Biden Just Won the Florida Primary by a Huge Margin, Putting Him Even Closer to the Nomination

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden just won big in Florida, putting him that much closer to the Democratic nomination.

The former vice president earned a lopsided win in one of the last large-state primaries we’ll be seeing for some time. Florida is the first of three states that decided to continue its primary elections in spite of the threat of coronavirus. He led Bernie Sanders by 61% to 23% with 61% of precincts reporting when the Associated Press called the election shortly after 8 p.m., when polls closed across the state.

That lopsided win will give Biden a huge trove of delegates. And if he wins Illinois and Arizona, as polls have suggested, Biden will become an even more prohibitive favorite for the Democratic nomination.

But the primary elections themselves were secondary in the face of the ongoing international crisis unfolding around coronavirus. Florida, Illinois and Arizona officials opted to move forward with their primaries despite the pandemic, but faced some major election issues. Ohio officials had planned to do so as well, but canceled that at the last minute.

READ: Trump proposes direct payments to Americans as part of coronavirus plan

In a somber Tuesday evening speech, Sanders made clear that his focus, like most Americans’, was on the coronavirus and its ongoing economic destruction and not on the primaries’ results. Sanders outlined proposals to help workers of all stripes who are facing lost wages or layoffs as the pandemic shuts down large swaths of the economy.

“If we work together, if we do not turn to fear and panic, but if we understand the way we solve this is to go forward as one people, remembering those who hurt tonight and those who hurt in the future,” he said in a livestream speech. “We can do it, we can address this crisis, we can minimize the pain.”

Illinois polls closed at 8 p.m. as well, but the state’s struggles to open polling places as droves of poll workers stayed home due to fears of the disease led to it extending voting times at six Chicago polling places as well as 40 in suburban Cook County.

Cover: Democratic presidential hopeful former US vice president Joe Biden makes a point as he and Senator Bernie Sanders take part in the 11th Democratic Party 2020 presidential debate in a CNN Washington Bureau studio in Washington, DC on March 15, 2020. (Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

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