged delegates proportionally by legislative district, in addition to allocating at-large and PLEO (party leader and elected official) delegates based on the statewide vote breakdown.
Most states allocate their delegates by congressional districts, but some, like Texas and New Jersey, use state legislative districts instead.
While delegates are allocated proportionally, in nearly every state the minimum threshold to earn delegates is 15% of the vote. This means candidates must break 15% of the vote at either the district or state level to earn any delegates.
At the convention, a candidate will be nominated when they earn a simple majority of 1,991 out of 3,979 total pledged delegates.
DELEGATE COUNT: Here’s who’s winning the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination
Who did the polling say was ahead in each state?
According to FiveThirtyEight’s averages of the latest polling data, Sen. Bernie Sanders led the polls in California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and his home state of Vermont.
Sanders was neck-and-neck with former Vice President Joe Biden in North Carolina polls, while Biden and former Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City led the few recent polls of Oklahoma.
According to FiveThirtyEight’s primary election forecast, Biden was projected to win the most delegates in Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
Sanders was projected to win the most delegates in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Maine, Utah, and Vermont, while neither Bloomberg nor Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was projected to win the most delegates in any state.