Biden sweeps three states, Sanders faces pressure to quit

WASHINGTON: Former vice president Joe Biden swept all three states that held their nominating contests on Tuesday, winning 1,165 delegates so far for Democratic party nomination to take on President Donald Trump.

Trump officially clinched his nomination, wrapping up the Republican primaries practically unopposed with 1,330 delegates, way more than the 1,276 needed to win the nomination. As has been with sitting presidents largely, he faced no serious challenge. Bill Weld, the former Massachusetts governor, finished a distant second with just one delegate.

The Democratic race appeared drawing to a close, with Biden increasing his tally after the three wins in Florida, Illinois and Arizona and ensuring working people and the most vulnerable are taken care of.

Biden easily won all three states, Florida, Illinois and Arizona, building on momentum that started in South Carolina, got a massive boosts with Super Tuesday victories in 10 of 14 states, and continued to roll since picking up five of the six states in the next round, last week. He has now won 19 of the 24 Democratic nominating contests.

Tuesday night outcome was declared as the end of the race by many Democrats. “No Dem has ever come back from anything like this deficit,” wrote David Axelrod, a key strategist of President Barack Obama’s elections in 2008 and 2012 and now a CNN commentator, on twitter.

“The race for the nomination is over. That is the reality.” , taking what is being called an unassailable lead over Senator Bernie Sanders, who is at 880, according to an Associated Press count. The winner needs 1,991. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard remains in the race, but barely so with just two delegates.

Senator Sanders’s path to the nomination is nearly closed now and many Democrats declared the race over, and publicly called for him to give up and end his campaign, and not repeat 2016 when he had refused to concede till the end, considerably hurting Hillary Clinton, the eventual nominee.

On Wednesday, the Sanders campaign said the senator will spend the next few weeks “assessing his campaign”, and in the immediate term he will be focused on the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak