Former Vice President Joe Biden was declared the winner of North Carolina just minutes after the polls closed at 7:30 pm. Tuesday night.
North Carolina, with 110 delegates to give away, was considered another key state for Biden to win as he seeks to secure the 2020 Democratic nomination and stop Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) early lead.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was declared the winner of North Carolina just minutes after the polls closed at 7:30 pm. Tuesday night.
North Carolina, with 110 delegates to give away, was considered another key state for Biden to win as he seeks to secure the 2020 Democratic nomination and stop Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) early lead.
Biden was declared the winner before even 1% of votes were collected, yet he was running away with the primary at that time, more than double the number of votes of his closest rival, Sanders. It was Biden’s second win for the night, after immediately being declared the winner of the Virginia primary just 30 minutes earlier. There are 14 states with primaries on Super Tuesday, but so far Biden is doing well. Of the three states that have been called so far, Biden has won two. The win in North Carolina keeps him in the lead as far as delegates go, but there are still 11 states to be called and even though some of Biden’s challengers dropped out over the weekend, he still has to contend with Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
As The New York Times’ Trip Gabriel reported, Biden’s comeback seems to be fueled by African-American voters. Gabriel reported that about one-third of North Carolina primary voters were African-American, and they “preferred Biden 4 to 1 over Sanders.”
Biden had been doing poorly in the early primary states: He placed fourth in Iowa, received no delegates from New Hampshire, and placed a distant second in Nevada. On February 29, however, his luck began to turn as he finished first in South Carolina, bringing his delegate count from a dismal 15 to a commanding 54, just six delegates behind the current front runner, Sanders.
By winning North Carolina Virginia, Biden will pick up more than 100 delegates, while Sanders so far is taking home far less in the Old Dominion and Tar Heel states. That will put Biden into not only an early lead for Super Tuesday, but will also put him in the lead for the Democratic nomination. Sanders won his home state of Vermont, but that brings with it about a dozen delegates.
Of course, this early win may not seal Biden as the candidate. Just days ago, Sanders was polling 2-to-1 over his next closest rival in California, which has a whopping 415 delegates to give away. But Biden’s quick win in Virginia could also signal a continued upswing for the candidate. In the days before Super Tuesday, some of Biden’s toughest competitors dropped out of the race and endorsed him. Both South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (who won the Iowa caucus and had the second-most delegates before the South Carolina Primary) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) who surprisingly had come in third place in New Hampshire and picked up a delegate in Iowa, dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden in an effort to keep Sanders from winning the nomination. Along with their endorsements, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and failed presidential and senate candidate Robert “Beto” O’Rourke (D-TX) also endorsed Biden.