Our live coverage has ended. Scroll through the posts below for Super Tuesday results or read more here.
Joe Biden will win the Maine Democratic primary, according to a projection from the CNN Decision Desk.
There are 24 delegates at stake in Maine.
Who won in 2016: Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses and Ted Cruz won the Republican caucuses.
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Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who dropped out of the 2020 presidential race earlier today, is addressing supporters in New York.
He said it’s now important for voters to unite to beat President Trump in November, and urged his supporters to get behind former Vice President Joe Biden.
Bloomberg added that if he was able to secure the Democratic nomination, he would have been able to beat Trump in the general election.
“And you know who else knows that? Donald Trump. He’s been scared stiff of us and for good reason because every time he hit us, we hit back twice as hard,” Bloomberg said.
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District-level delegates pledged to former candidates like Mike Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar will become very popular if the fight goes all the way to the convention.
There’s nothing that legally requires them to vote for anyone in particular, although different state parties have different rules. The national party says they should follow their conscience.
Most state-level pledged delegates have not been selected yet, so they will be reallocated among remaining candidates once they are finally selected.
The biggest decision facing Elizabeth Warren is not whether to end her campaign, but rather whether to endorse Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders or neither.
“That’s the only real choice facing her now,” a Warren adviser tells CNN.
Warren is closer to Sanders — policy speaking — but those ties are strained. Some advisers believe her best path is to be considered as a vice president to Biden.
As CNN has reported, Warren is assessing her path forward. Her plan was to emerge as the alternative to Biden and Sanders — with her sights set on appearing on the debate stage in Phoenix later this month.
Those hopes are now almost certainly dashed. But Warren has to make the decision for herself: When to drop out and who — or whether — to endorse.
Joe Biden took to Twitter to thank Mike Bloomberg today after the former New York mayor dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed him.
Biden wrote in a tweet tagging Bloomberg, “I can’t thank you enough for you support.”
Biden and Bloomberg also spoke by phone this morning, a Bloomberg aide tells CNN.
Here’s Biden’s tweet:
President Trump went after Mike Bloomberg on Twitter just after the former New York mayor announced he was ending his presidential bid.
Trump also added that now Bloomberg will pour money into former VP Joe Biden’s campaign “hoping to save face” and “it won’t work.”
More context: Bloomberg ended his presidential campaign today and endorsed Joe Biden, closing out a costly run that saw him spend hundreds of millions of his own money to fund his late entry bid.
“I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” he wrote in a statement.
Michael Bloomberg’s decision today to drop out of the race also means the former New York mayor won’t have to make public details about his vast media and financial-data fortune.
The former New York City mayor was due to file his first personal financial disclosure report with federal election regulators on March 20, after seeking and receiving two extensions on the filing deadline.
Now that he’s dropped out, the requirement for public disclosure also goes away.
Forbes pegs at Bloomberg’s net worth at $60 billion.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said he told President Trump that Joe Biden is “going to be tough” to beat — “but still thinks it is Trump’s to lose.”
Asked if Senate Republicans would go after Biden about Hunter Biden’s role with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, Graham said: “If you are going to run for President, and you were in charge of the Ukrainian anti-corruption campaign as Vice President, and your son is sitting on the most corrupt company in the country while you’re trying to clean up the country, yeah that will come up.”
Asked if he would investigate the matter, he said: “Ron Johnson’s doing it,” referring to the Republican senator from Wisconsin.
On the heels of a very disappointing Super Tuesday, Elizabeth Warren’s campaign manager Roger Lau sent an email today to staff, thanking everyone for their work and also saying bluntly about last night: “We fell well short of viability goals and projections, and we are disappointed in the results.”
Lau writes that “we’re still waiting for more results to come in to get a better sense of the final delegate math,” and that this 2020 race has been “volatile,” but again stresses that the team is “disappointed.”
And a key line from the email on Warren’s thinking:
CNN is told the note went out to everyone on campaign payroll. This comes as we are also reporting this morning that Warren is now assessing her path forward with her team.
Just minutes after dropping out of the race for president, Mike Bloomberg tweeted that he believes Joe Biden is the Democrats’ best chance to defeat Trump.
In a statement announcing that he is ending his presidential bid, former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg said that he is endorsing Joe Biden for president.
Bloomberg wrote:
Michael Bloomberg ended his presidential campaign on Wednesday, closing out an audacious run that saw the former New York mayor spend hundreds of millions of his own money to fund his late entry bid.
Bloomberg exits the race after a disappointing show on Super Tuesday that left him with only a single victory: American Samoa.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is talking to her team to assess the path forward this morning, a Warren aide tells CNN.
Warren lost her home state of Massachusetts to Joe Biden, a jarring and perhaps final insult to her presidential campaign on another disappointing primary night.
Anti-Bernie Sanders super PAC founder Jonathan Kott, a former aide to Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, was triumphant Tuesday night after the Vermont senator’s disappointing second-place finish in several Super Tuesday state’s primaries.
“I think once voters get to know Bernie Sanders, they reject him,” he told CNN. “He’s losing, and moderates are the clear majority in the party.”
Kott started the PAC, the Big Tent Project, after last month’s New Hampshire primary, when he said a group of Democratic donors approached him with concerns Sanders could be running away with the nomination without an exploration of his record.
Big Tent raised an initial $2 million before the South Carolina primary, Kott told CNN last week. He said it spent on targeted mailers and digital ads that were critical of Sanders and cast him as unrealistic and unelectable.
Kott told CNN on Monday that since former Vice President Joe Biden won South Carolina’s primary, Big Tent raised an additional $4 million. Nearly all of that, Kott said, was going to digital ads targeting voters in Super Tuesday states.
The super PAC got the attention of Sanders himself on Monday, when he told reporters that Kott and his group should disclose its donors. The senator also called the effort a part of the party’s corporate establishment trying to stop him from winning the nomination.
President Trump is up and tweeting before 7 a.m. ET this morning, again claiming that the “Democrat establishment” is working against Sen. Bernie Sanders 2020 Presidential campaign.
CNN projects that Former Vice President Joe Biden will win 9 states, compared to three states for Sanders. Maine and California are too close to call.
Joe Biden will defeat Bernie Sanders in Texas, CNN projects, in a dramatic and surprising Super Tuesday victory for his resurgent campaign.
This is his ninth win tonight. Texas has 228 delegates at stake.
Who won in 2016: Hillary Clinton won the 2016 Democratic primary and Ted Cruz won the Republican primary.
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Joe Biden is holding his lead over Bernie Sanders in Texas right now.
With 82% of the vote in, Biden is leading with 33.2% over Sanders, who has 29.3%.
Important note: There are 228 delegates at stake in Texas.
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Los Angeles County polling places closed Tuesday night despite an emergency motion filed by the Bernie Sanders campaign requesting to keep them open until 10 p.m. local time, L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said.
Voters already in line at the time of closing at 8 p.m. local time were allowed to cast their vote, Logan said.
Late deciders helped power former Vice President Joe Biden to a leading position in the delegate-rich state’s Democratic primary.
Nearly half of voters who picked their candidate in the last few days supported Biden, who jump-started his campaign with a big win in South Carolina on Saturday.
Only 1 in 5 of the late deciders, just under a quarter of the Democratic electorate, chose Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Biden’s surge after South Carolina attracted some voters in demographic groups that were solidly in Sanders’ corner. While the senator was the top choice among Hispanic voters in general, those who decided in the last few days were likelier to go for Biden. More than a third selected the former vice president, while fewer than 3 in 10 picked Sanders.
Liberal Texans who made up their minds in the final days also went for Biden, who garnered about 1 in 5 of their voters, versus only about a quarter who supported Sanders. Among liberals in general, the figures were essentially reversed.
And among voters age 44 or younger who decided recently, Biden narrowed the gap between him and Sanders. Just under a third selected the former vice president, while just over a third picked Sanders. But among those who decided earlier, nearly two-third supported Sanders and just 1 in 10 chose Biden.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders has argued again and again that he can build the biggest coalition of voters — and when turnout is high, he wins. Tonight, neither of those were true.
Turnout was up — dramatically in some cases — and it favored Joe Biden. Particularly in the suburbs of Virginia, North Carolina and Texas.
Sanders has not shown that he can expand his coalition from 2016 — in many cases his votes have gone down.
Tonight one of the biggest takeaways of the night: Is there a ceiling on the Sanders’ coalition?
The Sanders campaign is pointing to California — holding out hope that gains there will overtake an overall disappointing night for Sanders — but that doesn’t change the fact that the Joe Biden coalition is growing.
A Sanders adviser concedes the campaign will have to grow, pointing to younger voters as a potential area.
Sanders’ coalition is sticky, but so far, it’s static.
Arkansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Tennessee all have in common — former Vice President Joe Biden claimed victory in those states last night.
But there’s something else they have in common: Biden spent little to no time at all campaigning in any of these states ahead of the March nominating contest.
Biden never visited Arkansas, Minnesota or Oklahoma since launching his campaign in April 2019. Biden visited Tennessee one time in May for a fundraiser and visited Massachusetts only for finance events, not holding a single campaign rally in the state.
In the Super Tuesday states, which have been projected thus far, Biden only held rallies in North Carolina and Virginia.
Before the week leading up to March 3, Biden held only one rally in North Carolina in October. He joined former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe for a Get Out the Vote event there, but it was not a campaign-sponsored event.
Biden held one campaign rally each in North Carolina and Virginia the weekend ahead of Super Tuesday. Granted, the enthusiasm of the crowds was unmatched to anything Biden had seen in the early states, especially Iowa or New Hampshire, and at least one thousand people came to each event. Compare that to Iowa, where Biden held over 120 public events, including four bus tours.
After his campaign shifted into a new strategy in the state in November 2019, it poured much of its resources and even more of the candidates’ time spent holding events where at times he struggled to fill a room with more than one hundred people. He ultimately came in fourth place in the Hawkeye State.
Votes are still coming in from California and Texas. Meanwhile, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are picking up delegates along the way.
Remember: A candidate must earn 1,991 delegates to become the Democratic nominee.
Here’s where the delegate count stands right now:
One thing to note: Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, who dropped out of the race, also received delegates. Buttigieg got 26 delegates and Klobuchar received seven.
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Kate Bedingfield, Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager, described tonight’s success as “one of the greatest political comebacks in modern American history.”
“You saw tonight in overwhelming response to Joe Biden’s message. You saw people saying we want results, we don’t want revolution,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper moments ago.
Bedingfield went on to say that people turned out in “droves” to vote for Biden.
“For Joe Biden, the race is about bringing people together. Uniting people. He got into the campaign on a message of uniting the country,” she said.
Joe Biden has taken the lead in a tight race unfolding in Texas tonight.
Bernie Sanders and Biden were in a virtual tie earlier tonight, but over the past few minutes, Biden’s lead has jumped.
Some context: Hillary Clinton beat Sanders in Texas by roughly 2 to 1 in 2016 — 65% to 33%.
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Joe Biden just took a narrow lead in a tight race in Texas.
Biden and Bernie Sanders are going head-to-head in the Lone Star state, which has 228 delegates at stake.
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Drama is unfolding in Texas, where Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are in a virtual tie.
Sanders has a very narrow lead over Biden with 56% of the votes in.
There are 228 delegates at stake in Texas — the second biggest prize of the night.
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As Joe Biden notched a number of wins on Super Tuesday, Republican strategists focused on down-ballot races had two main reactions: Biden’s success likely makes it harder for Republicans to defeat swing-state Democratic candidates, but it also presages a protracted fight in the Democratic primary that could benefit the GOP in November.
One persistent concern among moderate and establishment Democrats is that if Bernie Sanders is the nominee, it could spell trouble for Democratic incumbents and candidates in House and Senate races across the country. Many of them would be forced to distance themselves from Sanders’ far-left policies.
“A great night for Biden is a great night for the DSCC,” said a Republican strategist, referring to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Two other GOP operatives said they would rather have Sanders as the nominee so they could tie him and his policies to more moderate Democratic Senate challengers — like John Hickenlooper in Colorado, Cal Cunningham in North Carolina, and Mark Kelly in Arizona. Those Democrats might have a tougher time beating endangered Republican incumbents if they have to defend or answer for proposals like Medicare for All or even the “democratic socialist” label Sanders has given himself.
“Preferable to have the socialist with momentum rather than the likable yet bumbling clown,” said one of those operatives.
The other view is that more division and drama in the Democratic presidential primary benefits the Republican Party. The idea here is that while Republicans remain united behind President Trump, Democrats could spend months sniping at each other and sowing distrust between the progressive wing backing Sanders, and the rest of the party, which appears to be coalescing around Biden.
The distrust among Sanders’ supporters for the Democratic establishment, who are increasingly backing Biden, could “be breaking the party apart” in a way that Republicans hope would depress turnout on the Democratic side in November, that second operative said.
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale released a statement tonight emphasizing this point.
“I think a protracted fight is good for Republicans on net,” said the GOP strategist. “But there are advantages to knowing what you’re shooting at sooner rather than later.”
Elizabeth Warren’s poor performance in her home state reflected a loss of support among her core groups: women, white college-educated voters and liberals.
Warren drew only around 1 in 10 women voters in Massachusetts, according to exit polls. That was significantly fewer than projected winner Joe Biden, who led with around a third of women, and Bernie Sanders with 3 in 10.
Around 1 in 5 white college-educated Massachusetts Democrats chose Warren for the nomination – less than the 3 in 10 who voted for Biden and 3 in 10 for Sanders.
Finally, liberal voters, who might have split between Warren and Sanders, went strongly for Sanders, around 2 in 5, followed by Biden, around 3 in 10. Around 1 in 10 liberals voted for Warren. As in other states, Biden carried those over 65 and moderates in Massachusetts.
Mike Bloomberg has been heavily criticized for his support of the controversial stop-and-frisk policing policy while he was mayor of New York.
But that doesn’t seem to have dampened his support among blacks in Alabama, Massachusetts and Texas.
In all three states, Bloomberg captured a somewhat larger share of votes cast by blacks than by whites.
However, in several other states, the voting ratio was essentially the same. And the former mayor did relatively worse among black voters in Minnesota and Virginia.
A top Democrat and Warren confidant said Warren deserved the time to come to a decision on her own and shouldn’t be pushed from the race. But the reality is clear: She has no path.
Going into Super Tuesday, advisers said she wanted to stay in the race to become an alternative to Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. She wanted to be on the debate stage March 15 in Arizona to offer voters a third choice.
The fading hopes are pinned entirely to her performance in California tonight, but the prospect of falling below viability in Texas makes an already difficult path even more so.
In Harris County, Texas – which includes Houston – nearly half of the polling stations remain open.
According to Harris County Elections spokesperson Rosio Torres, the data shows 371 polls are still open at this time, out of 802 sites.
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Results are still coming in from the two biggest prizes — California and Texas — in tonight’s contests.
If you’re just tuning in, here’s where things stand as of now:
Joe Biden will win 8 states: The former vice president is projected to win eight states — Arkansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Bernie Sanders to take 3 states: The Vermont senator is projected to win contests in Colorado, Vermont and Utah. Speaking at a rally tonight, Sanders vowed to win the Democratic nomination.
About California: It has a massive 415 delegates at stake. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles County, voters were given additional time to cast their ballots for candidates. Voters across the area reported long lines at polling centers.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren missed out on any sort of home-field advantage in her state’s primary contest today.
Joe Biden won the state, despite a minimal campaign presence. And Bernie Sanders finished second. Warren came in third.
After falling short in her home state, and appearing to be nowhere close to first place in any of the other Super Tuesday contests, Warren faces a difficult decision on her campaign’s next steps.
Before polls closed in Massachusetts, her campaign made it clear they planned to continue on to the next contests in Michigan, Arizona and Idaho, who vote later this month.
But without any major victories (or momentum) to point to, Warren may find an even more difficult path to the nomination – and increasing questions about her future in this race.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has lost her home state of Massachusetts to Joe Biden.
There had been signs in late February that Warren could finish behind neighboring Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Polling from WBUR and MassINC showed him markedly ahead of her. That same poll showed Biden in fifth place.
Warren rarely led in polls of Massachusetts during the campaign, save for a spike around fall of 2019, when she briefly emerged as the primary’s frontrunner.
But as the results rolled in on Tuesday night, the depth of Warren’s troubles came into view. Not only was she trailing Sanders, but a resurgent Biden had leap-frogged them both.
Sanders narrowly lost Massachusetts in 2016 to Hillary Clinton. In that cycle, he sought to tap into the state’s progressive grassroots – at the time energized by Warren.
Warren has represented Massachusetts in the Senate since 2012.
It’s not immediately clear what the Massachusetts loss means for the future of Warren’s campaign.
Joe Biden will win Massachusetts, CNN projects, an upset in Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s home state.
There are 91 delegates at stake in Massachusetts.
Who won in 2016: Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary and Donald Trump won the Republican primary.
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Bernie Sanders will win Utah tonight, CNN projects. This is his third win for the night.
There are 29 delegates at stake tonight in Utah.
Who won 2016: Sanders won the Democratic caucuses and Ted Cruz won the Republican caucuses.
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Joe Biden’s projected win in Minnesota was powered in part by Democratic primary voters who oppose a single payer health care system, as well as late deciders and those who have a positive opinion of Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Two-thirds of voters who oppose replacing private insurance with a government program supported Biden in his bid for the nomination in Minnesota, according to exit polls.About a third of voters opposed the program.
Three-quarters of voters in Minnesota have a favorable opinion of Klobuchar, and of those around half broke for Biden — another sign of how Klobuchar’s departure from the race benefited Biden.
Most polls are closed in the largest delegate prize on Super Tuesday: California.
The 415 delegates at stake make up more than 10% of all the delegates available nationwide for the whole primary process.
Sen. Bernie Sanders opened up a wide lead among Hispanic voters, who accounted for 3 in 10 Democratic primary voters, according to exit polls. A majority said they supported Sanders, while only 2 in 10 supported Joe Biden. Sanders also leads among white voters, who make up a majority of the voters statewide.
Biden, whose South Carolina and early Super Tuesday wins were powered by black voters, won with that group in California too – but they made up only 7% of the primary electorate.
Sanders won more than 7 in 10 voters under 30, and he won liberal voters by a nearly three-to-one margin over Biden.
A majority of California Democratic primary voters called for an overhaul of the economic system in the United States, expressing support for single-payer health care and free college. A majority said they had a favorable view of socialism.
Sen. Bernie Sanders is the early leader in California, according to CNN exit polls.
There are 415 delegates at stake in California tonight.
Sanders won two contests — Colorado and Vermont — so far tonight.
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It’s a long way to 1,991 — the magic number needed to become the Democratic Party’s nominee.
Here’s how many delegates the candidates have so far:
One thing to note: Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg dropped out the race but earned delegates. Buttigieg received 26 delegates and Klobuchar got seven.
Joe Biden credits his showing in Minnesota tonight to help from Amy Klobuchar and her Monday night endorsement of his campaign.
So what did Team Klobuchar do?
In addition to recording radio and TV ads between Klobuchar and Biden, the entire Klobuchar field operation – and army of volunteers – helped turn out the vote for Biden today across Minnesota, a Klobuchar adviser said.
“We redirected all of our efforts toward helping Joe,” a Klobuchar adviser said.
Polls have not yet closed in California, but Joe Biden triumphantly addressed supporters from Los Angeles.
He listed off the states he’s won so far tonight: Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arkansas, and mentioned Minnesota and Massachusetts, where Biden is within striking distance of victory.
Biden thanked the three high profile endorsers who’ve backed him in the last 36 hours: Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
“We won Minnesota because of Amy Klobuchar,” He said. “And we’re doing well in Texas because of Beto O’Rourke.”
Biden added that he is “so incredibly proud to have Mayor Pete’s endorsement as well.”
“We are very much alive,” Biden said. “And make no mistake about it. This campaign will send Donald Trump packing.”
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Faced with long lines, Los Angeles County said it will allow all those in line by 8 p.m. local to vote “to ensure every voter who turned out on or before the closing of the Vote Centers get the opportunity to make their voice heard.”
Bernie Sanders’ spokesperson tweeted that the campaign was filing a complaint with the county to ensure voting continues “after hearing reports of voters facing 4-hour lines.”
Joe Biden will win in Minnesota, CNN projects. Amy Klobuchar, the state’s US senator, dropped out of the 2020 race and endorsed him yesterday.
There are 75 delegates at stake tonight in Minnesota.
Who won in 2016: Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses and Marco Rubio won the Republican caucuses.
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Two protesters rushed the stage while former Vice President Joe Biden spoke at his rally in Los Angeles moments ago.
Biden, who was joined on stage with his wife and sister, was speaking at the podium when two women separately rushed toward him.
The women were promptly removed from the stage, and Biden continued with his speech.
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Joe Biden was jubilant at a rally tonight in Los Angeles as he celebrated his six wins tonight.
He continued: “Those who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind. This is your campaign. Just a few days ago the press and the declared the campaign dead. And that came South Carolina. And they had something to say about it.”
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Bernie Sanders argued he is the candidate best positioned to beat President Donald Trump in the general election, and said Democrats can’t beat Trump with the “same old kind of politics.”
“We’re not only taking on the corporate establishment, we’re taking on the political establishment,” Sanders told supporters in Vermont after he was projected to win Vermont and Colorado on Super Tuesday.
“What we need is a new politics that brings working class people into our political movement,” Sanders continued. “Which brings young people into our political movement. And which, in November, will create the highest voter turnout in American political history.”
As of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, CNN had projected Sanders would also win Colorado, while rival Joe Biden had won six other contests.
Joe Biden’s win in Oklahoma was fueled by Democratic voters who want a nominee who can unite the country and will return to Obama’s policies – as well as by those over the age of 65 and moderates.
Almost 3 in 5 voters who said they want a nominee who will return to Obama’s policies supported Biden for the nomination, according to exit polls.
Those who wanted more liberal policies went for Sen. Bernie Sanders, and more conservative voters were split between Biden and Mike Bloomberg. Over half of Oklahoma Democratic primary voters who say the most important quality in the nominee is that they can unite the country voted for Biden according to exit polls.
Bloomberg, the next closest candidate, came in at around 1 in 5 with that group.Around half of those over 65 and moderate voters supported Biden in Oklahoma.
Minnesota is too close to call, split between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders by key demographic groups.
Over half of moderate voters in the state supported Biden, while over half of those who identify as very liberal voted for Sanders, according to early exit polls.
Around a third of Democratic voters in Minnesota decided how to vote before February – and around half of them supported Sanders. However, almost a quarter of the electorate said they decided just today, and around 2 in 5 of them chose Biden.
George Conway, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, has thrown his financial support behind Joe Biden.
Conway tweeted out a screenshot of his donation to Biden’s presidential campaign – the maximum amount an individual can donate to a candidate.
Former Vice President Joe Biden will take Arkansas, CNN projects. This means Biden has taken his fifth Southern state up for grabs tonight.
There are 31 delegates at stake tonight in Arkansas.
Who won in 2016: Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary, and Donald Trump won the Republican primary.
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Bernie Sanders vowed to win the Democratic nomination in a speech to his supporters in Vermont tonight following two contest wins.
Sanders continued: “But tonight I tell you with absolute confidence, we are going to win the Democratic nomination. And we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of the country.”
Sanders won contests in Colorado and Vermont tonight.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden appears to be leading tonight’s largest contests with five wins, followed by Bernie Sanders who’s won two races.
If you’re just tuning in, here’s where things stand right now:
Biden will win 5 states: The former vice president is projected to win Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Virginia.
Sanders will take 2 states: CNN has projected that the Vermont senator will win Colorado and Vermont.
Joe Biden will take Oklahoma, CNN projects. This is his fifth win of the night.
There are 37 delegates at stake in Oklahoma.
Who won 2016: Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary and Ted Cruz won the Republican primary.
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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ projected win in Colorado was carried by very liberal voters, those under the age of 45, and non-white voters.
Following Sanders’ pattern throughout the primary season, his biggest source of support in Colorado came from Democrats who identify as very liberal, according to exit polls. Of the quarter of voters who identify as very liberal in Colorado, over half voted for Sanders in the primary election with a quarter supporting Warren.
Half of Democratic voters under the age of 45, who made up a third of the primary electorate, supported Sanders. And almost half of non-white Colorado Democrats voted for Sanders — a quarter of the electorate.
Michael Bloomberg is winning at least some delegates tonight – that is the silver lining for the campaign.
But that is the only silver lining and it’s accompanied by a grim reality: Joe Biden is overwhelming him in one state after another, despite spending virtually nothing compared to Bloomberg’s millions.
The mood among Bloomberg’s advisers is not only dour because of the disappointing results tonight, but also because of something else: a sense of fear has set in among some of his advisers that Bloomberg could complicate Biden’s extraordinarily swift consolidation of the moderate wing of the party.
Even as votes are still being counted in California tomorrow — and delegates awarded — Bloomberg is poised to study his path forward. He’s trying to determine if he has one.
Bernie Sanders will win Colorado, CNN projects. It’s his second victory tonight after his projected win in Vermont.
There are 67 delegates at stake in Colorado.
Who won in 2016: Sanders won the Democratic caucuses and Ted Cruz won all of the delegates at the state’s Republican convention.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden will win Tennessee, CNN projects. This is his fourth projected win of the night.
There are 64 delegates at stake in Tennessee.
Who won in 2016: Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary and Donald Trump won the Republican primary.
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Texas, with its 228 delegates at stake, will be the first giant prize of the night.
As in other states, exit polls show black Democratic primary voters in Texas heavily favored Joe Biden, with roughly 6 in 10 supporting the former vice president — but blacks make up only about a fifth of the Texas electorate.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, drew more than 4 in 10 Hispanics, who account for just under a third of the Texas primary electorate.
Voters in the Lone Star State also split by age group, giving Biden a way to make up the difference. He was heavily favored by voters over 45, who made up about two-thirds of the Democratic electorate, while those under 45 went for Sanders.
Michael Bloomberg’s campaign, in response to coronavirus concerns, had multiple Purell stations at its election night party in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A spokeswoman tells CNN that the stations were placed around the party in an abundance of caution in response to coronavirus.
Bloomberg’s event here in West Palm Beach skewed significantly older, with many of the eventgoers falling within the more at-risk community – a fact that was not lost on organizers.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis will face former state Sen. Cal Cunningham this November, CNN projects, in what is expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races in the country.
Cunningham, an Army veteran, beat state Sen. Erica Smith in the Democratic primary despite a Super-PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spending nearly $3 million to boost the more liberal Smith, according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Republicans boasted that the move forced Cunningham’s allies to heavily spend just to get him through the primary.
Matt Whitlock, a senior adviser for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, tweeted that Democrats spent “nearly $15M dragging surprisingly weak (previous loser) Cunningham across the finish line in a primary.”
But Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, argued that Cunningham delivered a “decisive victory” and that “Washington Republicans were terrified to run against him.”
“Cal’s focus on taking on the corruption in Washington, expanding access to high-quality affordable health care, and standing up for veterans and military families will continue to show a clear contrast with a vulnerable incumbent,” said Cortez Masto. “We look forward to continuing to support his campaign to victory in November.”
No, Elizabeth Warren isn’t having a good night. She knows it. Her team knows it.
But a top Democrat close to the Warren campaign says tonight that they are keeping their eyes – and pinning their fading hopes – on California.
Two things tonight will determine her future: Whether she can be viable in Texas – with 24% precincts reporting on Tuesday night, she was near the threshold – and whether she can show more strength in Massachusetts.
Advisers say she wants to stay in the race for this reason: to be an alternative to Sanders-Biden, if this becomes a three-way race.
She has no bundlers and big donors, so her advisers believe she is less beholden to calls to drop out. But she does need money, which will be difficult to raise if tonight is a major disappointment.
A top civil rights group filed a complaint to the Federal Communications Commission today over robocalls that spread misinformation about the state’s Democratic primary
The Lawyers’ Committee on Civil Rights Under Law said it had received numerous reports from voters about the robocalls, which falsely told Texas voters the state’s Democratic primary was on March 4. Texas voters cast their ballots along with over a dozen other states on Super Tuesday.
The FCC didn’t immediately respond to questions from CNN about whether the agency will investigate. In most contexts, it is illegal to use software to place automated calls to recipients who haven’t consented to the calls.
The two biggest voting states were experiencing long lines in some locations.
In Texas, Brooke Beatty told CNN that she anticipated another hour of waiting before she could cast her vote at the De Zavala Elementary in Fort Worth.
Voters tweeted out pictures of long lines in Harris County, too.
A spokesperson for the Texas Secretary of State’s office said that as long as voters were in line by the close of polls, they will be allowed to vote. The state has shut down hundreds of polling sites in the last decade, a contributor to the long lines at some of the remaining locations.
In Los Angeles, Adam Sulzdorf-Liszkiewicz said he waited 85 minutes to vote at the St. Casimir Church polling place. It appeared that all the voting machines were working.
The county changed its approach this election and instead of specific precincts, it created county-wide voting centers, which allows voters to go to any location that is convenient. That may be contributing to some of the lines. In addition, a fifth of the county’s ballot machines were not working, the county’s registrar office said earlier this evening.
Peter Lerner, a faculty member at USC, said it took him almost two hours to vote.
Kelly Washington was waiting for more than two hours in line in Century City, California. She said not all the voting stations are being used.
In other parts of California, there were connectivity issues accessing the statewide registration database. In Fresno, the Democratic Party considered filing a petition to extend voting but opted in the end not to intervene, according to Humberto Gomez of the California Democratic Party.
Michael Bloomberg was introduced at his first election night party of the 2020 cycle by a familiar face to daytime television watchers: Judith Sheindlin aka Judge Judy.
Sheindlin described herself as “a girl who grabbed the brass ring,” meaning she rose from humble beginnings to have success in life. She said Bloomberg was the same.
“For me, it is a joy and at my stage in life — I have so few of those — it is a joy and a thrill for me to introduce a man who I respect, who I admire, and who I hope” will be President, she said before bringing Bloomberg on stage.
Bloomberg thanked Sheindlin for the comments, joking that the two of them were “just going to sit at home tonight” and “have a drink or two” as they watched the results.
“Isn’t she amazing,” he said to his supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Watch:
In Texas, the biggest prize of the night so far, a quarter of Democratic primary voters only made up their minds in the last few days.
Former Vice President Joe Biden drew 2 in 5 Democratic primary voters of those made their vote choice late, a sign of how the departure of rival moderates benefited him.
But three quarters of those Texas Democrats decided who to support much earlier, and a third of those supported Sanders, the most of any candidate.
In Minnesota – whose Sen. Amy Klobuchar dropped out the campaign on Monday – half of late-deciding voters went for Biden.
Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are leading in Minnesota, which has 75 delegates.
Who won in 2016: Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses and Marco Rubio won the Republican caucuses.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders are battling for Texas, where 228 delegates are at stake.
Early results show they are early leaders, with Biden holding a slight edge over Sanders.
Here’s where things stand:
Watch:
Michael Bloomberg took the stage for his first election night party of the 2020 cycle on Tuesday night and quickly lowered expectations.
He added: “In just three months, we have gone from 1% in the polls to be a contender for the Democratic nomination for President.”
The line from the former New York mayor reflects a reality setting in for Bloomberg’s team: Tuesday night did not go as planned. As of his speech, the only contest he won on Super Tuesday was American Samoa.
Bloomberg, in a speech that lasted roughly 10 minutes, focused intently on President Donald Trump, the candidate he is eager to run against.
“Unlike the President, I didn’t come here to golf,” Bloomberg said in West Palm Beach, a few miles from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s southern home and club. “Or to reveal classified information to Mar-a-Lago members. I came here because winning in November starts with Florida.”
Bloomberg needs to get to the general election first, though, and the rise of Biden following a runaway win in South Carolina has clearly blunted the former New York mayor’s campaign.
Watch:
Early returns indicate it might not be a good night for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her home state.
Warren is an early leader alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, according to CNN’s projections.
There were signs Warren could lose the state to Sanders. Late February polling from WBUR and MassINC showed Sanders markedly ahead of her. That same poll showed Joe Biden in a distant fifth place.
Should Biden perform well in Massachusetts tonight, it would be another sign of the strong prevailing winds carrying him to victories across the East Coast.
Massachusetts has 91 delegates at stake.
Watch:
Virginia is a disappointment to Michael Bloomberg’s campaign, but North Carolina is a far more ominous sign inside the former New York mayor’s campaign headquarters tonight.
Not only did Bloomberg spend more than $17 million in North Carolina on television advertising, but the campaign also built a robust field organization in Raleigh, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and beyond, which was designed to turn out the early vote.
As CNN’s MJ Lee reports from Florida, Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey is telling reporters tonight that Bloomberg has “absolutely no” chance of dropping out. Yet a sense of gloom is falling over Bloomberg advisers. North Carolina – and its high component of college-educated voters – was always going to be one of the marquee places where Bloomberg planted his flag on Super Tuesday.
To be sure, it’s far too early to make any sweeping conclusions. But after Virginia and North Carolina, the Bloomberg team of advisers is not optimistic at this hour.
Massachusetts is home to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, but very liberal voters are split between supporting her and Sen. Bernie Sanders, with about 2 in 5 supporting each candidate.
Early exit polls show the two vying with former Vice President Joe Biden, who drew 2 in 5 moderate voters.
Warren and Biden drew more support from women than Sanders, with 3 in 10 women Democratic primary voters choosing Warren and another 3 in 10 going for Biden. Around a quarter of women voted for Sanders.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard got her first delegate from American Samoa tonight.
The Hawaii representative, who is American Samoan, did not win the territory – that victory went to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
She won nearly 30% of the vote there.
Watch:
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ strongest supporters in his home state were those who identify as very liberal, those under the age of 45, and voters who want a candidate who can bring about needed change.
According to early exit polls, 7 in 10 Vermont voters who identify as very liberal voted for Sanders.
That was followed by 1 in 5 who supported Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Almost three quarters of voters under the age of 45 supported Sanders as did almost two-thirds of voters who wanted a nominee that can bring about needed change.
Michael Bloomberg just won American Samoa, according to results announced by the American Samoa Democratic Committee.
The South Pacific territory is the only Super Tuesday contest where the former New York Mayor did not visit.
Bloomberg visited all the other Super Tuesday states. And while he had seven staffers on the ground in American Samoa, Bloomberg did not make the over 7,000-mile trip from New York to American Samoa to campaign in the territory.
Joe Biden’s early run of victories could point the way to a Super Tuesday landslide – or not.
Bernie Sanders’ team is asking supporters – and pundits – to keep their powder dry and wait for results in states like Minnesota, Colorado, Texas and (eventually) California – all of them Sanders-friendly – before making any sweeping conclusions.
One aide also downplayed Biden’s lopsided wins in North Carolina and Virginia.
“It’s very early in the night,” the aide said, noting that “Virginia and North Carolina only (account for) 15% of delegates up tonight.”
The campaign has also been quick to note that even in states where Biden wins, Sanders is in a good position to consistently finish above the 15% threshold for collecting delegates.
“We have states all across the country where are we are strong,” senior advisor Jeff Weaver told CNN. “It’s all about the delegates.”
Weaver hinted that the beginning of the night may not be comfortable for Sanders supporters, but promised that things would improve for them as the polls start closing out west.
“I will say this about tonight,” Weaver said. “You’ve got to eat your vegetables first.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is one of three early leaders in her state’s Democratic primary, along with former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
There were signs Warren could finish behind neighboring Sanders in late February, when polling from WBUR and MassINC showed Sanders markedly ahead of Warren. That same poll showed Joe Biden in fifth place.
Here’s where things stand tonight:
Watch:
Former Vice President Joe Biden will win Alabama, CNN projects.
There are 52 delegates at stake in Alabama.
This is his third win of the night. CNN projected that Biden will win North Carolina and Virginia.
Who won 2016: Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary, and Donald Trump won the Republican primary.
Watch:
Would you like a short-rib slider with your election night results?
Mike Bloomberg’s election night party – the first of his campaign – is unlike anything other Democratic candidates have put on, with Bloomberg fans enjoying free beer and wine, a sizable buffet and enough free T-shirts to start a new wardrobe.
The opulence reflects a candidate with almost endless money to spend — the primary factor that has set the former New York Mayor apart from the Democratic field in this race. And it stands in stark contrast to what other candidates provide at their events, where it’s sometimes hard enough to find chairs, let alone hand-held desserts.
Shortly after an event-goer here in West Palm Beach entered the city’s convention center, they were bombarded with multiple tables of cheery Bloomberg organizers offering them free t-shirts, buttons and an array of Bloomberg swag.
“Would you like a small,” organizers asked. “They run large.”
Steps down a brightly lit hallway, Bloomberg supporters reach the open bar – featuring both white and red wine and an array of American beers, including Budweiser and Michelob Ultra.
Then comes the multi-tray buffet, featuring mini-cheese burgers, goat cheese and spinach flatbreads and short rib with fontina cheese sliders. For dessert, there is an array of tarts.
The coup-de-grace of opulence, though, is a constantly streaming smoke machine inside the professionally built ballroom, adding a level to texture the air where Bloomberg hopes he will greet his supporters for an Election Night celebration.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s projected victory in North Carolina came from voters who decided in the last few days, black voters, and those who prefer a candidate who can beat President Trump in November.
According to early exit polls, around 3 in 10 Democratic voters in North Carolina decided who to vote in the last few days. Almost 3 in 5 of those voters supported Biden – suggesting that the departures of former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar following South Carolina’s primary helped consolidate voters behind the former vice president.
As in other states, black voters voted for Biden in strong numbers in North Carolina, around 6 in 10.
Around two thirds of Democratic voters in North Carolina said they prefer a nominee who can beat Trump over someone who shares their views on issues. About half of voters who said they want someone who can beat Trump supported Biden, followed by 1 in 5 for Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg won American Samoa, according to results reported by the US territory.
American Samoa has 6 delegates at stake.
The Bloomberg campaign said Monday it has seven full-time staff located in American Samoa. They are also running television ads, targeted radio ads and targeted digital and print ads across the islands, according to the campaign.
Bloomberg received the endorsement of Samoan Chief Fa’alagiga Nina Tua’au-Glaude ahead of Super Tuesday.
Joe Biden will win North Carolina’s Democratic primary, CNN projects. It’s his second Super Tuesday victory in the South. (CNN projected earlier that he will win Virginia.)
There are 110 delegates at stake in North Carolina.
Who won in 2016: Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary and Donald Trump won the Republican primary.
Watch:
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s recipe for victory in Virginia: a coalition of black voters, those over the age of 65, and voters who want to beat President Donald Trump in November.
According to early exit polls, almost two-thirds of black Democratic voters in Virginia voted for Biden, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, the next-closest candidate, drawing around 1 in 5 of those voters. Seven in 10 Democratic voters over the age of 65 voted for Biden, both groups echoing his strong support that won him South Carolina this past weekend.
Almost six in 10 voters in Virginia who want a candidate who can beat Trump in November voted for Biden, followed by one in five for Sanders, one in 10 for Mike Bloomberg, and one in 10 for Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Watch:
Bernie Sanders spent a considerable amount of time in Virginia leading up to Tuesday’s primary, and held a rally in Virginia the night Joe Biden was rocketing to victory in South Carolina. CNN projected Biden will win Virginia.
At a rally in Virginia Beach on Saturday, Sanders congratulated Biden on his South Carolina win and said, “nobody wins them all.”
Virginia’s Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger has endorsed Joe Biden.
“Tonight, I’m proud to endorse @JoeBiden for President of the United States,” Spanberger tweeted moments after Virginia’s polls closed. CNN called the race for Biden when polls closed at 7 p.m. ET.
Spanberger was elected in 2018, flipping her Virginia district from Republican to Democrat.
The most important thing to remember is the magic number: 1,991.
That’s the number of pledged delegates required to cinch the nomination. It’s more than half the total of 3,979 pledged delegates.
Two more key things:
15% threshold – A candidate can get delegates only if they get to 15% of the vote at EITHER the state level OR in a particular congressional or state legislative district.
Proportionality – Democrats allocate their delegates proportionally. That means a candidate could not get the most votes in any particular state but still amass a solid base of delegates if he or she is achieving the 15% thresholds.
One good way to look at this is that it is 57 contests in the states, territories and the Democrats Abroad organization, but also hundreds of district-level contests. Candidates can get delegates either way.
Former Vice President Joe Biden will win Virginia’s Democratic primary, CNN projects. It’s an early signal that his momentum is real.
There are 99 delegates are stake in Virginia.
Watch:
Sen. Bernie Sanders will win his home state of Vermont, CNN projects.
There are 16 delegates at stake in Vermont tonight.
What happened in 2016: Sanders won the Democratic primary and Donald Trump won the Republican primary.
Watch:
Voting has been extended by half an hour in one precinct, Snakebite Township in Bertie County. Therefore, all state results will be held until 8:10 p.m. ET, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
State protocol is that all results are held until all polls are closed across the state.
Voting was extended in Snakebite because of a printer malfunction this morning.
Michael Bloomberg’s campaign expects that Joe Biden’s post-South Carolina rise – and the negative impact it could have on the former New York mayor – could be clearest in Virginia, a Bloomberg aide tells CNN.
Bloomberg’s campaign, before Biden’s South Carolina win, saw Virginia as a place that they were competitive in. They had a sizable team on the ground, had spent nearly $18 million on TV and digital ads in Virginia and Bloomberg spent millions to help flip the commonwealth’s legislative bodies in 2018.
But then Biden ran away with South Carolina and, this aide argues, the tide began to turn.
The reason: The media attention and boost from the South Carolina win; a slew of endorsements, including from Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and a host of the state’s congressional delegation; and the trio of top endorsements Biden received on Monday from Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke.
Polls will soon start closing in some states voting today.
Here’s where polls are closing at 7 p.m. ET:
One issue that’s come up again and again in Democratic debates: Does the US economy work for everyone?
Almost half of Super Tuesday Democratic primary voters in Virginia think the system needs a complete overhaul, according to early exit polls, while around the same number said they think it needs minor changes and 1 in 10 said the economy works well as it is.
Voters responded similarly in Colorado, where around half said the economy needs an overhaul. Four in 10 there said it needs minor changes.
Read more on inequality in the US here.
Watch:
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent $560 million on advertising, more than twice as much as any other candidate this election cycle, based on the latest figures released today by Kantar Media/CMAG. Almost half of that was in Super Tuesday states.
Billionaire businessman Tom Steyer spent more than $210 million.
Here’s the full breakdown:
GOP Sen. Susan Collins, who is up for reelection in Maine, would not say on Tuesday if she voted for President Trump in her state’s primary.
She twice declined to answer the question.
“I already answered that question,” Collins told CNN when asked if she supported Trump’s reelection bid.
Collins’ spokesperson referred CNN to comments the senator made last Friday when she was asked if she is supporting Trump. But in that interview, she didn’t directly answer when asked if she backed the President’s 2020 bid.
“I have voted by absentee ballot, just to make sure that I voted,” Collins told WCSH in Portland, Maine. “And I would note that it’s on the Democratic side that there are eight candidates, and my likely opponent as well as the governor and many other Democratic officials have not said who they are going to choose in what is a contested Democratic ballot. I’m focused on my job and also on my own campaign, and I’m just not going to get involved in presidential politics.”
A county judge has ruled that voting in Davidson County, which includes Nashville, will stay open beyond the 8 p.m. ET closing.
The judge has approved five “mega sites” extending voting until 11 p.m. ET, while other voting locations in the precinct will remain open until 9 p.m. ET.
The ruling came swiftly after a lawsuit was filed by the Democratic party and the four top campaigns (Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren) to extend voting after storm damage delayed opening of polls.
The party was just informed of the decision, according to communications director Emily Cupples.
Here’s a look at the judge’s order:
In two states where former Vice President Joe Biden hoped for a strong performance, Virginia and North Carolina, a quarter of the electorate is black, according to early Democratic primary exit polls, roughly the same as it was in the 2016 primary cycle.
Two thirds of voters in both states are white, less than 1 in 10 are Latino.
Around 2 in 10 voters identified as very liberal, while a third identified as somewhat liberal in both Virginia and North Carolina.
More voters in Virginia say they’re moderate, around 2 in 5, while 3 in 10 say so in North Carolina. Around 1 in 10 Democratic voters in both states identify as conservatives.
Health care was the most important issue to Democratic primary voters in Maine and Massachusetts, according to early exit polling from CNN.
Almost half of voters in Maine and 2 in 5 in Massachusetts said health care was the most important in deciding who to vote for, followed by around a quarter in both states for climate change and around 1 in 5 for income inequality.
Fewer than 1 in 10 voters chose race relations in both states.Health care has dominated the Democratic field, with Sen. Bernie Sanders championing “Medicare-for-All,” which would replace private insurance with a government plan, with moderates including former Vice President Joe Biden favoring the expansion of a public option within the existing private insurance system.Almost three quarters of voters in Maine and around half in Massachusetts support replacing private insurance with a single government plan.
Watch:
While former Vice President Joe Biden has benefited from a series of endorsements from former presidential candidates as a sign the moderate lane is coalescing, Bernie Sanders’ campaign signaled today not to expect a similar consolidation of the progressive lane —at least not any time soon.
The Sanders campaign is not making any effort to convince Elizabeth Warren to end her presidential bid, even though she and Sanders both come from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and her exit and possibly even endorsement of Sanders could help Sanders’ hopes of winning the nomination.
Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir told CNN there have been no attempts by the Sanders campaign to reach out to Warren or her aides in an attempt to forge a partnership or convince her to get behind their campaign.
For now, Michael Bloomberg himself and his advisers are not publicly entertaining the idea of this being their last election night.
It’s why he’s spending all day in Florida, where the election isn’t until March 17. We also heard this morning these blunt words from Bloomberg himself: “I have no intention of dropping out. We’re in it to win it,” he said in Miami.
He even went as far as to ask reporters:
His advisers have been careful to stay on this message heading into Super Tuesday, too, by emphasizing what they insist is their long view of the race.
One adviser likened their rapid, last-minute building of a presidential campaign to “flying the plane as you’re building it,” and that there have obviously been challenges to that model.
This person told CNN that, as they get further into the month of March, “The math gets even better for us.” By then, they said, they will have had months of “being at full capacity” like their rivals and that their built-in disadvantage of having made a late-entry will further erode.
And if Super Tuesday is hugely important because roughly a third of the delegates get handed out tonight, the Bloomberg camp is also emphasizing that this also means two-thirds of the delegates are still up for grabs.
“Mike’s campaign was built for the long haul,” the adviser said. “This is a race for the delegates.”
A substantial share of voters said they made up their minds about whom to support in the last few days, according to preliminary results from CNN exit polls.
Here’s what they show:
In both states, white voters were more likely to say they made up their minds in the last few days than were black voters, including a majority of white voters in Virginia. Most black voters in both states said they had decided on their choice before February.
Majorities in both states said they would prefer a nominee who can beat President Donald Trump over one with whom they agree on the issues. That’s a notable difference between these two southern states and South Carolina.
Breaking down the CNN exit polls:
Super Tuesday marks a huge moment of truth for Michael Bloomberg’s unconventional, unprecedented presidential campaign — finally, and for the first time, Bloomberg will be on the ballot.
Remember: It has been exactly 100 days since Bloomberg launched his 2020 campaign.
The former New York City mayor decided to get into the 2020 race late, skip the four early nominating states all together, and pour hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money at a dizzying pace into this campaign. As Bloomberg has risen in the polls, the question that’s loomed over this race is whether a candidate really can have a real shot at the White House nomination even by ignoring so many traditions and norms of presidential campaigning.
The results of today’s races will begin to offer the first real answers to that question, in the form of voters casting their ballots.
What is the Bloomberg team’s overarching outlook on the state of the 2020 race right now? His team insists that after Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, the one thing that is undeniable — and what they believe supports the theory of the case for the Bloomberg candidacy — is that there is no clear frontrunner yet.
Of course, that is their positive spin today, and what’s left unsaid here is one obvious reality: After tonight, a clearer frontrunner could very well emerge, particularly with Bernie Sanders poised to grab significant chunks of delegates in large states like California. It also ignores the phenomenal political momentum Joe Biden has gained since his decisive win in South Carolina, including the endorsements from Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke, and what could very well be intensifying pressure on Bloomberg to leave the race.
Why Super Tuesday is a moment of truth for Bloomberg campaign:
Some voters have waited in line for two hours in Nashville following severe storms and at least one tornado that rattled the community late Monday and early today.
CNN’s Amara Walker spoke to Caroline Winroe, who has been waiting at the Cleveland Community Center to cast her vote.
More on Nashville’s storms: At least 22 people have died across central Tennessee as a result of the severe storms and tornado.
The storms left numerous homes and other buildings in ruins across several counties, and left tens of thousands of people without power and hundreds at least temporarily looking for another place to live.
In Nashville, 48 buildings collapsed, others were damaged and about 150 people have been taken to hospitals because of the storm, Mayor John Cooper said.
In Nashville’s Germantown area alone, parts of apartment and other multi-story buildings were ripped open, with bricks, roofing material and glass strewn about, images from CNN affiliate WTVF show.
Watch:
Joe Biden says his “hopes are high” going into Super Tuesday as the race shifts.
Biden had a decisive victory in South Carolina, followed by a show of unity as three of his former rivals endorsed his candidacy.
A Biden adviser argued their long term strategy of using South Carolina as his springboard is playing out in real time now — with that wave of endorsements and an influx of cash.
The campaign tonight is hoping to do well in Southern states — those with significant African American populations like Alabama. They also see some signs of hope in Virginia after high profile endorsements poured in.
An adviser said they believe they have a “chance of doing better everywhere” after these past three days.
But Biden has also been outspent and is outmanned on the ground in many of these Super Tuesday states.
Key point: So the question for Biden now is can he convert the biggest 72 hours of his campaign into actual results at the ballot box and momentum going forward?
Biden campaign comments on new developments:
While Sen. Elizabeth Warren has spent much of her time targeting billionaire Mike Bloomberg on the campaign trail, in the 24 hours leading up to Super Tuesday, Warren is also taking aim at Joe Biden as moderates coalesce around the former vice president.
Some context: When talking to reporters this morning, Warren would not say Super Tuesday was do or die for her. But for weeks now, Warren’s campaign has pointed to her organization and efforts in Super Tuesday states as her path to the nomination. And in a statement released by her campaign manager, he touts the $29 million in fundraising in February to make the case for the campaign’s momentum.
But the super PAC that poured millions of dollars in ad buys to back Warren in Super Tuesday states, has now confirmed it will not be spending on any of the contests taking place on March 10.
And as she tries to make the case for herself as a progressive and a woman in the race, supporters told CNN they believe tonight will be a make or break moment.
Warren shifts aim from Bloomberg to Biden:
Bernie Sanders’ campaign is ready for a one-on-one matchup.
They have been preparing for a head-to-head between Sanders and Joe Biden since the the beginning of his campaign.
The campaign sent a memo to supporters telling them they are prepared for the challenge and that they have never been worried about the moderate lane consolidating. They knew the time would come and knew that Sanders would only win the nomination by beating an establishment candidate head-to-head.
But in a conversation with CNN, Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir took it a step further. Shakir said that the campaign’s view is that Biden is the establishment candidate they feel best prepared to take on.
Shakir pointed to Sanders and Biden’s role in key decisions in American history, such as the run up to the Iraq war, the battle over the future of social security, the bankruptcy bill and the crime bill. All examples of areas where the two differed. Shakir argued that the Democratic party in 2020 views where Sanders stood as the right side of history.
Sanders campaign prepares for Biden matchup:
Former Vice President Joe Biden stopped at Buttercup restaurant in Oakland, California, today where he told reporters that his hopes are “high” in California and other Super Tuesday states.
He acknowledged that while many people in California have already voted via absentee ballot, he still believes his campaign will do “fine.”
Biden was joined at the local stop by Captain “Sully” Sullenberger, members of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s family, and the city’s Mayor Libby Schaaf, who told reporters that while she has made a decision not to endorse in the primary, she was “so proud” the former vice president decided to kick off Super Tuesday in California.
Ordering a coconut custard pie, which he paid for in cash, Biden joked, “I work out every morning so I’m okay.”
Fourteen states and one US territory are voting today. That means about one-third of all pledged delegates — 1,344 to be exact — are at stake tonight.
It takes 1,991 pledged delegates to win the Democratic nomination on the first ballot of the convention.
So far, Bernie Sanders is in the lead with 60 pledged delegates from earlier primaries and caucuses, and Joe Biden has 53. Pete Buttigieg — who dropped out of the race on Sunday — has 26.
Every state handles the primary process differently. Learn more:
Fourteen US states and one territory are voting today — meaning more than one third of the Democratic delegates are at stake.
CNN’s John Avlon broke down the top five things you should watch for tonight as results start coming in:
Watch more:
Delegates from 14 states and one US territory are at stake today.
About one-third of all pledged delegates will be decided. It takes 1,991 pledged delegates to win the Democratic nomination on the first ballot of the convention.
Here’s what you need to know:
Sen. Kamala Harris, a former 2020 Democratic candidate, said she she hasn’t decided on a possible endorsement.
CNN’s Manu Raju just asked her if she would announce her endorsement in the race.
“I haven’t decided,” she said.
She said she has friends and colleagues still in the race and is still weighing her decision.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders holds substantial leads in the two largest states to vote on Super Tuesday, according to new CNN polls conducted by SSRS in California and Texas.
In Texas, Sanders holds 29% support among likely primary voters, former Vice President Joe Biden has 20%, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg stands at 18% and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is at 15%. No other candidate reaches double-digits. Sanders (+14) and Bloomberg (+13) have posted the largest gains since a December CNN poll, while Biden has slipped 15 points. Warren has held roughly even.
The California results suggest the same four contenders hold the most support, though Sanders stands well ahead of the three contending for second place. Sanders holds 35% support, Warren is at 14%, Biden is at 13% and Bloomberg is at 12%. Sanders’ support in the state has climbed 15 points since December, while Biden’s has slid eight points. Bloomberg has gained seven.
Decisive wins for a single candidate in California and Texas — states which will award more than 600 of the 1,991 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination — could change the tenor of a race that has at times seemed headed for a protracted fight.
Voters in 14 states and one US territory head to the polls to today to cast their ballots in the largest contests to date in terms of delegates up for grabs this election cycle.
Here’s what time the polls close in the 14 states:
