Joe Biden, whose campaign for president was on life support just a week ago, racked up a series of stunning wins in Super Tuesday primaries, putting him in the driver's seat in a race that now has one-time front-runner Bernie Sanders on the defensive in his effort to win the nomination and remake the party in his democratic socialist image.

Biden won at least 9 of 14 states holding primaries Tuesday, including landslide victories in states he was expected less than two weeks ago to lose. He swept southern states and even scored an upset in Massachusetts, the home state of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and in Minnesota, whose senior senator, Amy Klobuchar, endorsed Biden Monday night.

Cartoons on the 2020 Election View All 246 Images

One of Biden’s most unexpected wins was in Texas, where he was locked in a neck-and-neck race with Sanders late into the night. And Maine was still too close to call but the candidates would likely end up with similar delegate takes from both Texas and Maine because of the close results. Even a draw would have been a win for Biden: Sanders was heavily favored in Maine and was ahead in polls in Texas.

Biden and Sanders were neck-and-neck in Texas and Maine, meaning each would likely end up with similar delegate takes from each state. Even a draw in those states is a win for Biden: Sanders was heavily favored in Maine and was ahead in polls in Texas. But nearly six hours after the polls closed there were reports of some voters still waiting in line to vote at some precincts in Texas.

Sanders won his home state of Vermont, as well as Utah and Colorado. Warren did not win a single state, raising questions about her long-term viability, while former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg won only American Samoa.

Sanders was projected to win delegate-rich California, even as mail-in votes need to be counted. But that expected victory did not thwart the remarkable recovery former Vice President Biden has engineered since his blowout win in South Carolina Saturday night.

It was a night when momentum mattered, home state loyalties could not be counted on, and money didn't talk very loudly. Biden capitalized on a landslide win Saturday night in South Carolina to win a slew of contests in the South, fueled in part by overwhelming support from African American voters. In virtually every state, Biden did better than predicted in polling from a week or two ago, as he began to look like the man he has insisted his entire campaign that he embodies: the most formidable opponent to President Donald Trump.

"Make no mistake about it – I can fight!" a fiery Biden told cheering supporters. But "we need as badly someone who can heal," he added. "We are better than this moment. We are better than this president. It's time we get up and take back our country!"

Pundits had all but declared him politically dead just a week ago, but instead, "it may be over for the other guy," Biden said in a clear reference to Sanders.

The night started well for Biden, who learned he had won Virginia by 30 percentage points, despite having just a single office there and being vastly outspent. He followed with a double digit win in North Carolina.

In mid- to late February, Biden was lagging in both states, as his poor performance in Iowa and New Hampshire undercut his central campaign argument – that he was best positioned to defeat President Donald Trump in November. Biden had been running second or even third in some Virginia polls, behind Sanders and Bloomberg, and neck-and-neck with Sanders in North Carolina.

But Biden's blowout win in South Carolina, especially his strength among African American voters, appeared to have reversed the storyline for the third-time presidential candidate. He went on to rack up wins in Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama before taking three states he was never expected to be competitive: Oklahoma, Minnesota and Massachusetts.

Sanders brushed off the disappointing results, telling supporters "I can tell you with absolute confidence we are going to win the nomination and we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country."

In a reference to his repeated complaint – that "establishment" Democrats were desperate to deny him the nomination he feels he rightly deserves – Sanders said "We are not only taking on the corporate establishment. We are taking on the political establishment!"

Sanders has argued that he can bring young people and new voters into the political mix, expanding his base and building a progressive coalition that can unite to beat Trump in November. But Super Tuesday results indicated Sanders was not achieving that pledge.

He lost both Oklahoma and Minnesota, both states he won in 2016. He consistently did well among his most devoted base – young voters — but in Tuesday's contests, Sanders did not win over older voters or African Americans, both necessary for a strong Democratic showing in a general election.

Multi-billionaire Bloomberg, who mounted an unusual Super Tuesday strategy after a late entry to the race, found that the hundreds of millions of dollars of his own $60 billion fortune he spent netted not a single win in a U.S. state. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, won only American Samoa netting 4 delegates.

Bloomberg played down the results as he spoke to supporters in Miami on Tuesday evening.

"As the results come in, here's what is clear: no matter how many delegates we win tonight, we have done something no one thought was possible," Bloomberg told a crowd in Florida, which votes March 17. "In just three months, we've gone from 1% in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination for president."

Warren spent Super Tuesday night in Michigan, which holds its primary March 10, and said she was "in this race because I believe I will make the best president of the United States.

"I was not born a politician. But I was born a fighter," Warren added.

The night was a win not just for Biden, but for Democrats who feared the crowded field and uneven performances by Biden on the campaign trail would make Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, the nominee. Many Democrats worry that Sanders is too far to the left and would not only lose the presidency, but damage the chances of down-ticket Democrats in the House and in state legislatures, which will begin redistricting after the 2020 U.S. Census.

That worry led Democratic voters to Biden, especially after South Carolina gave him badly-needed momentum. Biden's turning point came when Rep. James Clyburn, House majority whip and one of the most prominent African American lawmakers in the country, delivered an emotional endorsement of Biden in Clyburn's home state of South Carolina.

Clyburn had reportedly been unhappy with how Biden was running his campaign and urged some changes – tweaks the dean of the South Carolina delegation said Biden was implementing.

"I thought that fundraising was lagging, and it needed to be more professional. And I think that these wins sort of professionalized the fundraising," Clyburn told MSNBC on Tuesday night.