Biden wins Florida, Illinois
Joe Biden won the Florida and Illinois primaries Tuesday, delivering another blow to Bernie Sanders.
WASHINGTON – Joe Biden won the Florida and Illinois primaries on Tuesday, building on a remarkable surge as he barrels toward the Democratic presidential nomination at a time when the nation is gripped by concern about the new coronavirus.
The former vice president's victories were another blow to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose early strength has evaporated as African Americans and working-class whites across the country have sided with Biden.
But Tuesday's primaries demonstrated the tremendous uncertainty confronting the Democratic contest as it collides with efforts to slow the spread of the virus that have shut down large swaths of American life. Polls were shuttered in Ohio even as voting moved forward in Florida, Illinois and Arizona, where some voters and elections officials reported problems.
It marked the third week in a row Biden piled up wins after victory in South Carolina last month revived his onceflagging campaign. Since then, most of his party's establishment lined up behind him as the best option to unseat President Donald Trump in November.
As many people work from home and as schools and businesses close, the primary has remained in limbo, devoid of in-person rallies. Sanders' pathway to the nomination has narrowed, but he isn't expected to leave the race – betting that the national political landscape will look different as the virus continues to reshape life across the country.
Sanders has staged virtual rallies that his campaign says have been watched by millions, and he used the coronavirus outbreak to promote the need for universal, government-funded health care under “Medicare for All,” his signature issue. Biden's campaign is also taking nothing for granted, even though the former vice president has declared that he'd select a woman as his running mate – suggesting that such preparations for his clinching the nomination may be underway.
Officials in Ohio took the unprecedented step of closing polls Monday, mere hours before they were set to open, pushing back the state's primary until June. Turnout was expected to be affected in Illinois, Florida and Arizona, which went ahead with voting even as authorities urged people to stay home whenever possible and not to gather in groups of larger than 10.
Four other states – Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky and Maryland – have already moved to push back their primaries, and others could follow suit. That has left the Democratic primary calendar empty until March 29, when Puerto Rico is scheduled to go to the polls – but island leaders are working to reschedule balloting there, too.
Mel Dockens, a 49-year-old smallbusiness owner, voted in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale and said it was a tough choice. But he went for Biden because he thought Sanders' progressive views might turn off some Democratic voters.
“It's all about electability,” Dockens said. “It's not that I don't trust Bernie Sanders, but I trust (Biden) a little more.”
Voting on Tuesday saw problems pop up across the country, meanwhile. In Okaloosa County in Florida's Panhandle, two dozen poll workers dropped out, leaving Elections Supervisor Paul Lux's staff scrambling to train replacements.
“We are at the honest end of the rope,” Lux said.
The coronavirus has cast a shadow over the Democratic primary race as policy debates have taken a back seat to issues of life and death.
“It's definitely eerie,” said Jesse Lehrich, a former Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman who is based in Chicago, who added, “Biden and Sanders are debating the merits of marginally different policies in this little pseudoreality, while America is consumed by an unprecedented crisis.”