Super Tuesday Narrows the Democratic Party Nominee Competition
March 7, 2020
The events within the week of Super Tuesday have been nothing less of a dramatic shift in the Democratic Party. Biden won the majority of ten states, while Sanders won three.
With the overall conclusion of votes from Super Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden ended with a lead of 566 votes; Bernie Sanders came second with 501 votes; Elizabeth Warren had 61 votes; Tulsi Gabbard was last with 1 vote.
Numbers are subjected to change as California has not yet finished counting, though the state won’t finish counting until a few weeks from now. Because California has 415 pledged delegates not accounted for, the state plays a huge role in determining a huge advantage for one candidate or the other, predicted to favor Sanders’s success.
As candidates aim to acquire 1991 delegate votes to attain the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Party Nomination, a few notable contenders dropped out of the race and demonstrated unified support in Joe Biden’s ongoing campaign: Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bloomberg.
Although their endorsement may not have greatly influenced the delegate votes, the three moderates’ public endorsements bolstered the strength of Biden’s campaign.
After claiming to acknowledge their low chances of winning, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg both announced their drop and endorsement for Biden at a publicity event in Dallas, Texas. Klobuchar originally ran on similar platforms as Biden. She had a continual record of liberal policies, but not to the extent of Sander’s.
The Minnesotan candidate appealed to the white majority of Midwestern states, such as her own. Moreover, Klobuchar advertised an “I can beat Trump” message, which was the basis of her campaign. Yet, she fell short in gaining the votes of the African-American and Latino populations. Biden, on the other hand, flourished with the minority demographic. If he wins, Klobuchar will likely be on a shortlist of possible Vice Presidents.
Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay presidential candidate from South Bend, Ind., attained 26 delegates and experienced success in the Iowa Caucus before dropping out. During his speech in Dallas, Buttigieg noted that he endorsed Biden because he believed Biden would win.
“Our goal has always been to help unify Americans to help defeat Donald Trump and to win the era for our values. And so we must recognize that at this point in the race the best way to keep faith with those goals and ideals is to step aside and help bring our party and our country together,” Buttigieg said.
Michael Bloomberg’s last endorsement came after Super Tuesday, on Wednesday. The former New York City mayor spent close to half a billion dollars on publicity, joining the competition a little later than most. However, Bloomberg only won a majority of the delegates in the American Samoa Territory — 4 total delegates. In total, he left the race with 53 delegates.
“I am clear-eyed about our overriding objective, and that is a victory in November,” Mr. Bloomberg said, adding, “I will not be our party’s nominee, but I will not walk away from the most important political fight of my life.”
Bloomberg plans to remain active in the future elections, utilizing his multi-billion dollar fortune in securing a democratic nomination for Joe Biden. Defeating Trump happens to be the driving reason for his personal involvement. Many suspects that Bloomberg is likely to be Joe Biden’s running Vice President.
The shakeup from the last few days leaves the lasting candidates to question their stances. As a result, Elizabeth Warren left the race on the Thursday of the same week.
The next bulk of elections are primaries set on March 10. The candidates are a long way from achieving 1991 delegates for the Democratic nomination. Therefore, it’s hard to predict the outcome.