On Super Tuesday, March 3, 15 U.S. states and territories held primary elections. According to NPR’s live coverage, Biden won North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, Minnesota and Texas. Sanders took home a majority of delegates from his home state of Vermont, as well as Colorado, Utah and the highly coveted California. Trailing the pack are Warren and Bloomberg, who weren’t able to dominate any state primaries this Tuesday. However, Bloomberg did win the most delegates in the territory of American Samoa—five. Tulsi Gabbard, a candidate who hasn’t qualified for recent debates, also didn’t win any races, but did nab just one delegate—also from American Samoa.
As of 5 a.m. on March 4, Joe Biden is leading nationally with 453 delegates ahead of Sanders’ 382 and Warren’s 50. These Super Tuesday numbers are expected to shift dramatically throughout the night as new states update their numbers. Some candidates hover around the 15% vote threshold they must hit to earn delegates. The ultimate nominee must claim 1,991 delegates, which is a majority of the 3,979 pledged delegates available this primary season.
In the past week, many changes to the Democratic presidential primary occurred, including candidates dropping out of the race and new endorsements. On March 1, Pete Buttigieg withdrew his candidacy, and was quickly followed on March 2 by Amy Klobuchar. Both endorsed former vice president and fellow moderate Joe Biden as their candidate of choice for the primary. With the field quickly narrowing, the remaining four major candidates—Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Mike Bloomberg—were left to battle it out on Tuesday.
In local news, the NC primary race for the U.S. Senate shows Democrat Cal Cunningham facing off against Republican Thom Tillis in November. Democratic incumbent Roy Cooper will be challenged by Republican Dan Forest for NC governor, and for NC lieutenant governor, Democrat Yvonne Holley will face Republican Mark Robinson.
By Olivia Slack, Online Editor, and Mimi Mays, Editor in Chief