Former Vice President Joe Biden clinched his tenth state win in the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses with a narrow victory in Maine, the Associated Press projects.
Biden’s first-place finish in the New England state will now join nine others in Biden’s column from this week’s contests including the neighboring state of Massachusetts, the midwestern state of Minnesota, and a full sweep of the south with large-margin victories in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders meanwhile captured Utah, Colorado, California, and his home state of Vermont by much smaller leads but will still claim delegates in each state primary after meeting the 15 percent vote threshold in the states that voted.
A plurality of Maine’s 24 delegates will now go to Biden putting the former vice president a few inches closer to clinching the Democratic nomination in July.
To avoid a contested convention, one candidate must secure 1,991 of the 3,979 up for grabs in the race. A third of the total delegates were decided on Tuesday where the race quickly narrowed down to a two-way contest between Biden and Sanders after former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropped out following a poor performance in the nationwide contests. Bloomberg only pulled out a first place win in the territory of her birthplace American Samoa.
As the results stand Wednesday afternoon reported by the New York Times, Biden has secured 433 delegates followed by Sanders with 388, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 36, Bloomberg with 12, and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard with 1.
