Super Tuesday Aftermath: Sanders Acknowledges Setback After Biden’s Big Night Image Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. held a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Credit... Josh Haner/The New York Times Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. enjoyed a dominant night on Super Tuesday, winning Democratic presidential primaries across the South and capturing one of the biggest prizes, Texas. Senator Bernie Sanders claimed his home state, Vermont, as well as Utah, Colorado and, according to The Associated Press, California, the country’s most delegate-rich state.

Tuesday’s results provided some clarity to a long-unclear race: Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders are now the undisputed front-runners and are likely to embark on a long battle for delegates. Mr. Sanders faces a real challenge to expand his support. And Senator Elizabeth Warren has seen her chances of seizing the party’s nomination dim to a flicker.

Mr. Sanders acknowledged in a news conference that he had “not done as well in bringing young people into the process” as he had expected, but he argued that would change in November should he get the nomination. He also declined to call on Ms. Warren to drop out, saying she should have time to make her own decision and pronouncing himself “disgusted” by the vitriol directed at her by some of his supporters.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York who had staked his self-funded campaign on Super Tuesday, dropped out of the race Wednesday morning and added his name to the list of ex-rivals who have endorsed Mr. Biden.

Here are highlights from Wednesday as we tracked the fallout from Super Tuesday, with the candidates now looking ahead to the next slate of contests on March 10: primaries in Michigan, Washington State, Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho, and caucuses in North Dakota.

March 4, 2020, 8:03 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 8:03 p.m. ET By Sydney Ember and We’re still waiting for that voter turnout boom Sanders promised. BURLINGTON, Vt. — A day after losing most Super Tuesday states to Joseph R. Biden Jr., Bernie Sanders delivered a striking assessment of his campaign, acknowledging that he was “disappointed” with the results and that his crucial campaign message of inspiring young people to vote was falling short. “Have we been as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in?” he told reporters during a hastily assembled news conference at his campaign office in Burlington, Vt. “The answer is no.” The concession underscored a fundamental challenge for Mr. Sanders’s political revolution, one that has become increasingly clear: In state after state, there has been little evidence — at least outside California — that he has generated higher turnout among young voters. And though he has promised to deliver record turnout, it may in fact be Mr. Biden who is accomplishing that, lifted by his strong support among black voters. Sydney Ember reported from Burlington, Vt., and Maggie Astor from New York. Read more

March 4, 2020, 8:00 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 8:00 p.m. ET By Jennifer Medina and Sanders bet big on California. Young people and Latinos delivered it to him. Image Senator Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally to get out the early vote for the California primary at Valley High School in Santa Ana, Calif. Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times LOS ANGELES — With millions of ballots left to count in California, it is impossible to know how the delegates will be allocated, and it may not be clear for several days or even weeks. But with Bernie Sanders receiving more than 70 percent of Latino voters under the age of 30, and about half of Latino voters over all, according to exit polls, his lead over the other candidates looked decisive: The Associated Press projected Mr. Sanders as the winner of the state just minutes after the polls closed. With 415 pledged delegates, California is by far the biggest prize of Super Tuesday, and Mr. Sanders had been banking on a significant win there. Read more

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March 4, 2020, 7:30 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 7:30 p.m. ET By Bloomberg faces something new for him: admitting defeat in public. There is no billionaire way to end a presidential campaign. “Not sure what you say,” Michael R. Bloomberg began, when his turn came on Wednesday, shrugging from the lectern at a Sheraton event hall in Midtown Manhattan. Mr. Bloomberg has done many things successfully in his life. He has won in business. He has won New York City Hall. He has won praise for his philanthropy. Any professional setbacks, like the layoff that preceded his company’s founding in the 1980s or the assorted stumbles of his mayoral bids, have been presented in the retelling as more character-building than demoralizing. And so, in his 78 years, Mr. Bloomberg had never confronted a moment quite like this: a big, heaping, public loss — hundreds of millions of dollars spent on a candidacy that survived only a single evening of voting returns — and a roomful of people to tell about it. Read more

March 4, 2020, 6:26 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 6:26 p.m. ET By ‘This is a movement,’ a resurgent Biden declares. LOS ANGELES — A day after Joseph R. Biden Jr. romped to victory in 10 states across the nation, reviving his once-languishing campaign in an extraordinary, late-breaking surge of strength, he reveled in his wins and urged unity, even as he took an oblique swipe at Bernie Sanders. “We welcome all those who want to join us,” he said, reading from teleprompters at the W Hotel in West Beverly Hills. “This is a movement.” Mr. Sanders has suggested repeatedly that he could reshape the electorate by bringing in more young voters and working-class voters of color — but Mr. Biden on Wednesday sought to lay claim to increased turnout in contests across the nation, fresh off victories fueled by strong support from African-American voters and white moderate suburbanites. “I’m especially proud that our campaign is generating so much enthusiasm, driving up voter turnout all across the nation,” he said. “This idea that we didn’t have a movement — look at the results. Look at who’s showing up.” His campaign, he said, is “bringing out people who have not participated. And it’s way up. Way up.” Mr. Biden was greatly aided in his campaign this week by the departures of Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg. Both endorsed him on Monday, as did Beto O’Rourke, another onetime rival who left the race earlier. His remarks here came hours after the news broke that his most formidable moderate rival still in the race, Michael R. Bloomberg, had dropped out and endorsed him, too. As Elizabeth Warren, who has struggled in all of the states to vote so far, weighs her next steps, the contest now looks to be a two-man race between Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders. In a sign of tensions to come, the Vermont senator has revived criticisms of Mr. Biden, zeroing in, for example, on his record on Social Security and his support in the past for freezes to the program. Mr. Biden appeared to nod to those dynamics as he outlined his vision for the country, emphasizing his commitment to protecting Social Security. He also noted his work with former President Barack Obama on matters like seeking to “rescue the auto industry,” an issue sure to be relevant in next week’s Michigan primary. Mr. Biden had insisted he would not take questions. But when a reporter asked him about Mr. Sanders’s insistence that he is backed by the “corporate establishment,” Mr. Biden whipped back to face the press. When I pressed @JoeBiden on @SenSanders’ claim his wins are a sign the “establishment” is trying to defeat sanders, Biden’s response: “The establishment are all those hard-working, middle class people, those African-Americans, those single women ...” — Kristen Welker (@kwelkernbc) March 4, 2020 “The establishment are all those hard-working, middle class people, those African-Americans, those single women” who, he implied, had supported him. He was drowned out by applause from supporters who stood behind him during his remarks. Read more

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March 4, 2020, 5:55 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 5:55 p.m. ET By Astead W. Herndon and As Warren considers her options, Sanders says they’ve spoken. Image Senator Elizabeth Warren at an event in Charleston, S.C., in February. Credit... Ruth Fremson/The New York Times With Elizabeth Warren assessing her options after a disappointing Super Tuesday, attention turned to what she might do next. Would she press ahead, despite a very low chance of success, and hope for further twists in what has been an unpredictable presidential race? Or would she perhaps drop out and endorse one of the leading candidates, or no one? Bernie Sanders, a longtime ideological ally, said on Wednesday afternoon that he and Ms. Warren had spoken by phone. “It is important, I think, for all of us — certainly me, who has known Elizabeth Warren for many, many years — to respect the time and the space that she needs to make her decision,” he said. Maurice Mitchell, the national political director for the Working Families Party, which has endorsed Ms. Warren, said he was “pleased” the two senators “are now speaking.” “They’re both giants of the progressive movement, and we are hopeful that they can figure out how to work together to ensure a progressive nominee and a progressive agenda in Washington,” Mr. Mitchell said. Astead W. Herndon reported from Detroit, and Shane Goldmacher from New York. Sydney Ember contributed reporting from Burlington, Vt. Read more

March 4, 2020, 5:33 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 5:33 p.m. ET By Nick Corasaniti and How Biden pulled off a big win in Texas. AUSTIN — Texas was not a state that played to Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s strengths, especially for a campaign that, four days before the Texas primary and without a significant win, looked positively weak. Yet with unwavering support from black voters in the cities and a surge in the suburbs, Mr. Biden notched his most significant win of the primary calendar here with an early-morning call on Wednesday, netting him a large and unexpected share of Texas’s 228 pledged delegates in the third-biggest state in the Democratic primary. The candidate made his Texas targets clear with his travel the day before Super Tuesday, campaigning in Houston and Dallas, two cities with large black populations and multiple congressional districts that could help build a delegate total. Final exit polls showed Mr. Biden outperforming Bernie Sanders among black voters by 60 percent to 17 percent, a margin that most likely helped offset Mr. Sanders’s 45 percent to 24 percent advantage among Latino voters. Read more

March 4, 2020, 5:29 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 5:29 p.m. ET By Scenes from an election night that went long. Image Gabriel Cortez urged his neighbors to vote at their local polling place in Stockton, Calif. Credit... Max Whittaker for The New York Times Image Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders watched Super Tuesday results come in at a Sanders campaign watch party in Austin, Texas. Credit... Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times Image Some voters reported waited in line for three hours at a polling place set up at the Hammer Museum in Westwood, Calif. Credit... September Dawn Bottoms for The New York Times

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March 4, 2020, 4:17 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 4:17 p.m. ET By Steve Bullock — remember him? — is eyeing a different 2020 race. Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana is poised to reverse himself and run for the Senate, according to three Democratic officials, a decision that would hand the party a coveted recruit who could help reclaim a majority in the chamber. After months of insisting he would not challenge Senator Steve Daines, Mr. Bullock, who ran for president last year, has told Democrats in the last week he is now inclined to run in what would immediately become one of the marquee Senate races of 2020. Mr. Bullock has only a few days to finalize his decision: The filing deadline to run in Montana is Monday. Senate Democrats are chiefly on the offensive this year, and have high hopes to defeat incumbent Republicans in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and North Carolina, where on Tuesday their preferred candidate captured the nomination. But with Republicans holding a 53-seat majority, and favored to defeat Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, it has not been clear which state could offer Democrats the fifth seat they would need to win a clear majority.

March 4, 2020, 3:59 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 3:59 p.m. ET By Bloomberg addresses supporters: ‘It’s still the best day of my life.’ Image Michael R. Bloomberg addressed supporters on Wednesday in New York. Credit... Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times Michael R. Bloomberg thanked his supporters and campaign staff on Wednesday for what he said were “some of the most inspiring” months of his life, just hours after announcing that he would end his campaign for president. “Not sure what you say,” Mr. Bloomberg said, as he began a 15-minute address, “other than thank you to everybody here who’s tried to make a difference.” Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, won only one Super Tuesday contest — the caucuses in American Samoa — despite spending over half a billion dollars on advertising alone. When he announced he was dropping out of the primary on Wednesday morning, he endorsed Joseph R Biden Jr., a relative moderate in the field whose recent revival damaged Mr. Bloomberg at the polls. “I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it, and after yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” Mr. Bloomberg said Wednesday. He noted that Super Tuesday had left him without a path to victory, saying, “after yesterday’s results, the delegate math had become virtually impossible.” Still, he insisted there was “no doubt in my mind we would have beaten Donald Trump in November.” “Today, I’m sorry we didn’t win, but it’s still the best day of my life, and tomorrow’s going to be even better,” he said, sending the crowd into a chant of “We like Mike!” Read more

March 4, 2020, 3:41 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 3:41 p.m. ET By The Maine primary is called for Joe Biden. Image Supporters of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. at an event in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Credit... Josh Haner/The New York Times Joseph R. Biden Jr. has won the Maine primary, notching a tight victory that bolsters his already strong Super Tuesday performance and dealing another blow to Bernie Sanders. Mr. Biden’s narrow win was his 10th Super Tuesday triumph in 14 state primary contests and deprives Mr. Sanders of a victory in a state geographically close to his home state of Vermont. Mr. Sanders was trailing Mr. Biden by a thin margin Wednesday and will earn a share of Maine’s 24 delegates. Elizabeth Warren is hovering right around the 15 percent threshold and will receive delegates if she ultimately clears it.

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March 4, 2020, 3:26 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 3:26 p.m. ET By Sanders says he is ‘disappointed’ with Super Tuesday results. Image Senator Bernie Sanders in Burlington, Vt., on Wednesday. Credit... Jacob Hannah for The New York Times BURLINGTON, Vt. — A day after losing the majority of Super Tuesday states to Joseph R. Biden Jr., Bernie Sanders delivered a striking assessment of his campaign, admitting he was “disappointed” with the results and acknowledging that he was falling short in inspiring young people to vote. “Of course I’m disappointed,” he told reporters during a hastily assembled news conference at his campaign office in Burlington, Vt. “I would like to win every state by a landslide. It’s not going to happen.” On the subject of young people, he said: “Have we been as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in? And the answer is no.” Mr. Sanders said he had spoken with Elizabeth Warren, his chief ideological rival, several hours ago by phone and that she told him she was “assessing her campaign.” He added: “She has not made any decisions as of this point, and it is important, I think, for all of us — certainly me, who has known Elizabeth Warren for many, many years — to respect the time and the space that she needs to make her decision.” He declined to call on Ms. Warren to drop out, and pronounced himself “disgusted” by the vitriol directed at her by some of his supporters. Mr. Sanders also underscored the importance of Michigan and the rest of the Midwest, where he and Mr. Biden are competing for an overlapping slice of the electorate, especially white working-class voters. He called Michigan, in particular, “enormously important,” adding: “We are going in there with a full expectation and hope that we will win.” As he has begun to do in recent days, he framed the race as one between him and Mr. Biden and he drew explicit contrasts between his record and the former vice president’s. “Joe and I have a very different voting record,” he said. “Joe and I have a very different vision for the future of this country. And Joe and I are running very different campaigns.” “And my hope is that in the coming months, we will be able to debate and discuss the very significant differences that we have,” he added. Read more

March 4, 2020, 2:59 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 2:59 p.m. ET By Bloomberg News lifts coverage restrictions after its boss drops out. Life is back to normal at Bloomberg News. Hours after the company’s founder, Michael R. Bloomberg, dropped out of the Democratic presidential race, Bloomberg News informed its journalists that the restrictions imposed on their coverage of the election — which had caused consternation in the newsroom — had officially been lifted. “Now that Mike has said he is leaving the race for President, we will return to our normal coverage of the election,” John Micklethwait, the editor in chief of Bloomberg News, wrote in a memo on Wednesday. “We will follow exactly the same coverage rules for the Democratic presidential candidates and President Donald Trump.” How to cover a campaign when the boss is a candidate was a vexing question for Bloomberg’s political journalists, who had deep concerns about maintaining credibility with readers. Other candidates accused the news outlet of bias. Inside the newsroom, some journalists chafed at Mr. Micklethwait’s directive that they avoid “investigating” Mr. Bloomberg and his Democratic rivals. In his memo, Mr. Micklethwait wrote that Bloomberg News would disclose Mr. Bloomberg’s “financial support for other Democrats” in its campaign coverage going forward, “just as we have always done where his financial support for political causes is relevant to our reporting.” He added: “I would like to pay tribute to everybody who has covered the campaigns — and the independent way that we have reported the race.” Read more

March 4, 2020, 2:44 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 2:44 p.m. ET By Matt Stevens and Homeland security secretary is urged to consider Secret Service protection for candidates. Image A demonstrator protesting the dairy industry was dragged offstage after coming within feet of Joseph R. Biden Jr. at a rally in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Credit... Josh Haner/The New York Times Representative Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, sent a letter to the acting secretary of homeland security and other House leaders asking them to immediately meet to consider providing Secret Service protection to Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Bernie Sanders. In his letter, Mr. Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, said that “Americans deserve to know that the major candidates for president are protected from all threats to their safety,” and urged decision makers to begin deciding whether to provide a federal security detail. The letter, dated Wednesday, was submitted one day after protesters were able to gain access to the stage at an election night rally in Los Angeles and disrupt Mr. Biden’s speech before being pulled away. “I can tell you that the Democratic Congress is worried about it,” Representative Cedric L. Richmond of Louisiana, a national co-chair of Mr. Biden’s campaign, said on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday when asked about security concerns after the disruption. In Mr. Thompson’s letter, he said the authority to determine which candidates should be given Secret Service protection rests with the secretary of homeland security, who must consult with an advisory committee of congressional leaders. Guidelines outlining the process for making such a determination were issued in 2017, the letter said. Mr. Thompson also argued that Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders appeared to satisfy several of the criteria necessary to be granted protection. “Taking into consideration the remaining candidates’ large campaign operations, high polling averages, as well as physical threats to their safety — all factors contemplated by the guidelines — I urge you to immediately initiate the consultation process to determine whether to provide U.S.S.S. protection to certain major Democratic presidential candidates,” the letter said. A spokesman for Mr. Thompson’s committee said the letter was in the process of being distributed Wednesday afternoon; he could not provide a timeline or estimate on when the committee might receive a response. Read more

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March 4, 2020, 2:20 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 2:20 p.m. ET By What was Super Tuesday’s effect on the overall delegate count? Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s strong showing on Super Tuesday has opened a clear path for the former vice president to amass enough delegates to secure the nomination ahead of the Democratic National Convention. Though Bernie Sanders remains competitive in the pledged delegate count, the results leave room for doubt about whether he can catch up before the convention, in July, unless there is another stunning turn in the race, this one in his favor. The demographics of the states that will be awarding most of the delegates from here on out are less favorable to him. And in many Super Tuesday states, he was helped by the large numbers of early voters who had cast ballots before the South Carolina race, when the party’s moderate voters were still divided. That’s an advantage he will no longer have going forward.

March 4, 2020, 1:55 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 1:55 p.m. ET By Super Tuesday is over. So what comes next? Image Voter rolls at a Stockton, Calif., polling place on Tuesday. Credit... Max Whittaker for The New York Times Super Tuesday is now over, but the Democratic primary still has a long way to go, of course. Five states — Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and Washington — are holding primaries next Tuesday, and North Dakota will hold Democratic caucuses. Altogether, more than 350 delegates will be at stake, including 125 in the Michigan contest, which will provide a test in a Midwestern general election swing state. It will be worth closely watching how the remaining candidates do among voters in the Michigan suburbs, African-Americans and working-class white voters. The Tuesday after that, March 17, will feature four more critical state primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio. There is a debate scheduled in Phoenix two days before the contests take place. If one candidate sweeps all of the March 17 contests, pressure will increase on others to drop out. For more on what is still to come, have a look at our election calendar: Read more

March 4, 2020, 1:30 p.m. ET March 4, 2020, 1:30 p.m. ET By Emily Cochrane and Henry Cuellar defeats Jessica Cisneros in close Texas contest. Image Jessica Cisneros addressed supporters on Tuesday night in Laredo, Texas. Credit... Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, an eight-term incumbent and one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, narrowly defeated a primary challenge from Jessica Cisneros, a 26-year-old immigration lawyer running to unseat him in the state’s 28th Congressional District. Ms. Cisneros had run a progressive grass-roots campaign against Mr. Cuellar, whom she called “Trump’s favorite Democrat” because of his conservative voting record; Mr. Cuellar also has an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association. Ms. Cisneros, who was backed by Justice Democrats and endorsed by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, presented herself as a candidate who would fight for gun reform, the Green New Deal and “Medicare for all.” With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Cuellar bested Ms. Cisneros by just under 3,000 votes. “The first thing we had to defeat was the culture of fear — and our movement was victorious in proving we’re within striking distance of bringing fundamental change to South Texas,” Ms. Cisneros said in a statement. This fight was an opportunity to prove that a brown girl from the border with a whole community behind her could take on the machine and bring hope to South Texans.



This is just the beginning in #TX28. pic.twitter.com/E3b4um8zKd — Jessica Cisneros (@JCisnerosTX) March 4, 2020 Mr. Cuellar, meanwhile, said his win demonstrated that Democrats wanted “a big tent party, where moderates are welcome.” “As Democrats, we must continue protecting the majority in the House, taking back the Senate, as well as taking back the White House,” he added. “I am proud to have overcome this challenge, and to my opponent I wish you the best. Hoping to send a message to the left flank, party leaders in Washington had closed ranks around Mr. Cuellar, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and other top Democratic lawmakers rallying behind him late last month at a campaign stop in Laredo. “My role is to win the House for the Democrats and to do so by winning for our incumbents,” Ms. Pelosi said on Friday. “I would like them to get a nice win so that there’s a message for the future, for the next election and the rest.” Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, which in 2018 helped Ms. Ocasio-Cortez topple Joseph Crowley, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement that there was a key difference this time around. “After defeating Joe Crowley two years ago, we didn’t have the element of surprise, and the party machine and big corporate donors on the other side fought us back hard,” she said. “This is just the beginning for Jessica, and it’s certainly not the end of the movement we’ve built together in South Texas.” Catie Edmonson contributed reporting. Read more

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