On Tuesday, millions of American voters in 6 US states went to the polls went to the polls and voted for their preferred Democratic candidates in what pundits dubbed "Super Tuesday II." The biggest prize of the day was Rust Belt swing state Michigan and its 125 delegates, which Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) surprisingly won against Secretary Hillary Clinton in 2016. After a disappointing Super Tuesday finish last week, Sanders bet on a comeback in Michigan, where he tried to connect with working class, blue collar, and independent voters. But on Tuesday Biden ended up winning Michigan with 52.9% or 838,555 votes, compared to Sanders with 36.4% or 576,754 votes. Biden gained 72 delegates, while Sanders took 52, propelling the former vice president closer to clinching the Democratic nomination. If Super Tuesday made it more likely for Biden to become the eventual nominee, then Super Tuesday II made it all but certain.
Biden started Tuesday evening with big wins in Mississippi and Missouri, thanks to his strong suburban and African-American coalition. Biden easily won Mississippi with 81.1% and gained 34 delegates to Sanders' 2. He also won Missouri with 60.1% and gained 44 delegates to Sanders' 22. Then Biden won Idaho with 48.9% and gained 11 delegates to Sanders' 9. Sanders' lone victory of the night was in the North Dakota caucuses, where he won with 53.3% and gained 8 delegates to Biden's 6. With 85% of precincts reporting, Biden is currently in the lead in Washington state with 36.79% and gaining 27 delegates to Sanders' 26, though the remaining mail-in ballots need to be counted. Of course, Biden won Michigan with a tried and true formula of older, black, suburban, and rural white voters. Once again, young and new voters failed to turn out for Sanders, while Biden seemed to successfully recreate the historic Obama coalition. After Biden's strong night, former candidate Andrew Yang and Priorities USA, the Democratic Party's largest super PAC, both threw their support behind Biden in a wave of momentum.
Although the math looks increasingly bleak for Sanders, he is staying in the race and still fighting, despite some calls from the Democratic establishment to drop out. Now his best chance is the debate on Sunday, where he will finally get to face off against Biden one-on-one. Sanders has repeatedly expressed his wishes to directly challenge Biden's record of working with Republicans, including his votes on the Iraq war, student loan and bankruptcy reform, and the crime bill, as well as ask Biden if he would truly veto Medicare for all. Sanders' camp is also hoping Biden will utter an unforgivable gaffe during the debate. The wild card going forward is the coronavirus pandemic, which could lead to canceled state elections and badly hurt Biden's older voter turnout if it continues to worsen and spread across the country.
The author is an independent voter sharing his own opinion.