Former Vice President Joe Biden handily won Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary, the first 2020 contest in a “blue wall” state, bringing him a step closer to sealing the nomination and demonstrating support in a general-election battleground.
The partial unofficial results may also offer clues about the outcome in Ohio and Illinois, which vote next week and could give the former vice president an insurmountable delegate lead in what has quickly narrowed to a two-person race. Mr. Biden beat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 53 percent to 36 percent.
Michigan’s primary comes amid a chaotic period domestically and internationally as officials work to contain the rapidly spreading new coronavirus. Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders canceled rallies in Cleveland on Tuesday night, the first major campaign events called off because of the virus.
Mr. Sanders’ loss in Michigan is a blow to a candidate who won the first three presidential nominating contests, but lost steam after Mr. Biden’s South Carolina blowout.
It’s also significant following the 2016 primary, when Mr. Sanders narrowly won Michigan against Hillary Clinton, producing the biggest upset of the primary cycle after he was projected to lose by double digits. Faced with similar odds in 2020, he failed to pull off the same feat.
Mr. Biden, whose campaign has emphasized unity and a return to governing before Mr. Trump, delivered an election-night remarks in Philadelphia. Mr. Sanders declined to speak on Tuesday night.
“Pundits declared this candidacy dead,” Mr. Biden said. “Now, it’s very much alive.”
The former vice president struck a note of unity in his remarks, thanking Mr. Sanders and his supporters “for their tireless passion. We share a common goal, and together we’ll beat Donald Trump.”
“Tonight, we are a step closer to restoring dignity, decency, and honor to the White House. That’s our ultimate goal,” Mr. Biden said. “We need American leadership. We need presidential leadership that's honest, trusted, truthful, and steady.”
Michigan’s secretary of state said official election results are not expected until Wednesday because of the high number of absentee ballots cast under a new state law. The Associated Press called the race for Mr. Biden just after 9 p.m.
Mr. Biden was also carried Idaho, Missouri, and Mississippi; Mr. Sanders won North Dakota and is projected to win Washington state.
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania make up the so-called “blue wall” states that President Trump cracked for an edge in the Electoral College. He won these states by the slimmest of margins — less than 80,000 votes combined — along with Ohio, which he carried by an 8-point margin.
But while Ohio has since trended redder, Michigan showed in the 2018 midterms that Democrats have an easier time winning statewide, making it more competitive in the general election.
Mr. Biden’s Michigan win doesn’t guarantee him victory next week in Ohio, but the states share attributes that make them similar politically. Both have grappled with manufacturing decline. Both have conservative rural areas and suburbs with swing voters. But Michigan is more racially diverse, with a large African American population that failed to show up in force to the polls in 2016.
Both candidates recognized the importance of Michigan, which is the biggest prize of the day with 125 delegates at stake. After canceling events in Mississippi, Mr. Sanders made appeals to students and the state’s large Arab-American community. Mr. Biden met with auto workers and community leaders in Flint, the largely African-American city where drinking water was poisoned by lead-tainted pipes.
But campaigning didn’t always go smoothly. Mr. Sanders didn’t deliver a planned speech on race at town hall in Flint. At his Detroit rally, Mr. Biden was interrupted by demonstrators decrying his early support of the North American Free Trade Agreement and his failure to embrace the Green New Deal. On Tuesday, Mr. Biden had a testy exchange with a worker at Detroit’s Fiat Chrysler plant.
As attention shifts to Ohio — which also shares it primary day with Arizona and Florida — both candidates had planned get-out-the-vote rallies as Michigan returns were announced. But Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday advised against public gatherings including indoor sporting events after three people in Cuyahoga County contracted coronavirus.
Mr. Biden appeared in Columbus earlier in the day and promised to enact stronger gun-control measures, citing last summer’s mass shooting in Dayton.
“Assault weapons, high-capacity magazines are designed for no other purpose than to kill and as quickly as possible. No one needs that,” Mr. Biden said alongside gun-control advocates.
Candidates are also limiting hand-shaking and hugging. Squirts of hand sanitizer were offered to guests as they entered Mr. Biden’s rally on Monday.
The coronavirus spread could reshape the 2020 presidential election cycle for both parties in unforeseen ways, including curtailing Mr. Trump’s large and boisterous campaign rallies.
“I think this is a decision that will be made literally on a day-to-day basis,” Vice President Mike Pence said at a White House news conference on Tuesday.
The Trump campaign has sought to paint both Democratic candidates with the same broad brush.
“It has never mattered who the Democrat nominee turns out to be, and now that there are only two options left, it is clear that they are two sides of the same coin,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said. “The Democrat candidate for president will be running on a big government socialist agenda regardless of the name on the ballot.”
First Published March 11, 2020, 1:14 a.m.
