Biden crushes Sanders in Florida and Illinois, projected to win Arizona

Thursday, 19 March 2020 00:56 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Democratic US presidential candidates former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders do an elbow bump in place of a handshake as they greet other before the start of the 11th Democratic candidates debate of the 2020 US presidential campaign, held in CNN's Washington studios without an audience because of the global coronavirus pandemic, in Washington, US, 15 March – Reuters/Files

WASHINGTON (Reuters): Joe Biden swept to victory over Bernie Sanders in all three Democratic presidential primaries on Tuesday, edging closer to the nomination to face President Donald Trump in November’s election.

Biden, 77 and the front-runner, was projected by Edison Research and television networks to win Arizona after triumphs in both Florida and Illinois earlier in the night.

Biden rolled over Sanders by nearly 40 percentage points in Florida and more than 20 percentage points in Illinois, expanding his nearly unbeatable advantage in the campaign to choose a challenger to the Republican Trump in the 3 November election, before the race enters an extended hiatus with no voting scheduled for weeks.

The easy Biden wins appeared to be a sign Democrats were ready to unite for the campaign against Trump, and could increase pressure on Sanders, 78, to end his presidential bid. Democrats have worried about a possible repeat of 2016, when they believe his long, bitter primary battle with Hillary Clinton played a role in her upset loss to Trump, 73.

In sombre remarks broadcast from his home in Delaware, Biden said the coronavirus outbreak demanded leadership from the White House and appealed to the many young supporters drawn to Sanders, a democratic socialist US senator.

“Let me say especially to the young voters who have been inspired by Senator Sanders: I hear you. I know what’s at stake. I know what we have to do,” he said. “Our goal as a campaign and my goal as a candidate for president was to unify this party and then to unify the nation.”

Biden’s victories were powered by a broad coalition of voters of every ideology and demographic, Edison Research polls showed.