Florida, Illinois primaries: Biden frontrunner in taking on Trump
Far-left Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ hopes of taking on Donald Trump are all but crushed after former vice president Joe Biden bolstered his lead after taking home the Florida and Illinois primaries.
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Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden has won the key Florida, Illinois and Arizona primaries, taking an almost untouchable lead in the race to take on US President Donald Trump in November.
On what was dubbed Super Tuesday 3, Illinois, Arizona and Florida were the first states to vote since the United States imposed unprecedented lockdowns to counter the coronavirus outbreak.
The other big winner was Mr Trump, who has now gathered the necessary delegates to hold the Republican nomination.
After the federal government recommended people gather in groups of less than 10 and said older voters should stay home, Ohio’s governor closed polls just before they opened.
That left three states which will also feature large in the general election.
Following Tuesday’s poll, almost 60 per cent of the delegates needed to award the Democratic presidential nomination will have been decided. Some 441 delegates were at stake Tuesday.
Mr Biden addressed supporters over video link from his Delaware home, saying he was obeying federal restrictions and not taking part in any gatherings.
He appealed to Mr Sanders’ supporters to get behind him, saying “to the young people who may have voted for Senator Sanders: I hear you, I know what’s at stake, I know what we have to do.”
Mr Biden called for Americans to put aside politics to work together against the spread of the virus.
“The coronavirus does not care if you are Democrat or Republican,” he said.
“We are all in this together.”
Earlier, the Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said Ohio’s decision had caused “more chaos and confusion”, and asked the remaining primary states to increase mail voting and make absentee votes easier to lodge.
“The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy, and we must do everything we can to protect and expand that right instead of bringing our democratic process to a halt,” Mr Perez said.
Four other March states have pushed back their primaries, with Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky and Maryland electing to vote later.
With 80 per cent of Florida’s vote counted, Mr Biden had more than 60 per cent in hand and in Illinois he held 59 per cent.
Polls had put him ahead in the Sunshine State, which Mr Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primary, and which was also one of the pivotal states to award US President Donald Trump the presidency.
Mr Sanders had earlier addressed his supporters via video-link, outlining his plans to counter COVID-19, but not referring to Tuesday’s vote.
They included $2000 checks for every household and limiting evictions and foreclosures.
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Florida offers 219 delegates, Illinois 155 and Arizona has 67.
Mr Biden went into Tuesday’s polls with 898 delegates to Mr Sanders’ 745. The magic number to win the nomination is 1991.
Mr Sanders is under increasing pressure to withdraw from the race and avoid a contested Democratic convention in July.
There are concerns that if he continues his campaign at a point that it becomes unwinnable, the party will lose months on internal bickering that could instead be focused on its main prize: to beat Mr Trump in November.
Originally published as Florida, Illinois primaries: Biden frontrunner in taking on Trump