News coverage of Super Tuesday 2020 | CNN Politics

Super Tuesday 2020

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., accompanied by his wife Jane O'Meara Sanders and other family members, speaks during a primary night election rally in Essex Junction, Vt., Tuesday, March 3, 2020.
Hear what the candidates had to say on Super Tuesday
- Source: CNN

Where things stand now

  • The latest results: CNN projects that Joe Biden will win 10 states, compared to three states for Bernie Sanders. California is too close to call.
  • Bloomberg out: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ended his campaign and endorsed Biden.

Our live coverage has ended. Scroll through the posts below for Super Tuesday results or read more here.

112 Posts

JUST IN: CNN projects Biden wins Maine

Joe Biden will win the Maine Democratic primary, according to a projection from the CNN Decision Desk.

There are 24 delegates at stake in Maine.

Who won in 2016: Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses and Ted Cruz won the Republican caucuses. 

Watch:

Bloomberg: It's clear Biden has the best shot at beating Trump

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who dropped out of the 2020 presidential race earlier today, is addressing supporters in New York.

He said it’s now important for voters to unite to beat President Trump in November, and urged his supporters to get behind former Vice President Joe Biden.

Bloomberg added that if he was able to secure the Democratic nomination, he would have been able to beat Trump in the general election.

“And you know who else knows that? Donald Trump. He’s been scared stiff of us and for good reason because every time he hit us, we hit back twice as hard,” Bloomberg said.

Watch:

What happens to delegates pledged to dropouts?

District-level delegates pledged to former candidates like Mike Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar will become very popular if the fight goes all the way to the convention.

There’s nothing that legally requires them to vote for anyone in particular, although different state parties have different rules. The national party says they should follow their conscience.

Most state-level pledged delegates have not been selected yet, so they will be reallocated among remaining candidates once they are finally selected.

Read more here.

Warren's decision complicated by possible endorsement options

The biggest decision facing Elizabeth Warren is not whether to end her campaign, but rather whether to endorse Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders or neither.

“That’s the only real choice facing her now,” a Warren adviser tells CNN.

Warren is closer to Sanders — policy speaking — but those ties are strained. Some advisers believe her best path is to be considered as a vice president to Biden.

As CNN has reported, Warren is assessing her path forward. Her plan was to emerge as the alternative to Biden and Sanders — with her sights set on appearing on the debate stage in Phoenix later this month.

Those hopes are now almost certainly dashed. But Warren has to make the decision for herself: When to drop out and who — or whether — to endorse.

Joe Biden thanks Bloomberg for his support

Joe Biden took to Twitter to thank Mike Bloomberg today after the former New York mayor dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed him.

Biden wrote in a tweet tagging Bloomberg, “I can’t thank you enough for you support.”

Biden and Bloomberg also spoke by phone this morning, a Bloomberg aide tells CNN.

Here’s Biden’s tweet:

Trump goes after Bloomberg on Twitter

President Trump went after Mike Bloomberg on Twitter just after the former New York mayor announced he was ending his presidential bid.

Trump also added that now Bloomberg will pour money into former VP Joe Biden’s campaign “hoping to save face” and “it won’t work.”

More context: Bloomberg ended his presidential campaign today and endorsed Joe Biden, closing out a costly run that saw him spend hundreds of millions of his own money to fund his late entry bid.

“I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” he wrote in a statement.

Bloomberg's exit means he won't have to disclose his personal fortune

Michael Bloomberg’s decision today to drop out of the race also means the former New York mayor won’t have to make public details about his vast media and financial-data fortune.

The former New York City mayor was due to file his first personal financial disclosure report with federal election regulators on March 20, after seeking and receiving two extensions on the filing deadline.

Now that he’s dropped out, the requirement for public disclosure also goes away. 

Forbes pegs at Bloomberg’s net worth at $60 billion.

Lindsey Graham says Biden will be "tough" to beat

Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaks during a campaign rally for President Donald Trump in Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday, March 2.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said he told President Trump that Joe Biden is “going to be tough” to beat — “but still thinks it is Trump’s to lose.”

Asked if Senate Republicans would go after Biden about Hunter Biden’s role with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, Graham said: “If you are going to run for President, and you were in charge of the Ukrainian anti-corruption campaign as Vice President, and your son is sitting on the most corrupt company in the country while you’re trying to clean up the country, yeah that will come up.”

Asked if he would investigate the matter, he said: “Ron Johnson’s doing it,” referring to the Republican senator from Wisconsin.

Warren campaign manager sends staff email saying "we are disappointed in the results" of Super Tuesday

On the heels of a very disappointing Super Tuesday, Elizabeth Warren’s campaign manager Roger Lau sent an email today to staff, thanking everyone for their work and also saying bluntly about last night: “We fell well short of viability goals and projections, and we are disappointed in the results.”

Lau writes that “we’re still waiting for more results to come in to get a better sense of the final delegate math,” and that this 2020 race has been “volatile,” but again stresses that the team is “disappointed.” 

And a key line from the email on Warren’s thinking:

CNN is told the note went out to everyone on campaign payroll. This comes as we are also reporting this morning that Warren is now assessing her path forward with her team.

Bloomberg tweets Biden is the best candidate to defeat Trump

Just minutes after dropping out of the race for president, Mike Bloomberg tweeted that he believes Joe Biden is the Democrats’ best chance to defeat Trump.

Bloomberg endorses Joe Biden

In a statement announcing that he is ending his presidential bid, former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg said that he is endorsing Joe Biden for president.

Bloomberg wrote:

JUST IN: Bloomberg ends presidential campaign

Michael Bloomberg ended his presidential campaign on Wednesday, closing out an audacious run that saw the former New York mayor spend hundreds of millions of his own money to fund his late entry bid.

Bloomberg exits the race after a disappointing show on Super Tuesday that left him with only a single victory: American Samoa.

Warren is talking to her team to assess path forward

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is talking to her team to assess the path forward this morning, a Warren aide tells CNN.

Warren lost her home state of Massachusetts to Joe Biden, a jarring and perhaps final insult to her presidential campaign on another disappointing primary night.

Anti-Sanders super PAC founder: "Moderates are the clear majority in the party"

Anti-Bernie Sanders super PAC founder Jonathan Kott, a former aide to Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, was triumphant Tuesday night after the Vermont senator’s disappointing second-place finish in several Super Tuesday state’s primaries.

“I think once voters get to know Bernie Sanders, they reject him,” he told CNN. “He’s losing, and moderates are the clear majority in the party.”

Kott started the PAC, the Big Tent Project, after last month’s New Hampshire primary, when he said a group of Democratic donors approached him with concerns Sanders could be running away with the nomination without an exploration of his record.

Big Tent raised an initial $2 million before the South Carolina primary, Kott told CNN last week. He said it spent on targeted mailers and digital ads that were critical of Sanders and cast him as unrealistic and unelectable.

Kott told CNN on Monday that since former Vice President Joe Biden won South Carolina’s primary, Big Tent raised an additional $4 million. Nearly all of that, Kott said, was going to digital ads targeting voters in Super Tuesday states.

The super PAC got the attention of Sanders himself on Monday, when he told reporters that Kott and his group should disclose its donors. The senator also called the effort a part of the party’s corporate establishment trying to stop him from winning the nomination.

What Trump is tweeting about Super Tuesday this morning

President Trump is up and tweeting before 7 a.m. ET this morning, again claiming that the “Democrat establishment” is working against Sen. Bernie Sanders 2020 Presidential campaign. 

CNN projects that Former Vice President Joe Biden will win 9 states, compared to three states for Sanders. Maine and California are too close to call.

Biden wins Texas, CNN projects

Joe Biden will defeat Bernie Sanders in Texas, CNN projects, in a dramatic and surprising Super Tuesday victory for his resurgent campaign.

This is his ninth win tonight. Texas has 228 delegates at stake.

Who won in 2016: Hillary Clinton won the 2016 Democratic primary and Ted Cruz won the Republican primary. 

Watch:

Here's where things stand in Texas right now

Joe Biden is holding his lead over Bernie Sanders in Texas right now.

With 82% of the vote in, Biden is leading with 33.2% over Sanders, who has 29.3%.

Important note: There are 228 delegates at stake in Texas.

Watch:

Los Angeles County polls close despite Sanders request to remain open

Voters wait to cast their ballots at Mendez High School in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, Tuesday, March 3.

Los Angeles County polling places closed Tuesday night despite an emergency motion filed by the Bernie Sanders campaign requesting to keep them open until 10 p.m. local time, L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said.

Voters already in line at the time of closing at 8 p.m. local time were allowed to cast their vote, Logan said.

Late deciders were Biden's strength in Texas

Late deciders helped power former Vice President Joe Biden to a leading position in the delegate-rich state’s Democratic primary.

Nearly half of voters who picked their candidate in the last few days supported Biden, who jump-started his campaign with a big win in South Carolina on Saturday.

Only 1 in 5 of the late deciders, just under a quarter of the Democratic electorate, chose Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Biden’s surge after South Carolina attracted some voters in demographic groups that were solidly in Sanders’ corner. While the senator was the top choice among Hispanic voters in general, those who decided in the last few days were likelier to go for Biden. More than a third selected the former vice president, while fewer than 3 in 10 picked Sanders.

Liberal Texans who made up their minds in the final days also went for Biden, who garnered about 1 in 5 of their voters, versus only about a quarter who supported Sanders. Among liberals in general, the figures were essentially reversed.

And among voters age 44 or younger who decided recently, Biden narrowed the gap between him and Sanders. Just under a third selected the former vice president, while just over a third picked Sanders. But among those who decided earlier, nearly two-third supported Sanders and just 1 in 10 chose Biden.

Watch:

Is there a ceiling on the Sanders coalition?

Sen. Bernie Sanders has argued again and again that he can build the biggest coalition of voters — and when turnout is high, he wins. Tonight, neither of those were true.

Turnout was up — dramatically in some cases — and it favored Joe Biden. Particularly in the suburbs of Virginia, North Carolina and Texas.

Sanders has not shown that he can expand his coalition from 2016 — in many cases his votes have gone down.

Tonight one of the biggest takeaways of the night: Is there a ceiling on the Sanders’ coalition?

The Sanders campaign is pointing to California — holding out hope that gains there will overtake an overall disappointing night for Sanders — but that doesn’t change the fact that the Joe Biden coalition is growing.

A Sanders adviser concedes the campaign will have to grow, pointing to younger voters as a potential area.

Sanders’ coalition is sticky, but so far, it’s static.

GO DEEPER

Biden racks up Buttigieg, Klobuchar, O’Rourke endorsements on same night
Here’s who spent big on ads in Super Tuesday states
Biden on Bloomberg: ‘He’s not a Democrat’
Sanitizer and wipes: California preps for Super Tuesday as coronavirus spreads
Biden races to lock down moderates with expected endorsements from Klobuchar and Buttigieg
4 Democratic candidates. 6 major issues. Hear their promises

GO DEEPER

Biden racks up Buttigieg, Klobuchar, O’Rourke endorsements on same night
Here’s who spent big on ads in Super Tuesday states
Biden on Bloomberg: ‘He’s not a Democrat’
Sanitizer and wipes: California preps for Super Tuesday as coronavirus spreads
Biden races to lock down moderates with expected endorsements from Klobuchar and Buttigieg
4 Democratic candidates. 6 major issues. Hear their promises