Super Tuesday was a success for Biden

Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore, Flickr

In a surprising turn of events, the Democratic Primary has become much more heated. With the arrival of Super Tuesday, it is clear that the results have changed the momentum of the election.

To start with, it is safe to say that former president of the United States Joe Biden has won the majority of states on Super Tuesday and has quickly rebounded from second to a close first. However, delegates are currently still being counted. If projections remain the same, Biden and Bernie Sanders should be within 50 delegates of each other.

This turn of events happened as a result of the political maneuvering over the last week, as multiple major candidates have dropped out of the race.

Former mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar decided to end their campaign over the last week, which ended the moderate divide. This was pivotal for Biden, who received endorsements from both candidates, as the three had competed for the same demographic of voters.

This shortening of the campaign field has given ample opportunity for Biden to surge. This left Bernie Sanders with a harder uphill battle. 

The candidates currently still in the race are as follows: Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard. Michael Bloomberg dropped out of the race Wednesday morning after disappointing results in Super Tuesday.

The states that Joe Biden won are Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and Texas.

The states that Bernie Sanders won are California, Colorado, Vermont, and Utah.

The territory that Michael Bloomberg won is American Samoa.

Michael Bloomberg has had the impressive feat of having the largest self-funded campaign in United States history, which, interestingly enough, has had the lowest return on investment in history.

Surprisingly, Biden took the home state of Massachusetts from Elizabeth Warren. Biden had a lead among college-educated whites in the Boston area, which helped him carry the state to victory. 

Tulsi Gabbard, who remains in the race despite having no momentum, won a singular candidate throughout all of the primaries. If she has not dropped out yet, she may likely continue being in the race just to make a political statement.

Warren, while not winning a state, managed to capture delegates in between Biden and Sanders. She has very little chance of winning in the primary, though it is yet to be seen as to whether or not she is going to drop out of the race.

Senator Sanders took the most heat during Super Tuesday. The merging of the centrist vote behind Biden means that previous predictions that showed the Senator in the lead could very well have been thrown out the window. 

The Ramapo News previously reported that Sanders would do better than he did, yet the turn of events this week have changed everything.

Overall, Tuesday was a success for Biden and a less than pleasing day for Sanders. As more and more candidates leave the Democrat primary and the field tightens, we can finally see how well progressives can stack up to centrists in the Democratic party.

 

mbedell@ramapo.edu