With more than twenty possible Democratic candidates in the running of the 2020 Presidential Election, there are now just two candidates left: former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT). Both candidates have kept up strong campaigns, been present for each of the previous debates, and showed strong polling numbers in Super Tuesday. The Super Tuesday state primaries were crucial wins for each candidate as approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominating conventions can be won on that day.
While both Sanders and Biden did well on Super Tuesday, in the end it was clear that Biden had amassed many more delegates. Bernie’s biggest win was California, which has 415 delegates alone, but Biden won a larger variety of states and as of April 1, the delegate count is at 1,217 for Biden and 914 for Sanders. After Super Tuesday, Michael Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar, and Elizabeth Warren all dropped out of the race within days of the results, leaving only Biden, Sanders, and Tulsi Gabbard in the race. Biden received endorsements from all the candidates except Mayor Bill de Blasio and self-help guru Marianne Williamson, who both endorse Sanders. Gabbard dropped out of the race on March 19 (about two weeks after Super Tuesday), also backing Biden. Warren is the only candidate who has not yet endorsed anyone.
Biden, along with the Democratic following, is portrayed in the media as feeling confident about his chances for the Democratic nomination. The New York Times wrote that “Mr. Sanders was assessing the future of his campaign, his campaign manager said, a step that often begins the process of winding down a candidacy.” So, the focus of news has now switched from Sanders and his campaign to wondering who Biden will nominate for his Vice President. This choice is crucial for his campaign, as well as the votes he needs from young voters under the age of 45. He is quoted in the most recent debate as saying, “I commit that I will, in fact, appoint a woman to be vice president. There are a number of women qualified to be president tomorrow.” Biden has mentioned his recent running mates, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, and Kamala Harris as possible choices.
The latest struggle during this election is the fact that many states are postponing their polls due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, and Georgia are just four of the fifteen states (and counting) that have postponed their primaries, or have simply cancelled in-person voting and switched to vote by mail. There are obvious frustrations that come with these closures for Biden and Sanders. Not only have polls been postponed in various states, but there is now a possibility that the twelfth and final debate will be cancelled. According to the New York Post, Xochitl Hinojosa, one of the Democratic National Convention’s lead debate organizers, has said that the date and venue has not been decided. Biden has stated that he does not want to debate Sanders again, he simply wants to “get on with it.” As he is currently leading with almost 300 more delegates than Sanders, it makes sense that he no longer feels the need to debate Sanders once more. At the moment, Biden and Sanders have both cancelled their campaigning and are turning their attention to supporting health efforts around the country. •
