Joe Biden continued to widen his delegate lead over Bernie Sanders during the latest round of voting in the 2020 Democratic Party primary.
On Tuesday, March 17, three states voted: Florida, Illinois, and Arizona. Ohio was also scheduled to vote on Tuesday, but amid fears of the spread of coronavirus and encouragement of social distancing, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine successfully delayed voting in the state until June 2.
Still, even without Ohio, over half of the pledged delegates to determine the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee will have been decided once all the votes are tallied.
Thus far, this is how the delegate count is shaking out with the votes from Florida and Illinois, per Decision Desk:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden: 262 delegates
- Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders: 120 delegates
Overall, that puts Biden at 1133 delegates and Sanders at 833. Candidates have to reach 1,991 pledged delegates of 3,979 available to clinch the nomination. We’ll continue to update the results as they come in.
Ahead of Tuesday’s primaries, Vox’s Ella Nilsen laid out the stakes:
What happens next as the voting totals and delegate numbers roll in remains to be seen. The bigger Biden’s lead becomes, the harder it will be for Sanders to catch up. And looming coronavirus fears in the background could complicate it even more — already, several other states have delayed their primaries.
Sourse: vox.com
