Joe Biden wins three states in early Super Tuesday surge

Former vice president Joe Biden surged in early vote tallies across the southern US on Tuesday and is projected by broadcasters to win contests in Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama.

The moderate 77-year-old is seeing renewed energy in recent days after a win in South Carolina’s primary and endorsements from centrist and moderate candidates who have dropped out of the once-crowded field.

Read also: Germany and Turkey promise to cooperate against hate after Hanau attack

Meanwhile, left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders, 78, is projected to capture the most delegates in his home state of Vermont. Sanders is the second place contender, with most other contests too early to call.

Mike Bloomberg, the moderate billionaire who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on campaign ads for Super Tuesday, is underperforming in the key state of Virginia which bodes poorly for the former mayor of New York.

While Bloomberg will likely secure some delegates, Biden appears to be cementing his narrative as a resurgent candidate sitting firmly atop the Democratic party’s moderate camp.

The candidates are competing for 1,357 delegates – a third of the entire nomination process – spread across 14 states and two jurisdictions.

Sanders supporters are hoping that liberal California, the most populous state in the nation, which will only report results later on Tuesday and likely Wednesday will give him a large haul of delegates.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is challenging Sanders for left-wing votes had a poor showing in early tallies, except for her home state of Massachusetts where she is vying for a top spot.

Exit polls shows Sanders has maintained strong support among young voters, while Biden retains large support among older voters and African-Americans.

In Virginia, where 99 delegates are at stake, nearly half of primary voters made up their minds in the last few days, according to exit polls conducted by US broadcaster CNN.

Health care remained the most important issue for voters in multiple states, CNN exit polls showed.

Polls are showing that neither candidate has a clear path to win a majority of the party’s delegates, with chances remaining high that the centre-left bloc will head into its convention this summer without a winner, setting up a brokered and contentious gathering.

Trump said he would be watching as the evening unfolds, promising it was set to be a “very interesting evening of television.”

The president, a former reality-television host, pledged to hold debates with whoever emerged as the winner in the Democratic race, adding he would do so “very gladly.”

Bloomberg and Warren are still in the race but are trailing the front-runners. Speculation has mounted about what they might do if their Super Tuesday performance faltered.

Since Sunday, former mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar have backed out, effectively admitting they had no chance of being nominated while announcing they are backing Biden in what seemed to be a bid to stymie the rise of the leftist Sanders.

Sanders is running on a progressive campaign of government-run health care for all, criminal justice reform and a climate change initiative, saying his message is the best to reach across generations and races.

Biden is warning the country does not lean so far left and prefers a moderate who can beat Trump, relying heavily on his experience as former president Barack Obama’s deputy and his record of supporting stricter gun laws.

The former vice president said his “hopes are high” in the race, as voters were queuing up to cast their ballots. Sanders has continued to hit out at Biden’s record, including a bill that lead to longer jail sentences and his support for the war in Iraq.

Polls will start to close at 7 pm eastern time (0000 GMT Wednesday). The last polling booths will shut four hours later in California, though people in line can vote even if time has run out.

Despite a campaign that so far spent half a billion dollars, Bloomberg has been hampered by two sub-par debate performances and sharp criticism over his stop-and-frisk policy as mayor of New York City, which had disproportionate negative consequences for blacks and Latinos.

Minority groups in the US have come to make up a significant share of the Democratic Party’s base, making them vital for any candidate to win.

Despite leading in the delegate count, Sanders lacks a pathway to a clear majority, and Biden too may struggle to get over 1,991 delegates, meaning the nomination could be brokered at the party’s convention in July.

A brokered convention would see so-called superdelegates – top party officials, for the most part – being able to cast votes, with progressives within the bloc fearing this could hurt Sanders, who has a contentious relationship with the party establishment. (dpa)