Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden narrowly won Texas during Super Tuesday’s primaries after sweeping several southern states, ending a highly successful night for his campaign.
Besides Texas with its 228 delegates, the former vice president snagged nine other victories in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Arkansas, and Maine. Biden also bested fellow 2020 candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren in her home state of Massachusetts.
However, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders took California, the night’s biggest prize with its 415 delegates, as well as Colorado, Utah and his home state of Vermont.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the other major candidate in the race to the Democratic nomination, finished with anemic numbers. Longshot candidate Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard won no states.
Only a week ago, Biden’s campaign looked to be on the verge of non-viability after Sanders won the New Hampshire and Nevada nominating contests and tied with former 2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg in the Iowa caucuses. However, after Biden’s Super Tuesday blitz and a slew of prominent nominations, the Democratic primary is close to becoming a two-man race.
“I’m here to report that we are very much alive,” Biden told a crowd of supporters in Los Angeles Tuesday evening.. “This campaign is taking off.”
Biden now leads Sanders in delegates, of which each candidate needs 1,991 to win the nomination on the first ballot at the Democratic convention in July.