‘They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing’: Biden’s remarkable comeback sets up final showdown with Sanders

Race for Democratic nomination back where it started as ‘establishment’ backs former VP and frontrunner promises ‘new politics’ to replace status quo

While Bernie Sanders emerged with Super Tuesday‘s biggest prize, the delegate-heavy California, a reanimated Joe Biden scored crucial wins across the South, propelled by endorsements from his former opponents who left the race after his long-predicted big win in South Carolina.

Before Super Tuesday polls were even closed on the West Coast, the former vice president was claiming wins and championing his reinvigorated campaign to supporters in Los Angeles.

“They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing​,” he said. “It’s a good night and it’s going to get even better.”

Days after it looked as if Mr Biden’s once-likely nomination to lead the Democratic party to face Donald Trump had seen its end, Mr Biden won a state in which he invested significantly, relying on decades-old alliances and moderate appeal.

That last-minute show of support gave the former vice president a late surge from undecided voters, pushing Mr Biden into a series of early wins across the US.

Super Tuesday represents roughly a third of all delegates who will cast votes for the nominee. After claiming wins in nine states, Mr Biden is projected to become a clear frontrunner in the race from this point forward.

But Bernie Sanders is also expected to pick up scores of delegates from Tuesday's vote.

A candidate must earn 1,991 delegates to become the Democratic nominee.

With the Democratic institution coalescing around Mr Biden, and Mr Sanders remaining a frontrunner who has promised a new kind of politics to replace the status quo, the race appears to be back where it started.

“People are talking about a revolution”, Mr Biden told supporters. “We started a movement.”

Should Mr Biden continue his momentum, the campaign will have to answer to Mr Sanders’ supporters demanding an urgency to address the climate crisis, economic inequities and healthcare. While the race tightens between Mr Sanders and Mr Biden, exit polls on Tuesday showed that healthcare remains voters’ chief concern, and popularity for Medicare for All remains high.

But a majority of voters said their priority was electing a candidate who can oust Mr Trump from office.

“You cannot beat Trump with the same ol’, same ol’ kind of politics”, Mr Sanders told supporters in Vermont. “What we need is a new politics that brings working class people into our political movement, that brings young people into our political movement, and in November will create the highest voter turnout in American political history.”

 

 

After struggling in early primary states, Elizabeth Warren passed the threshold for delegate eligibility in several Super Tuesday states, keeping her candidacy alive as her campaign divides progressive support, potentially pulling votes away from Mr Sanders while the moderate camp hopes to overwhelm the race.

The Massachusetts senator didn’t claim victories in any state, including her own.

She entered Super Tuesday with just eight delegates, after she fell from third place to back-to-back fourth place finishes in early primary states before falling to fifth place in South Carolina. She is expected to get 15 delegate votes on Tuesday.

She urged her supporters to vote “from your heart”.

“You don’t get what you don’t fight for. I am in this fight,” she said.

Meanwhile, after spending half a billion on advertising, billionaire Michael Bloomberg – banking on making a big splash on Super Tuesday ballots after looming throughout the race and being an unavoidable face on television across the US – ultimately won only one election: American Samoa, with five delegates.

After claiming his only path to victory is at a contested Democratic convention, with no clear delegate majority among the candidates, his campaign is now mulling whether the former New York mayor – and his vast wealth – will drop out of the race.

Tulsi Gabbard, still in the race, received one Super Tuesday delegate after finishing second in American Samoa.

Entering Tuesday as the field’s clear frontrunner, Mr Sanders won victories in Utah, Colorado and his home state of Vermont.

Mr Biden, meanwhile, followed his South Carolina victory with wins in Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas and – cutting into a state that Mr Sanders had hoped to win – Minnesota.

He also won Oklahoma, Ms Warren’s home state.

Voters queued for hours after polls closed in Texas, leaving the state’s massive delegate count in limbo, with early predictions pitting Mr Biden and Mr Sanders in a tight race as the fluid vote count shifts the results.