Joe Biden handily captured the Democratic primary in Michigan Tuesday, US networks projected, scoring a crucial victory over Bernie Sanders to build a strong lead in the fight for the party’s presidential nomination.
In early vote projections Biden had a seemingly insurmountable 10 percentage point advantage over Sanders — who had won the northern state’s primary four years ago over Hillary Clinton.
It was the former vice president’s third projected victory of the night, after Mississippi and Missouri, and the largest prize of the day’s six primaries, sealing his advantage over the Vermont senator.
“Thank you, Michigan!” Biden tweeted.
The win gives Biden the lion’s share of the state’s 125 delegates to the July Democratic National Convention that will pick a challenger to President Donald Trump.
Before Tuesday’s primaries Biden had already racked up 670 in earlier primaries, compared to Sanders’s 574.
With more than half the total 57 primary contests still in front of them, a candidate needs to top 1,991 delegates to capture the nomination. – AFP.
