Sen. Bernie Sanders received another hit to his 2020 presidential bid Tuesday, losing primary contests in Illinois and Florida to former Vice President Joe Biden.
At 8 p.m. with 60% of precincts reporting, Florida was called for Biden who led with 60.8% while Sanders received 22.56%. Thirty minutes later, with just 2% of the results reported, the Associated Press gave the race in Illinois to the former vice president. Biden had 64% and 29.3% of the vote went to the Vermont senator.
Florida, with 219 delegates, and Illinois, at 155 delegates, were the top prizes of the evening, and both went to Biden. As of publication, Arizona had not yet been called.
As the polls began to close in Florida, Sanders addressed supporters via a livestream to discuss the government response to COVID-19, laying out an estimated $2 trillion proposal to combat the expected economic crisis and not once mentioning his campaign or his performance in Tuesday’s primaries.
“In my own city, Burlington, Vermont, bars have been shut down, restaurants have been shut down, child care centers shut down, schools shut down, what happens to all the people who lose their jobs,” Sanders said as he outlined his plan to assist the country’s working class.
Sanders’ proposal includes giving $2,000 to every household every month for the duration of the pandemic “to take care of basic needs,” making it so Medicare will cover all medical bills for all people throughout the state of emergency and utilize the National Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers to build mobile hospitals and testing facilities.
Sanders added it is imperative that large corporations are not allowed to capitalize on the COVID-19 crisis and that the federal government’s first response should be to give relief to its citizens.
“We must make certain that this health and economic crisis is not another money-making opportunity for corporate America and for Wall Street,” he said.
The elections Tuesday night took place amid recommendations from state and federal government officials for citizens to stay away from large crowds and calls for primary elections to be delayed until after the coronavirus pandemic has subsided.
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maryland have postponed or moved to postpone their presidential primary elections.
The governor of Ohio, which was to hold its primary Tuesday, March 17, decided to order polling locations to close and not allow the state’s election to take place, but the other three states decided against such measures.
Polling in the days leading up to Tuesday had Biden up in Florida, Illinois and Arizona — ranging from leading by 17 points in one state to 38 points in another.
In 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was victorious over Sanders in all three of these primaries. Clinton beat Sanders 64.4% to 33.3% in Florida and came away with 57.6% of the vote in Arizona over Sanders’ 39.9%. The Illinois contest was quite close four years ago with Clinton coming away with the state thanks to just a 2-point margin.
With these victories, Biden continues to pad his lead in pledged delegates. Ahead of the three primaries, Biden had 898 delegates while Sanders had 745.
Earlier on Tuesday the Sanders campaign released a statement saying that the decision to vote was up to the individual and that they would not be conducting normal “get out the vote” efforts.
“We are making clear to voters that we believe going to the polls amid the coronavirus outbreak is a personal decision and we respect whichever choice they make,” wrote Mike Casca, a Sanders spokesperson, in a statement.
In the runup to March 17, Sanders had virtual campaign events, including a “fireside” town hall to discuss the coronavirus and a rally with Neil Young and other musicians.
On Monday, during the rally, which the campaign said was viewed more than 1.5 million times, the Vermont independent thanked his state teams and surrogates, but did not ask supporters to vote for him on Tuesday.
“I think in this unusual moment in American and world history it may be a time to rethink our value system, to rethink many of the systems that we operate under,” Sanders said, adding that he feels he has won the ideological battle in the Democratic Party — what has become a common refrain in recent weeks.
On Sunday, just before this week’s Democratic presidential debate, Biden’s campaign announced the former vice president now supports making public colleges and universities tuition-free for students whose parents make less that $125,000 per year — adopting a proposal similar to Sanders’ free university and college loan forgiveness plan.
During the debate, Biden committed to naming a woman as his running mate if he wins the nomination but Sanders only signaled that he was leaning towards naming a female, but that that gender was one of many factors he has been considering.
“For me, it’s not just nominating a woman,” Sanders said. “It is making sure that we have a progressive woman and there are progressive women out there. So my very strong tendency is to move in that direction.”
The road ahead for the Democratic primary includes March 29 elections scheduled for Puerto Rico, four more contests on April 4 and one on April 7 before a 21-day break until the end of the month.
