Harry Reid endorses Joe Biden: Campaign update

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid endorsed Joe Biden, joining a list of party luminaries who said they would back the former vice president on Monday.

Biden’s “strength of character and deep experience” contrast with President Donald Trump’s “amorality, corruption and utter incompetence” Reid said in a statement. “Biden will be a much-needed stabilizing force following Trump’s disastrous term, offering a positive and progressive alternative to Trump’s dark vision of racism, xenophobia and policies built on cruelty and exclusion,” he added.

Reid stayed neutral during last week’s caucuses in Nevada, where he built a formidable statewide political machine.

Reid’s endorsement comes as two other moderate Democrats, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, have dropped out of the race.

Klobuchar Is Dropping Out of Presidential Race (1:39 p.m.)

Amy Klobuchar ended her bid for the presidency Monday and plans to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, a day before the biggest primary night of the 2020 campaign.

The Klobuchar campaign said she will fly to Dallas late Monday for a rally with Biden where she will officially suspend her campaign and endorse him.

Her decision comes as Democratic Party leaders seem to be coalescing around Biden after his commanding win of the South Carolina primary Feb. 29. Another centrist candidate, Pete Buttigieg, dropped out Sunday night.

Biden supporters have also been calling on Michael Bloomberg to drop out to avoid splitting moderate votes with Biden on Super Tuesday, and allowing Bernie Sanders to gain a plurality of delegates at the nominating convention.

(Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

California Says Coronavirus Won’t Affect Voting (1:11 p.m.)

California election officials say there’s no reason to expect coronavirus to affect voting on Super Tuesday.

The state is working with emergency and public health agencies to make sure voting won’t be disrupted, and many counties are already ahead of the game.

More than a dozen counties – including major ones like Sacramento, Fresno and Orange – automatically sent all voters a mail-in ballot that can be dropped off at a voting center or sent back through the U.S. Postal Service.

“In California, there are already multiple options for voters to cast their ballots built right into our system,“ said Sam Mahood, a spokesman for the California Secretary of State’s office.

Los Angeles County is not participating in mail-in balloting, however, and has reduced the number of polling places, which some fear could lead to longer lines.

Biden Endorsements Roll In After South Carolina (11:59 a.m.)

After a commanding win in South Carolina, endorsements are rolling in for Joe Biden from elected officials.

Since Saturday, the former vice president has picked up the support of Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth; former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe; Virginia Representatives Bobby Scott, Don Beyer and Jennifer Wexton; former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz; and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, among others.

Biden’s win in South Carolina was given a huge boost by the last-minute support of Representative Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American member of Congress.

It’s unlikely Biden will get a similar boost from any of these specific endorsements, but the pace of announcements suggests that he is consolidating support from the Democratic establishment ahead of Super Tuesday.

He was already far ahead of the other Democratic candidates in endorsements from other elected officials. – Gregory Korte

Biden Expects to Benefit From Buttigieg’s Exit (7:43 a.m.)

Joe Biden says his path forward on Super Tuesday has gotten a little easier since Pete Buttigieg ended his presidential campaign Sunday after failing to secure the diverse coalition needed to win the Democratic nomination.

“He was a real competitor. He is a real competitor. And I think it probably does,” the former vice president said of Buttigieg and his exit in an interview with ABC that aired Monday on “Good Morning America.”

“If I were president, I would pretty much like to see him part of whatever I do,” Biden said.

The decision by Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to drop out just before voters in 14 states go to the polls may help Biden secure backing from more moderate and establishment Democrats in an effort to blunt Bernie Sanders’s momentum.

Buttigieg, 38, a newcomer to the national stage, outlasted several senators and governors to win the delegate race in the Iowa caucuses. Ultimately, his fourth-place finish in South Carolina proved to be the final blow to his candidacy, as it demonstrated his inability to win over voters of color, which made his path to the nomination nearly impossible. – Elzabeth Wasserman

– With assistance from Gregory Korte and Elizabeth Wasserman.