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Joe Biden Wins Four States Including Michigan, Building Primary Lead Over Bernie Sanders

HeadlineMar 11, 2020

Former Vice President Joe Biden scored decisive primary victories Tuesday night in Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is leading in Washington state and North Dakota, where votes are still being counted. While Biden is less than halfway to the delegates he would need to secure the Democratic nomination, he declared victory during a speech in Philadelphia. 

Joe Biden: “And I want to thank Bernie Sanders and his supporters for their tireless energy and their passion. We share a common goal, and together we’ll defeat Donald Trump. We’ll defeat him together.”

Senator Bernie Sanders returned to his home in Vermont Tuesday night and did not make a public statement. Earlier Tuesday, he stressed the differences between his campaign and Biden’s during a campaign stop in Detroit.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Here in Michigan, where trade agreements have been so devastating in the loss of over 100,000 good-paying jobs — Joe Biden voted for NAFTA. He voted for PNTR with China. I helped lead the opposition.”

Exit polls in every state voting Tuesday showed strong support for Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All program — even in Mississippi, where it has the backing of nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters. But speaking on MSNBC on Monday, Joe Biden indicated that if elected president, he would veto Medicare for All legislation should Congress send it to his desk. 

Joe Biden: “I would veto anything that delays providing the security and the certainty of healthcare being available now.”

Less than two weeks after losing his front-runner status, Sanders faces a decision about whether to continue his increasingly uphill fight for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination. South Carolina Congressmember Jim Clyburn, the number three House Democrat who earlier helped lead Biden to victory in South Carolina, told NPR the DNC should “shut this primary down.” 

Rep. James Clyburn: “I think we will be at a point where Joe Biden will be the prohibitive nominee of the party. And I think the DNC, the Democratic National Committee, should then step in, make an assessment and determine whether or not they ought to have any more debates.”

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