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Super Tuesday live updates: Biden scores knockout victories in 8 states; ahead in two more

Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to win the biggest Super Tuesday prize in California, but it was Joe Biden who owned the night with a shocking upset win in Texas, paired with eight other wins across the country — some coming in states in which he never even campaigned.

With the support of African American voters, Biden took Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas, but it wasn’t only the black vote that propelled Biden to victory. He also scored wins in the predominately white states of Minnesota, Oklahoma and Massachusetts.

Biden’s victories were powered by Democratic voters who made up their minds only days before Tuesday’s voting. According to The Associated Press, in some states, the late-deciders made up roughly half of all voters.

Biden also drew support from a broad coalition of moderates and conservatives and voters older than 45, according to the AP.

For all intents and purposes, the race once crowded with two dozen candidates dwindled to a two-man race.

The other major candidates still in the race had disappointing nights. Michael Bloomberg won one race: the battle for delegates in American Samoa. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was projected to finish third in the primary race in her home state of Massachusetts.

Warren was also beaten by Biden in the state of her birth, Oklahoma. She vowed to stay in the race.

Bloomberg is said to be returning to New York to consider what he wants to do next.

Live updates

2:04 a.m. ET March 4, 2020: We are suspending live updates for a few hours but will have complete results later this morning.

Biden wins Texas

2 a.m. ET March 4, 2020: The Associated Press has named Biden the winner of the Texas Democratic primary.

Biden declares victory in Texas

1:52 a.m. March 4, 2020: Joe Biden has declared victory in Texas, even though the state has not yet been called.

Still waiting for results

1:04 a.m. ET March 4, 2020: Three states remain too close to call. Texas, Maine and California. The Associated Press has called California for Sanders, but as of 1 a.m., California has only 22% of the vote reporting. Sanders has a 10% lead.

In Texas, Biden came from behind to lead Sanders by 28,000 votes with 88 percent of the vote in at 1 a.m. ET.

In Maine, whose polls closed hours ago, there is still no declared winner, though Biden is in the lead.

The latest from Maine

No call for Maine yet

12:20 a.m. ET March 4, 2020: The race in Maine still has not been called. Biden is ahead 33.7% to 32.3% with 88% of the precincts reporting.

Biden moves ahead, for now, in Texas

12:03 a.m. ET March 4, 2020: After trailing Sanders for the entire night in Texas, Biden has taken the lead in the state with about 57% of the votes counted.

Bloomberg may be leaving the race

11:54 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Sources close to Bloomberg are hinting that he may be leaving the race. Apparently he is flying back to New York to consider his political future.

Sessions, Tuberville in run-off

11:46 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions will face Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn football coach in a March 31 run-off. The two are running to be the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama.

The winner will face off Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., in November.

Sanders sends a message to supporters

Some trouble in the Texas count

11:25 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Dallas County is having trouble reporting part of the Democratic primary race results. Results must be reported by senatorial district and for some reason, Dallas County is having to count them manually.

AP: Sanders wins California

11:11 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The Associated Press has called the California primary for Sanders. Election officials there say the final count of California ballots will take several days.

Biden wins Massachusetts

10:58 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The Associated Press projects Biden as the winner of the Massachusetts Democratic primary.

California polls close soon

10:53 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: California polls are set to close at 11 p.m. ET.

Sanders wins Utah

10:46 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The Associated Press has projected Sanders to be the winner of the Utah primary.

Protesters storm the stage as Biden speaks

10:27 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Two animal rights protesters came onstage with signs as Biden was giving a stump speech in California, and for a minute one seems to tussle with Jill Biden. They were taken off stage by security.

Sanders addresses a crowd in Vermont

Bloomberg campaign issues a statement

10:15 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The Bloomberg campaign issued this statement Tuesday night:

"We launched our campaign exactly 100 days ago. In that incredibly short time, we’ve built a nationwide coalition focused on building a better future for America, and that starts with defeating Donald Trump in November.

"As Mike has traversed the country, meeting with voters in more than 70 cities across 27 states, he’s engaged with voters about his record of taking on tough fights on the issues that matter most to Americans. From his unmatched record on gun safety and climate change to his plans to lead America through a crisis, Mike Bloomberg has shown voters he knows how to get it done.

"Tonight, only one-third of delegates will be allotted. As Mike said tonight, 'No matter how many delegates we win tonight, we have done something no one else thought was possible. In just three months, we've gone from just 1% in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination.'

“Our number one priority remains defeating Donald Trump in November.”

Biden wins Arkansas

10:05 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The Associated Press has projected Biden the winner of Arkansas.

Biden wins Minnesota

10 p.m ET March 3, 2020: The Associated Press projects Biden will win the Minnesota Democratic primary.

Will the Dems even meet in July?

Polls closing soon

9:51 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Polls in Utah will be closing at 10 p.m. ET.

AP gives Biden Tennessee

9:41 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The Associated Press has projected Biden the winner of the Tennessee Democratic primary.

Who has won what

9:30 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: At 9:30 p.m. ET, the count is: Biden has won four states, Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Virginia.

Sanders has won two states, Vermont and Colorado.

Bloomberg won American Samoa.

Biden projected to win Oklahoma

9:14 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The Associated Press has projected that Biden will win Oklahoma.

Sanders projected to win Colorado

9:11 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The Associated Press has projected that Sanders will win Colorado.

Gabbard has an issue with Fox News

Polls closing soon

8:51 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Polls will close at 9 p.m. ET in Texas, Colorado and Minnesota.

Not good for Warren in Massachusetts

8:40 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Elizabeth Warren is apparently struggling in her home state of Massachusetts. Early returns indicate she is in third place behind Biden and Sanders.

Massachusetts has 91 delegates.

Super Tuesday spending

8:30 pm ET March 3, 2020: How much money has been spent on advertising for Super Tuesday? A lot.

Bloomberg spent $217,972,270.

Sanders spent $15,509,209.

Warren spent $3,641,967.

Biden spent $625,574.

Tulsi Gabbard spent $383,460.

Arkansas polls closing soon

8:18 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The polls in Arkansas will close at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Warren is not leaving

8:11 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Speaking at a rally in Detroit, Elizabeth Warren said she will not be leaving the race. “I’m in this race because I believe I will make the best president,” Warren said.

The polls in Warren’s home state of Massachusetts are closed, but no candidate has been declared the winner yet.

Biden projected to win Alabama

7:31 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: CNN has called Alabama for Biden.

More polls closing soon

7:50 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Polls will close at 8 p.m. ET in Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

AP calls North Carolina for Biden

7:47 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: AP has now projected Biden will win North Carolina.

Bloomberg projected to win American Samoa

7:44 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: CNN has projected that Michael Bloomberg has won America Samoa, netting him six delegates.

Biden projected to win North Carolina

7:31 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Several media outlets have projected that Biden has won North Carolina. The Associated Press has not yet called North Carolina for Biden.

Polls closing now in North Carolina

7:30 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Polls are closed in all but one polling place that has some trouble.

President Trump on Super Tuesday

7:13 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: From The Associated Press: "President Donald Trump predicts the super Tuesday contests will make for an “interesting evening of television” as his Democratic rivals compete for the largest chunk of delegates to be awarded in the race to run against him this November.

“I think it’s going to be a very interesting evening of television and I will be watching,” Trump told reporters Tuesday as he visited the National Institutes of Health."

Biden gets the black vote

7:08 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Biden has been projected to win the Virginia primary in part because he won 63 percent of the black vote in the state, according to exit polls.

CNN projects Biden and Sanders wins

7:01 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: CNN is projecting that Biden will win Virginia. At the same time, the network projects that Sanders has won his home state of Vermont.

Polls closing now

7 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Polls are closed in Vermont and Virginia.

Extending poll times in Tennessee

The delegate threshold

6:36 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: In nearly every state, candidates must get at least 15% of the vote to earn delegates. This means candidates must get 15% of the vote at either the district level or at the state level to earn any delegates at all.

It’s Sanders in Ireland, so far

Hillary is still no fan of Bernie

Polls closing soon

5:59 p.m. March 3, 2020: Polls will be closing in Vermont and Virginia in about an hour. Vermont allocates 16 pledged delegates to the Democratic convention. Virginia, also closing polls at 7 p.m. ET, allocates 99 pledged delegates.

The coronavirus and Texas voting

5:32 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: The New York Times is reporting that in Travis County, Texas, “about 30 election judges and workers did not show up for work, called out sick or voiced concerns about catching the coronavirus, forcing several polling centers to open late, an election official said.”

About 10 polling centers out of 174 in Travis County, home to Austin, did not open as planned at 7 a.m., the Times reported.

Sessions is back on the ballot

Points for Biden?

5:16 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Exit polls in Virginia may show a boost for Joe Biden’s campaign. According to the polling, 17 percent of voters decided today who they were going to vote for, while 30 percent decided in the past few days.

Those numbers could translate into votes for Biden coming on the heels of his win in South Carolina.

Exit polling

5:06 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Exit polling reported by CNN reveals that 56% of voters in Virginia are looking for someone who can defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, while 41% are looking for a candidate with whom they agree on issues.

In North Carolina, the spread is wider with 62% of voters looking for a candidate who will beat Trump and only 36% hoping to find a candidate who has similar views on issues.

Bloomberg is hoping for a contested convention

Minnesota secretary of state apologizes

4:44 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Steve Simon, Minnesota’s secretary of state, has apologized after a staffer linked voters looking for polling places to a progressive political website after the secretary of state’s poll finder website went down on Tuesday. The office planned to go to a non-partisan backup to help people find polling places, but a staffer instead linked to a poll location finder on boldprogressives.org, a website that belongs to an organization that backs Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.

First polls will be closing at 7 p.m.

4:30 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Polls will close at 7 p.m. ET, in Vermont (Bernie Sanders’ home state), Virginia and parts of Alabama. Results will begin to come in after that. At 5 p.m. ET, we should see some exit polling.

Voting abroad is underway

Voting lines are long

4:17 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Several states are reporting large turnouts. In Texas, some voters had to wait two hours in line to cast a ballot.

Welcome to live updates

4 p.m. ET March 3, 2020: Welcome to live updates from Super Tuesday. People are voting in 14 states today and exit polls that will give hints on how candidates are doing should be coming out soon.