Biden Wins Arizona Primary By Wide Margin, Completing Sweep Of Tuesday Elections

Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Arizona primary on Tuesday night, further separating him from Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), despite the coronavirus pandemic. 

Biden has already won 16 states, including 10 on Super Tuesday,  and had a strong presence at the last debate. According to FiveThirtyEight, Biden has a 25-point lead over Sanders with about 52 percent of support. 

This comes as a surprise to Sanders’ campaign who was counting on Arizona’s Latino population. Latinos make up about a quarter of Arizona’s eligible voters.

Arizona has 67 delegates; 23 which are assigned based on statewide results and 44 assigned according to results from Arizona’s nine congressional districts. It’s still uncertain how many delegates either candidate will receive. 

Other states who were also supposed to vote on Tuesday, like Ohio, were forced to reschedule their primaries over concerns of the coronavirus spreading through polling sites. Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s Secretary of State, said officials didn’t delay the primaries because it would be harder to hold the contest later on as the virus continues to spread.

“This decision was not made lightly, and what it all comes down to is that we have no guarantee that there will be a safer time to hold this election in the near future,” Hobbs said. “The longer we wait, the more difficult and dangerous it could become.”

Those who were not able to vote early via mail-in ballot by March 11 were allowed to deliver their ballots to polling stations.