Biden dominated in South Carolina, but Super Tuesday is a bigger fight
March 3 is going to be whirlwind, coast-to-coast road trip. Here’s why you should buckle up.
The results of the South Carolina primary brought a new twist into the 2020 presidential race: Joe Biden is still in this thing.
The former vice president won big in the Palmetto State Saturday, capturing 39 of the state’s 54 pledged delegates, far out-pacing next-closest competitor Bernie Sander’s total of 15. Biden garnered approximately 256,110 votes, 48.4% of the total.
Joe Biden’s win was expected in South Carolina, however the degree by which he won shocked many. But South Carolina was, after all, the state Biden retreated to after an embarrassing performance in New Hampshire just a few short weeks ago. Biden has long since touted his “firewall” in South Carolina, whose democratic electorate is primarily composed of African-American voters, a demographic Biden has managed to gather support from as the leading candidate.
If Biden hadn’t won, his campaign likely would have been dead in the water. His performance in early states was subpar and while he had performed well in some of his recent debates, a loss in the first Southern state to vote would have drastically shifted the narrative of this race.
“And we are very much alive,” Biden said during his victory speech Saturday night in Columbia, South Carolina.
Another speech Saturday: billionaire Tom Steyer dropped out of the race. Steyer had said that he would drop out if he didn’t see a path towards victory to the presidency.
“We live in a country that is deeply unjust economically, where rich people have been profiting at the expense of everybody else,” Steyer said after a third-place finish in South Carolina. “And I didn’t get in this race and start talking about things to get votes. I was in this race to talk about things that I cared the most about.”
And less then 24 hours later, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayer Pete Buttigieg also suspended his campaign. He was followed by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who departed on Monday. Both the former mayor and senator will formally endorse Biden.
So now that we have officially finished early-state voting, where do things stand with Super Tuesday just hours away?
Simply said, Biden’s win in South Carolina complicates the race. Three different candidates won the first four states, meaning Super Tuesday will carry even more weight this year.
So far we have only seen about 6% of the total delegate count awarded; while Sander’s leads with 60 to Biden’s 54, whoever wants to be the nominee still needs 1,991.
Cue Super Tuesday.
14 states and American Samoa will vote on March 3, with a staggering 1,357 delegates awarded to candidates Tuesday night. That’s a third of the total delegate count in the entire race, meaning it could literally make or break candidate’s hopes for the White House.
Among those voting Tuesday night are California and Texas, the nation’s two largest states by population. California will allocate 415 delegates and Texas 228.
Also voting Tuesday night are the home states of some of the candidates. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who received another loss in South Carolina, will see her home state of Massachusetts vote. According to a Boston Globe and Suffolk University poll, she is down against Bernie Sanders in her home state.
Warren remains in the race despite facing a serious lack of momentum and frontrunner Bernie Sanders siphoning off her supporters. Still, she is experiencing broad support nationwide, but nothing amounting to anything more than a few percentage points across those voting Tuesday night.
Adding to the Sanders campaign’s momentum will be an almost guaranteed win in Minnesota, since Klobuchar suspended her campaign. In her home state, she and Sanders were tied at 47% of the projected vote. With her departure, Sanders is almost guaranteed to win the entirety of the state’s 75 pledged delegates.
And Sanders will be in his home state of Vermont vote on Super Tuesday where, according to 538’s Super Tuesday tracker, he has a 99% chance of securing a win.
That leaves Utah, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia. Sanders is projected to win seven of those states while Biden just one: Alabama. Sanders and Biden are currently tied in Tennessee.
Frontrunner Sanders may sweep most of the states set to vote with near-guaranteed wins in Western states such as California, Utah and Colorado. Meanwhile, Biden’s second wind from South Carolina could pull victories in the South from states such as Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas.
And this will be the first time former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg will be on the ballot in any state. Bloomberg is currently projected to do well in Southern states, the best of which is Oklahoma, where his 30% projected vote is tied with Biden, still lagging behind Sanders’ 35%.
Bloomberg is looking to capitalize on more than $500 million (and then some) in spending on his campaign for the presidency. The billionaire is by far the the wealthiest candidate on stage; failing to win any of the states on Super Tuesday would be a serious momentum killer.
Results for Super Tuesday will begin to come in at 7:00 p.m. E.T., when the first polls close on the East Coast, and will end with California’s polls closing at 8:00 p.m. P.T. (11:00 p.m. E.T.). Results will likely be reported throughout the night.
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