Fourteen states and one territory held nominating contests for the Democratic Party's candidate for president on Tuesday, the most pivotal day on the presidential primary calendar.
When the polls closed on Super Tuesday and results came in, it became clear that former Vice President Joe Biden had swept the Southern states, winning the primaries in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas, as well as Minnesota and Massachusetts, and had ended the night with the most delegates. Sen. Bernie Sanders came out on top in Colorado, Utah and his home state of Vermont, NBC News projected.
On Wednesday, NBC News declared Biden the apparent winner in Maine, though the race against Sanders in the state was a tight one.
More than 1,300 delegates — about a third of the total — were at play, more than on any other day in the primary season.
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Kellyanne Conway's husband, a vocal Trump critic, donates maximum amount to Biden
NBC News Exit Poll: Liberal and younger Democrats are key in Sanders’ Democratic primary win in Colorado
Bernie Sanders saw strong support from very liberal and younger voters in Colorado on Tuesday, which played a role in his projected win in the state's Democratic primary, according to the NBC News Exit Poll.
Sanders secured support from 54 percent of very liberal voters and from 50 percent of those under age 45. Sanders also did well with non-white voters and those without college degrees.
In addition, Sanders received support from voters who enthusiastically embrace his position on issues. Nearly half of voters who think the next president needs to change to more liberal policies voted for Sanders, as did 45 percent of those who believe it's most important for the Democratic nominee to be an agent of change, 43 percent who think the U.S. economic system needs a complete overhaul and 41 percent who said the issue that mattered most to them was income inequality.
NBC News Exit Poll: Biden favored by voters who prioritize beating Trump, issue voters back Sanders
Six in 10 voters in today’s Democratic presidential primaries care most about nominating a candidate who can beat Donald Trump in November, according to the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in 12 of 14 Super Tuesday states across the country. These voters favor Joe Biden over his more liberal rival Bernie Sanders by a margin of 36 percent to 25 percent.
By contrast, about a third of Super Tuesday voters say they’d rather see the Democrats nominate a candidate who agrees with them on major issues. Sanders is the clear favorite of these voters over Biden, 45 percent to 24 percent.
How is the Sanders campaign feeling?
A source within the Sanders campaign says they are "absolutely" surprised by the results out of North Carolina. This is a state where campaign officials were optimistic because they saw it as his best performing Southern state in 2016 (he still lost by double digits.)
Sanders had television ads airing in North Carolina media markets even before the South Carolina contest. In addition to the four separate trips and many stops Sanders made there, his surrogates including Nina Turner and Donald Glover spent significant chunks of time in the state.
This was one the campaign thought it could win. When this source was asked if this also was affected by Rep. James Clyburn’s endorsement, we were told: "His force is evident."
The Sanders campaign believes it's still early to panic as some polls are still open nationally.
Sanders spokesman Mike Casca tells NBC News, "If you turn off your television at 10 p.m. tonight, you will wake up tomorrow to a different race."
Campaign manager Faiz Shakir came out to speak to the now-thinning crowd.
"We are having a good night, and it’s only going to get better," Shakir said.
NBC News Exit Poll: Moderate and older Democratic voters boost Biden in Oklahoma primary
Voters who want to unite the country and return to former President Barack Obama's policies propelled Joe Biden to a projected victory in the Oklahoma Democratic primary, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
Biden beat Bernie Sanders, the second-place finisher, among both men and women, white voters and non-white voters, and voters age 45 and older. Biden also did well with moderates, securing 46 percent of their votes.
And Biden had significant support among voters who placed importance on a candidate who can unite the country, those seeking a return to Obama's policies and those who consider health care their top issue.
NBC News Exit Poll: Biden voters want a uniter, Sanders voters want change
The NBC News Exit Poll finds Biden voters and Sanders voters prizing very different candidate qualities.
When asked which of four candidate qualities mattered most to them, roughly half of Biden voters in Super Tuesday Democratic primaries said that they prefer a candidate who can unite the country. About one quarter of his voters most want a candidate who can bring needed change, and another 4 percent say it matters most that the candidate is a fighter.
With Sanders voters, the pattern is largely reversed: A plurality (49 percent) say they most want a candidate who can bring needed change, while just 17 percent say that uniting the country matters most. Another 23 percent of Sanders voters in Super Tuesday states prize a candidate who cares about people like them.
Warren voters, for their part, express preferences that are similar to Sanders voters: A majority say it’s most important to have a candidate who can bring needed change.
Sanders wins Colorado, NBC News projects
NBC News Exit Poll: Colorado Democrats think economic system needs 'complete overhaul'
According to the NBC News Exit Poll, there is strong support among Colorado Democratic primary voters for a “complete overhaul” of the U.S. economic system.
Just less than half of Colorado Democrats believe the U.S. economic system needs significant restructuring, while 43 percent think the system needs only "minor" changes. A mere 5 percent of Colorado Democrats think the U.S. economic system "works well enough as is."
NBC News Exit Poll: Biden waltzes out of Tennessee with a win
Tennessee voters have kept Joe Biden’s Southern streak unbroken so far tonight. The NBC News Exit Poll finds that 62 percent of black voters in Tennessee backed the former vice president in today's primary.
He also won majorities among military veterans, moderates and conservatives as well as voters 45 and older. These results reflect his strengths in other Southern states voting on Super Tuesday.
NBC News Exit Poll: Nearly 4 in 10 Warren voters are white women with a college degree
At least two-thirds of voters for Elizabeth Warren on Super Tuesday are white women, self-identified liberals or college graduates, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll. Nearly 4 in 10 Warren voters in the Democratic primaries across Super Tuesday states are white women with a college degree.
But in a nomination race in which many voters are focused on ousting an incumbent president, few Warren voters signal that she would be the only acceptable candidate. Nine in 10 Warren voters on Tuesday say they will vote for the Democratic nominee in November, with or without Warren on the ballot.
NBC News Exit Poll: Latinos are boosting Sanders in Texas
Four years ago, Bernie Sanders was blown out in Texas, losing to Hillary Clinton by more than 30 points. But thanks to substantial improvement among Latino voters this Super Tuesday, Sanders is putting in a much stronger showing in the state, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
Sanders’ vote share among Latino Democratic primary voters in Texas has improved 12 points, from 29 percent in 2016 to 45 percent this year. His support among black primary voters in Texas stayed nearly the same, going from 15 percent of the black vote in 2016 to 18 percent in 2020.
Sanders' support among white Texas Democratic primary voters has ticked down somewhat from 41 percent to 32 percent, though he does have a narrow lead over Biden among white primary voters in Texas.
Sanders’ appeal among Latinos is tied to his health care platform. Latinos in Texas are more likely than whites or blacks to name health care as the issue that matters most to them. And among those citing health care as their main issue, Latinos express the highest level of support for Sanders’ plan to replace all private health insurance with a single government plan for everyone.
About three-quarters of Latino primary voters in Texas focused on health care support "Medicare for All." That's compared to about six in 10 whites and blacks focused on health care.
Biden takes Tennessee, NBC News projects
Biden heads to Obama Boulevard for Super Tuesday results
Long lines to vote in Texas
NBC News Exit Poll: First-time Democratic primary voters favor Sanders
Bernie Sanders is the clear favorite of those voting in their first Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in nine of the 14 Super Tuesday states. But new voters represent a relatively slim share of Tuesday’s electorate.
Sanders received support from 43 percent of first-time voters, leaving Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Mike Bloomberg far behind.
But these new voters make up just 13 percent of those voting in Democratic primaries Tuesday. That's much lower than the share of first-time participants in last month’s Iowa and Nevada caucuses, but roughly on par with the percentages of new voters in the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.
Among those who’ve voted in a Democratic primary before, Biden has a slim lead over Sanders.
Bloomberg says Super Tuesday will be a success regardless of results
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — At his Super Tuesday event, Bloomberg said that "no matter how many delegates we win tonight, we've done something no one else thought was possible."
"In three months, we went from 1 percent to being a contender for the Democratic nomination," he continued.
So far, the early returns on Tuesday did not appear as good for Bloomberg as he had hoped. Bloomberg bypassed the first four states, first appearing on ballots Tuesday.
He said earlier Tuesday that his only plausible path to the nomination was through a contested convention. His campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey, would say later in the day that he did not think the Democratic nominating process would reach that point.
"We proved we can win the voters who will decide the general election," Bloomberg said in his speech.
He additionally went after Trump and promoted his policy agenda on gun control, climate change and abortion rights. Near the end of his address, the crowd went wild when he said he'll never tweet from the Oval Office as president.
Sanders may have a turnout problem
'Barry O' finally endorses Biden
NBC News Exit Poll: Bloomberg fails to win over key constituencies
Results from the NBC News Exit Poll find Mike Bloomberg lagging behind Joe Biden among his core constituencies.
Despite campaigning on his viability in the general election, Bloomberg is winning just 13 percent of Democratic primary voters who say they would prefer a candidate who can beat Trump over one who agrees with them on major issues. Bloomberg is also struggling to gain traction among college graduates, older voters, and independents — capturing about 11 percent to 17 percent of voters within each of these groups.
Bloomberg is pulling in about one in six self-described moderate or conservative Democratic voters in the 12 Super Tuesday states where exit polling was conducted. The plurality of these voters, 42 percent, are going for Biden.
Ad spending breakdown for Virginia and N.C.
NBC News Exit Poll: Voters concerned about coronavirus support Biden on Super Tuesday
The coronavirus outbreak was on many Democratic voters' minds as they went to the polls on Super Tuesday. In five states covered by the NBC News Exit Poll — California, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia — just over half of primary voters said that the coronavirus was an important factor in their vote. The figure ranged from 51 percent in California to 61 percent in Texas.
Across the five states, 67 percent of voters ages 45 and over said the coronavirus was an important factor, while just 33 percent of those under age 45 felt the same. Joe Biden was the candidate of choice of nearly half of those who rated the outbreak as an important factor, followed by Bernie Sanders.
NBC News Exit Poll: Klobuchar seen favorably by most Minnesota Democratic primary voters
Eyes are on Minnesota tonight and its 75 pledged delegates after home state Sen. Amy Klobuchar suspended her campaign on Monday and offered her endorsement to Joe Biden.
Klobuchar is well-liked. About three-quarters of Minnesota’s Democratic primary voters so far today have a favorable opinion of her. But she faced competition for the nomination from fellow moderates and she needed to make inroads among the majority liberal Democratic primary voters on her home turf. (In Minnesota, 68 percent of Democratic primary voters are liberal, and 32 percent are moderate or conservative.)
Nine in 10, or 92 percent, of those backing Biden in Minnesota tonight have a favorable view of Klobuchar. Meanwhile, 73 percent of Bloomberg voters in Minnesota, 80 percent of Warren voters and 52 percent of Sanders voters in the state see Klobuchar in a favorable light.
Bloomberg rally erupts in cheers after he's declared winner... of American Samoa
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The crowd at Bloomberg's Super Tuesday event here gave a rousing cheer when the candidate was declared the winner in the American Samoa caucuses.
NBC News declared Bloomberg the victor in American Samoa. It was his first victory in a presidential contest.
NBC News reporting from around the country
NBC News Exit Poll: Late-deciding Super Tuesday voters break heavily for Biden
Joe Biden is garnering nearly half the support of Democrats who picked a candidate in just the last few days before Super Tuesday, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in 12 of the 14 Super Tuesday states.
Riding a wave of endorsements from former rivals and his landslide victory in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, Biden was favored by 47 percent of Super Tuesday voters who said they picked a candidate in the last few days. He left Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Mike Bloomberg far behind with these late-deciding voters.
By contrast, Sanders built a comfortable lead over Biden, 37 percent to 25 percent, among voters who picked a candidate earlier than the last few days.
Late-deciding voters made up more than a quarter of the Super Tuesday electorate, exit poll results show.
Long line as poll closes in Dallas
NBC News Exit Poll: Oklahoma Democratic primary voters say Biden has best chance of beating Trump
More than half of Democratic primary voters in Oklahoma say they would prefer a nominee who can beat President Donald Trump over one who agrees with them on major issues, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
When asked which candidate has the best chance to defeat Trump in November, more than 4 in 10 Oklahoma Democratic voters named Joe Biden, while 1 in 4 said the same of Bernie Sanders. Only 16 percent said Mike Bloomberg has the best chance of winning against Trump and fewer had confidence in Elizabeth Warren.
As of 8 p.m. ET, NBC News has listed the Oklahoma Democratic primary as too close to call.
Regardless of who the Democrats nominate, 78 percent of Oklahoma Democrats report they will support that candidate.
NBC News Exit Poll: Biden pulls in resounding win in Alabama
Joe Biden’s popularity among black voters in the South is on full display, especially in Alabama, the state with highest proportion of black voters on Super Tuesday.
The NBC News Exit Poll finds that 72 percent of black voters in Alabama backed the former vice president, outpacing his 61 percent support in South Carolina. But he also won a clear victory among white voters, doing significantly better than Saturday, when he won one-third of white voters.
Bernie Sanders was a distant runner-up. His best performance was 38 percent support among voters under 45 years old, but this group only made up three in 10 primary voters in Alabama today.
Biden wins Alabama, NBC News projects
NBC News Exit Poll: Biden's support among black voters weaker outside South
Joe Biden is performing well among black voters on Super Tuesday in the Southern states of Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, just as he did in Saturday's South Carolina primary, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll. About 62 percent of black voters in these states support Biden, while 18 percent of black voters in these states support Bernie Sanders.
Outside of these states, however, support for Biden among black voters is weaker. In California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota and Vermont, black voters are about half as likely as those in the South to support Biden.
In addition to this regional divide among black voters, there is a division by age. Black voters under 45 are about three times as likely to support Sanders than those 45 and over. Older black voters are nearly 30 percentage points more likely to support Biden than Sanders.
NBC News Exit Poll: Black Democrats in North Carolina want a return to Obama-era policies
Black voters in today’s North Carolina Democratic primary want the next president to return to Barack Obama’s policies, early results from the NBC New Exit Poll show.
By contrast, white Democratic primary voters in the state are more divided — a plurality (44 percent) favor returning to Obama’s policies but 41 percent would like to move to more liberal policies.
About 1 in 10 primary voters in both groups think the next president should change to more conservative policies.
Bloomberg campaign will 'take another look' after Super Tuesday results
Publicly, the Bloomberg campaign is projecting confidence tonight, with campaign manager Kevin Sheekey MSNBC last hour that they are "absolutely not" worried about Bloomberg being a spoiler and that their internal polling shows Bloomberg being viable in most, if not all, the states at play tonight.
But privately, Bloomberg campaign officials are far less optimistic. They are acknowledging that Biden is poised to do extremely well tonight and say their data shows that a large number of voters made up their minds last-minute, which almost surely helps Biden.
Bloomberg officials are acknowledging that Bloomberg will re-assess on Wednesday after the data is in whether to stay in the race. Although they are casting that as par for the course for any candidate after his first contest on the ballot, this is a changefrom what Bloomberg had said as recently as the weekend: That he planned to say in even if he didn’t place in the top three on Super Tuesday.
Just a few hours ago in Miami, Bloomberg was defiant, saying Biden is taking votes away from him and that he’s "in it to win it," even if that means a contested convention.
Warren signals she will fight on: 'The pundits have gotten it wrong, over and over'
Warren, in a speech to supporters in Detroit, made the case for her candidacy on Super Tuesday as Biden’s resurgent campaign attempts to pre-empt Sanders, the current front-runner, and pundits have claimed the Massachusetts senator has no pathway to the Democratic nomination.
"They're playing games about prediction and strategy," she said. "But prediction has been a terrible business, and the pundits have gotten it wrong, over and over."
She added, "So here’s my advice: cast a vote that will make you proud; cast your vote from your heart — and vote for the person you think will make the best president."
Warren has had strong debate performances and raised a notable amount of campaign contributions, but has consistently performed poorly in the early Democratic contests. Her campaign has signaled that she will compete beyond Super Tuesday and her speech in Detroit touched on her theme of being a fighter and her determination to defeat Trump and work on behalf of working-class Americans.
She told the story of when her father had a heart attack when she was a young girl. The family lost its station wagon and almost lost their home. That is when her mother got a minimum-wage job for the income. She said she learned lessons from that that translated to her work on bankruptcy law consumer protection.
"You don’t get what you don’t fight for — and I am in this fight," she said.
NBC News Exit Poll: Health care is top concern of voters
Long an issue owned by the Democratic Party, health care topped the list of issues named by Democrats as mattering most to their vote today, according to the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in 12 out of 14 Super Tuesday primaries across the country.
Four in 10 voters named health care as their most important concern, well ahead of three others: climate change, income inequality and race relations.
Health care voters were equally likely to favor Joe Biden as Bernie Sanders.
Hayes: Clyburn's Biden endorsement made a huge difference
Hayes: Clyburn's Biden endorsement made a huge difference
NBC News Exit Poll: Black voters propel Biden's North Carolina win
Joe Biden won the North Carolina Democratic primary on Tuesday, repeating his success in South Carolina's primary on Saturday. In both states, he rode a wave of support from black voters.
While black voters constitute a smaller share of North Carolina’s Democratic electorate (27 percent) than South Carolina’s (56 percent), Biden performed just as strongly among North Carolina's black voters on Tuesday, according to early findings from the NBC News Exit Poll.
On Saturday, Biden won about 6 in 10 black voters in South Carolina, and on Tuesday he received a similar share, 63 percent, in North Carolina.
NBC News Exit Poll: Bloomberg peeling off about 1 in 6 moderate Democratic voters
With both Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar suspending their campaigns, Joe Biden and Mike Bloomberg are left vying for moderate Democrats in the Super Tuesday contests.
According to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll, this contest within the contest is not particularly close as Biden has a 21-point lead over Bloomberg among moderate or conservative Democratic primary voters across the 12 Super Tuesday states that were polled. At present Bloomberg is even polling slightly behind Bernie Sanders among moderate and conservative Democrats.
While controversy over stop-and-frisk policing and his conduct toward women in the workplace have dogged Bloomberg, his level of support among women versus men, and black voters versus white voters, are very similar. According to the early results from the NBC News Exit Poll in 12 Super Tuesday states, Bloomberg is bringing in about 11 to 14 percent of voters regardless of race or sex.
Tiny Biden 'spokesperson' urges to go out and vote
Tennessee extending voting hours due to tornado damage
Deadly tornadoes knocked out polling places in Tennessee while fears over the coronavirus left some polling places in California and Texas short of election workers as Super Tuesday voting was underway around the country.
In response, the state said that polling sites across the state would stay open until 9 p.m. ET (many were set to close at 8 p.m. ET) and five sites in Davidson County, where some locations were damaged or destroyed, would stay open until 10 p.m. ET.
NBC News Exit Poll: Sanders wins Vermont with young, liberal voters who want change
Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary in his home state of Vermont Tuesday with support from a broad coalition of voters — including those who would like a candidate who can bring about change, very liberal voters and those under 45, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
A majority of Sanders' supporters in Vermont say they will vote for the Democratic nominee this November, regardless of who ends up on the ballot. Still, 16 percent would not commit to voting for the party’s nominee.
Biden stops for a sweet treat in LA
Millions voted early — and some wasted their ballots on candidates who quit
For the first time, early voting will play a significant role in the Super Tuesday primaries this year. In four states — California, Colorado, Texas and Utah — early and absentee ballots are expected to be at least half of the total vote.
The total number of early votes cast in the Democratic primaries for Super Tuesday contests is 4 million, according to figures as of Monday provided by TargetSmart, the National Election Poll, and secretaries of state, and analyzed independently by NBC News.
That total includes 1.6 million in California, where 415 delegates are at stake, or 30 percent of the Super Tuesday total.
Many of those voters, however, cast their ballots before the withdrawals of three of the candidates: Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer. That led to frustration on the part of some of their supporters on Monday and Tuesday when they learned that their early votes had been wasted on candidates who were no longer in the race. (In almost all states, an early vote is final once it is cast.)
Read the full story here.
Bloomberg campaign manager throws cold water on contested convention talk
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Bloomberg's campaign manager said he doesn't think it's likely the Democrats will have a contested convention this summer — hours after the billionaire contender told reporters he sees that as his only plausible path to victory.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Bloomberg's Super Tuesday rally here, campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said: "I don't happen to think Democrats will have a contested convention."
Bloomberg's top aide said "absolutely not" when asked if Bloomberg would be ending his candidacy Tuesday, saying "we'll see" what the future holds for his campaign following the elections in more than a dozen states and territories.
"I expect him to be above the 15 percent threshold in just about every state," he said, adding that "anyone who's expecting the kind of night where they can go home and go to sleep early should forget about it."
At a Miami field office earlier Tuesday, Bloomberg said of a contested convention: "Well, I don't think that I can win any other ways."
His remarks come as Biden has started to consolidate the moderate Democratic primary field aimed at taking on Bernie Sanders, with Bloomberg facing increased calls to join Buttigieg and Klobuchar, who ended their candidacies this week and backed Biden.
NBC News Exit Poll: Widespread favorability propels Biden to Virginia win
Polling taken in the weeks before the South Carolina primary suggested that Virginia could be a very close contest, but it didn't turn out that way in the end.
Joe Biden rode a wave of widespread popularity to victory, according to the NBC News Exit Poll. His 67 percent favorable rating in Virginia is significantly higher than the same rating for Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders or Mike Bloomberg.
Black voters provided a significant chunk of the former vice president’s support in Virginia. Biden won 63 percent of this group compared with 17 percent who backed Sanders. He also won solid majorities among those 45 years old and over as well as moderates and conservatives.
Other components of Biden’s support included Virginia primary voters who want the country to return to the policies of Barack Obama. They gave Biden 75 percent of their vote. He also won 67 percent of voters who were looking for a candidate who can unite the country.
NC extends voting for 2 precincts
NBC News Exit Poll: Democratic voters think favorably of socialism in 4 Super Tuesday states
In four states, more Democratic primary voters on Super Tuesday said they had a favorable view of socialism than an unfavorable view, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
Socialism was viewed favorably by a wide margin by Democratic voters in both California and Texas. It was favored by slimmer margins among Democrats in North Carolina and Tennessee.
Biden wins Virginia, Sanders takes Vermont, NBC News projects
Joe Biden has won the Virginia Democratic primary and Bernie Sanders has come out on top in his home state of Vermont, NBC News projects, as the first polls close on Super Tuesday.
Voting is taking place in 14 states, including delegate-loaded Texas and California, where polls don’t close until 11 p.m. ET. The goal of the Democratic presidential primary is to amass delegates to capture the nomination, not popular votes, and winning states does not necessarily mean a candidate will win the most delegates.
NBC News Exit Poll: Younger voters decidedly more liberal than those older
Younger voters catapulted Bernie Sanders into the national limelight in 2016 and their support remains a key factor in the senator’s prospects for the Democratic Party nomination.
Younger voters across today's Super Tuesday contests are decidedly more liberal than their elders. Roughly four in 10 call themselves very liberal, compared with about a quarter of voters 30 and older.
Two-thirds of the Democratic parties’ youngest voters across Super Tuesday states so far tonight, 68 percent, are looking for the next president to move policies to the left, and only 23 percent of this group says they want a return to Obama era policies.
But both groups bring a mix of issue concerns to the ballot box. About a third of voters younger than 30 name health care as the most important issue in their vote today, as do 40 percent of those ages 30 and older.
NBC News Exit Poll: Colorado Democrats view Warren most favorably and Bloomberg least
More than 7 in 10 Colorado Democratic primary voters hold a favorable opinion of Elizabeth Warren, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll on Tuesday. That's higher than the favorability ratings for Joe Biden (63 percent) and Bernie Sanders (63 percent).
Mike Bloomberg was viewed less positively than the other Democratic candidates in Colorado, with 52 percent viewing him unfavorably, according to the poll results.
Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, who suspended their campaigns and endorsed Biden in the past two days, are also viewed positively by a majority of Colorado Democrats, 62 percent and 60 percent, respectively.
NBC News Exit Poll: How voters in five southeastern states break down on race, ideology
A lot of attention is focused on California and Texas as the two biggest prizes in the primary calendar. But 393 pledged delegates, or nearly 3 in 10 of those up for grabs on Super Tuesday, will come from six southeastern states voting today. These voters look different from the rest of the pack, according to early NBC News Exit Poll results in five of those six states: Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia. These differences could impact the overall results for the night.
In some ways, the southeastern states look a lot like Texas. For example, they tend to have more moderate and conservative voters in their Democratic primary electorate — 45 percent in the five Southeast states and 41 percent in Texas — than California does.
The southeastern states differ from both these large states in their racial makeup with a larger black electorate, 27 percent overall, than either Texas, 20 percent, or California, seven percent. But those states have relatively few Latino voters in comparison.
Texas progressives holding out hope for a Sanders win
HOUSTON — Progressive voters in Texas say they feel good about Sanders' chances despite Biden's win in South Carolina and Monday's endorsements from ex-candidates Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Beto O'Rourke.
"I don’t believe that’s going to have an actual impact," said Stevens Orozco, a teacher who is part of a wave of young progressive candidates running for Congress against Democratic incumbents. "At the grassroots level, all of the real excitement and momentum is for Bernie, and I absolutely believe he can still win Texas."
Orozco, 33, is challenging Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a 13-term Democrat who was elected to Congress when Orozco was 8. Although Jackson Lee, 70, is regarded as one of the most liberal members of Congress from Texas, Orozco spent Tuesday urging Democratic to vote for change.
Manny Edwards, a 20-year-old University of Houston student who was voting in his first presidential primary, said he and most of his friends were backing Sanders and other progressive candidates.
"Bernie is the only candidate who actually stands for something, and that's why he's going to win," said Edwards, noting that some of his family members lacked health insurance. "I don't think it's radical that everyone should be able to have health care."
Michael Saldana, 26, said he was annoyed by those who've argued that Sanders wouldn't fare well in the general election. After seeing friends' homes destroyed in Hurricane Harvey in 2017, he said he was supporting candidates who supported the aggressive efforts to combat climate change.
"I think Sanders can get it done," he said.
Robocalls in Texas push wrong day for Democratic primary
Robocalls falsely telling Texas voters that the state's primaries were scheduled for Wednesday, and not Tuesday, were reported several times to the Texas secretary of state on Tuesday.
Stephen Chang, director of communications for Secretary of State Ruth Hughs, said the calls claimed that “R’s, D’s and I’s vote tomorrow.”
Chang said authorities are being “proactive" in addressing the calls but did not specify what was being done. He said the Secretary of State’s Office first received reports of robocalls Tuesday afternoon. He could not provide an estimate of how many reports the office received or how many robocalls had been made.
Reports of the false robocall prompted a tweet from the office's verified Twitter account warning against misinformation about the call.
Claire Barnett, a Democratic candidate for Texas State House District 122, had just left her polling station when she got the call telling her that the “Democratic primary is scheduled for tomorrow.”
“It was a local number in San Antonio. (The call) seemed designed to suppress the vote,” she said.
Jonathan Coen, a Houston-area resident, said he received the robocall from the same number at 1:24 p.m. CT. Coen said his wife, who is hispanic, also received a call telling her to vote on a different day.
“It was a woman’s voice recorded in Spanish, roughly [saying] ‘voting is important; the election is Wednesday,’” Coen said.
The phone call in Spanish came from a Houston-area number, he said. It is unclear whether the English call and Spanish call are connected, and the scope of the calls is not yet clear. — Kevin Collier contributed reporting.
NBC News Exit Poll: Only about half of Massachusetts voters think Warren has best shot to beat Trump
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren faces a tough challenge in her home state tonight from neighboring Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the liberal lane. She's also contending with late-breaking momentum behind Joe Biden’s candidacy, particularly with moderate and conservative voters.
Warren struggled on the campaign trail to prove her viability in the general election. That issue dogs her even in her home state.
Among those voting for Warren in the Massachusetts primary so far tonight, only about half say she’s the candidate with the best chance to beat Trump in the general election, according to early NBC News Exit Poll results. About 9 in 10 of Biden voters see the former vice president as having the best shot, compared to 7 in 10 of Sanders supporters who say the same about their pick.
NBC News Exit Poll: Super Tuesday voters in Maine and Vermont cite health care as most important issue
Health care is a top issue for voters in Maine and Vermont, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
Roughly half of Maine’s Democratic primary voters name health care as the most important issue in deciding their vote, along with 40 percent of Vermont’s primary voters. Climate change came in second in both states, followed by income inequality.
Similar shares of those who voted for Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in Vermont and Maine said health care was the most important issue. But nearly twice as many of Sanders’ voters named income inequality as a top issue compared with Biden’s voters in the two states.
Voter website outages not a sign of cyberattack, officials say
Reports that some voter information websites across the country are experiencing outages are not a sign of any sort of cyberattack, a senior government official said Tuesday afternoon.
In a press conference at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the agency's director, Chris Krebs, said issues accessing websites that inform voters how and where to cast their ballots were due to a surge of interest from voters.
The Texas Secretary of State’s website, for instance, was partially inaccessible for more than an hour Tuesday morning. Sites in California, Oklahoma and Minnesota also experienced minor issues.
“You’ve probably seen some of the issues in voter lookup tools in California, voter lookup tools in Texas," Krebs said. "What we expect, and what you need to take away from this, is that these are intermittent IT issues that are resolved."
NBC News Exit Poll: Young and liberal, LGBTs are 10 percent of today’s electorate
One out of every 10 people voting in today’s presidential primaries identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in 12 of the 14 Super Tuesday states across the country.
Reflecting changing generational attitudes about sexuality and gender identity, LGBT Democratic voters are substantially younger than today’s electorate as a whole. A third of LGBT people voting on Super Tuesday are younger than 30 years old, while 65 percent of the LGBT voters today are under 45.
LGBT Super Tuesday voters are a strikingly liberal group: Exactly half of LGBT voters today call themselves "very liberal" and another 30 percent say they are “somewhat liberal.” Just 4 percent of LGBT Democratic voters say they are conservative.
NBC News Exit Poll: Liberals account for more than 6 in 10 Super Tuesday voters
Liberal voters are dominating the electorate in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primaries across the country, according to the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in 12 of the 14 Super Tuesday states.
Sixty-two percent of voters in Tuesday's primaries consider themselves liberal. This includes a quarter of voters who describe themselves as “very liberal.”
That puts the Super Tuesday electorate ideologically on par with voters in three of the four Democratic presidential contests held thus far: Liberals accounted for more than 60 percent of voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. Last Saturday’s primary in South Carolina featured a more moderate electorate: Liberals accounted for just half of those voters.
Some Los Angeles voters cast begrudging ballots for Biden
Joe Gallagher voted on Super Tuesday for former Vice President Joe Biden in the Democratic presidential primary contest, but he's not thrilled about it.
"It's too bad because Bernie is the best candidate probably in 30 years," Gallagher, 65, told NBC News after he left a polling center in West Hollywood. "I really am embarrassed not to vote for him, but I felt like I had no choice."
Gallagher said he did a lot of research into polling and decided about two months ago that Biden was the most electable Democrat running.
His sentiment was shared by other voters around Los Angeles.
"My objective and goal is to get Trump out of office," said Tara, 26, who strongly supports Elizabeth Warren. But on Tuesday morning, she too decided to vote for Biden.
Tara concluded after talking to friends that the race was quickly becoming one between Biden and Bernie Sanders, and she didn't want to get behind Sanders.
"It took much deliberation, and I'm not so happy," Tara said, "but I think, unfortunately, voting for Warren may be a wasted vote that I don't want to do, even though I love Warren."
Still, voters like Naz, 41, are sticking with Sanders, a candidate he sees as an antidote to President Donald Trump's policies.
"It's nice to see someone try to take this country to the very far left, since Trump has taken it to the far right, because I think America is too far in the middle," Naz explained. "I think Bernie will take it far left, which will balance out this country a bit."
NBC News Exit Poll: In three states, half of Democratic voters say self-funded campaigns are unfair
Large shares of Democratic primary voters generally take a negative view of self-funded campaigns by billionaires like Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
In the three states where Super Tuesday voters were asked about the issue, about half said it is unfair that candidates can spend unlimited amounts of their own money on their campaigns. This sentiment ranged from 49 percent of Democratic primary voters in Texas and Tennessee to 53 percent in North Carolina.
Among the remaining candidates, this issue is front and center for Bloomberg, who has invested $500 million of his own money into his campaign. About three in 10 voters who supported Bloomberg in these states said that candidates spending unlimited amounts of their own money on their campaigns is unfair.
Los Angeles voters see long lines at some polling centers
LOS ANGELES — Voters lined up around the block at several locations around the Beverly Grove and West Hollywood neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
The city has nearly 1,000 voting centers open around the county, and around a quarter of them were open for early voting in the days leading up to Super Tuesday. But for voters who showed up on primary day, many found lines longer than usual.
At one polling center on West Knoll Drive, where about 100 people waited in a line stretching down the block, voters told NBC News that they had waited for nearly 75 minutes to vote. Those casting ballots nearby at Rosewood Avenue Elementary School and Laurel Span School said they had waited 25 to 30 minutes, but several said there usually isn't any wait.
Polling workers walked around outside of one location at a recreation center on North Vista Avenue in West Hollywood instructing people waiting in line that they could start filling out their election choices on LAvote.net, then use a QR code once they're inside to print a ballot with their picks already selected. That process is part of a new voting machine setup in Los Angeles County.
Bloomberg goes to Oz for voter outreach
NBC News Exit Poll: 1 in 7 Super Tuesday voters won’t pledge to support the Democratic nominee
Fourteen percent of those voting in Democratic primaries across the country Tuesday aren’t committing to voting for the party’s nominee in November, according to the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in 12 of the 14 Super Tuesday states. That’s about 1 in 7 voters.
As they left the polls, voters were asked if they planned to vote for the Democratic nominee this fall “regardless of who it is.” Supporters of Mike Bloomberg were least likely to pledge to vote Democratic in November: 18 percent of his voters wouldn't commit to the party’s ticket.
The most loyal Democratic voters? Supporters of Elizabeth Warren. Ninety-one percent of her voters said they’d support the party’s nominee regardless of who it is.
Power outage hits LAX airport, nearby polling places
Several terminals at Los Angeles International Airport and nearby polling stations lost electrical power on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
Power started being restored about 20 minutes later.
Click here for the full story.
Gabbard lashes out after Fox contributor Rove calls Warren 'the only woman left'
These LA residents were into voting before it was cool
NBC News Exit Poll: Four in 10 Super Tuesday Democrats are voters of color
Roughly 4 in 10 voters in today’s Democratic presidential primaries are people of color, according to the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in 12 of the 14 Super Tuesday states. Latinos make up nearly 1 in 5 Democrats (18 percent) voting today; African Americans account for another 14 percent of voters. Asian voters and those identifying as “other” each make up 3 percent.
These numbers mean that the Super Tuesday primary electorate is much more diverse than the two earliest Democratic contests held last month in Iowa and New Hampshire.
But as in each of the four previous Democratic caucuses and primaries, today’s voters are on the older side. More than half — 64 percent — of today’s Democratic voters are 45 or over, including the 29 percent of voters who are age 65 or over. Just 13 percent of those voting this Super Tuesday are younger than 30.
Results reported here reflect data combined from NBC News Exit Poll surveys conducted in 12 of the 14 states holding Democratic presidential primaries on Super Tuesday (Alabama, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia). Results are weighted to reflect differences in the sizes of state electorates.
Super Tuesday voting machine risks
While all fingers are crossed for a smooth electoral process, some Super Tuesday states are using machines with a higher likelihood of issues.
These can include new machines getting the kinks worked out for the first time in a primary, old machines known for glitches, and machines with no paper trail if something goes wrong. Without a paper trail, the only way to check is by running a test on the messed-up machine.
Thirty-nine counties in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas will use the ES&S iVotronic, a “first-generation” touchscreen device prone to having an issue where the voter touches one candidate but the screen registers a different candidate. In the past confused voters have uploaded videos of it happening, leading to viral claims of “vote flipping.”
Nearly half the counties In Tennessee will use the MicroVote Infinity, an ancient push-button machine with security issues and no paper trail.
Six counties across the country in California, Tennessee, Texas, Utah will use the Dominion AccuVote TSX, which has been thoroughly hacked by researchers and its source code posted online. Hackers have made it run video games like Pacman and DOOM. Some counties using it have a paper trail, some don’t. Counties that have it tend to use it as an accessibility device, not as the primary means of voting.
Other places and issues:
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles County is rolling out its Voting Solutions for All People VSAP which has already had a handful of issues in early voting. There were reports of centers closed for ballots getting jammed, workers not knowing security codes, and an insufficient number of poll workers. Two counties are using the AccuVote TSX, with a paper trail.
NORTH CAROLINA
More than half of North Carolinians are voting on new equipment. A few months ago a local Pennsylvania race was thrown into disarray when new equipment improperly configured by maker ES&S showed a judge as getting zero votes. They fixed the issue in the audit but it was a mess.
TEXAS
Nearly 40 percent of Texans are voting on touchscreens with no paper trail.
TENNESSE
Seventy percent of voters are using electronic voting machines with no paper trail.
UTAH
One county is using the AccvuoteTSX. They will have a paper trail.
Frustration for early voters whose candidates have dropped out of the race
The abrupt departures of Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar from the Democratic presidential race on the eve of Super Tuesday primaries could be frustrating for the millions of people who have already voted in those 14 states and might have cast ballots for them.
Early voting began in January in many of the Super Tuesday states, and in large part, once a vote is cast, it is final, according to state election officials.
In California, with more than 400 delegates are at stake, nearly 1.6 million Democrats had returned mail-in ballots as of Monday afternoon, according to a ballot tracker maintained by Political Data Inc. If an early ballot there was marked for a candidate no longer in the race, a voter can take in their ballot for a new one, and make a second choice. But once the ballot is submitted, that’s it.
In Colorado, Secretary of State Jena Griswold tweeted on Sunday that only those who had marked a ballot but not yet returned it could make a second selection, or get a new ballot.
At a Colorado event for Klobuchar on Monday, Amy Valore-Caplan, a 46-year-old writer in Denver, showed up to find out that the Minnesota senator, for whom she had waited until the last minute to cast her mail-in ballot, had dropped out.
Valore-Caplan said she knew Klobuchar’s candidacy was on the bubble, and actually hesitated Sunday, when she saw Buttigieg end his campaign. “I thought it was safe,” she said, of her decision to wait another day. “I was waiting to make sure she didn’t drop out.”
Bernie Sanders votes in Vermont
NBC News Exit Poll: Voters split on if they prefer return to Obama era versus more liberal policies
Former President Barack Obama may be deeply popular with rank and file Democrats, but Super Tuesday voters today are divided over whether they’d like to see a return to the former president’s policies — or if they instead prefer policies that are even more liberal.
According to the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in 12 of the 14 Super Tuesday states, 44 percent of Democratic voters across the country would like the next president to return to Obama’s policies. That’s just slightly ahead of the 38 percent of voters who prefer more liberal policies. Reflecting the liberal tilt of the Democratic primary electorate, just 11 percent want to change to more conservative policies.
Results reported here reflect data combined from NBC News Exit Poll surveys conducted in 12 of the 14 states holding Democratic presidential primaries on Super Tuesday (Alabama, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia). Results are weighted to reflect differences in the sizes of state electorates.
NBC News Exit Poll: 3 in 10 Super Tuesday voters say they picked a candidate in just the last few days
Many voters in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primaries across the country waited until just recently to choose a candidate, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll conducted in 12 of the 14 Super Tuesday states.
About 1 in 10 voters said they waited until Tuesday to decide on their choice, and another 19 percent of voters decided in just “the last few days.”
The share of voters making late decisions is of particular interest this year, as two candidates — Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar — dropped out of the race and endorsed Joe Biden in the 48 hours before polls opened across the country.
Results reflect data combined from NBC News Exit Poll surveys conducted in 12 of the 14 states holding Democratic presidential primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday (Alabama, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia). Results are weighted to reflect differences in the sizes of state electorates.
Bloomberg campaign denies report he's being pushed to drop out
Biden now giving Sanders a run for his money — on Google
Biden is making a comeback on Sanders — in terms of Google searches.
While Sanders has generally been the most-Googled candidate in 2020 — and particularly over the last couple weeks — Biden has come roaring back in the last few days, according to data from Google Trends.
Volunteers outraged after voters face hours-long lines in Houston
HOUSTON — Local Democratic Party volunteers here were outraged after some voters in a predominantly black and Latino community in north Houston had to wait up to three hours to cast ballots Tuesday morning.
Election workers said technical problems with some of the voting machines assigned to Democratic primary voters led to the delays at the Fallbrook Church voting site. Residents casting ballots in the Republican primary were not affected.
Karen Griffin, a 63-year-old retired college administrator, waited two and a half hours to cast a ballot for Joe Biden, who she said was best suited to beat Trump.
"I don’t think it’s right that someone should have to wait that long to participate in our democratic process," Griffin said after voting at around noon.
The Rev. Stan Hillard, 67, spent a few minutes in line Tuesday afternoon before leaving in search of another voting location. In Harris County, voters can vote at any polling location, but Hillard said he wasn’t sure where he needed to go.
"It’s inconvenient, but this is too important," said Hillard, who said he planned to vote for Biden in the hopes that he would defeat Trump and "restore this country’s moral integrity."
Rosalind Caesar, 44, a Democratic Party precinct chair, spent Tuesday morning helping voters who didn’t have time to wait to find different voting locations.
"I think it’s more than a little ironic that in this heavily Democratic precinct, it’s only the machines for the Democratic primary that aren’t working," said Caesar, noting that some voters might not have time to find another location. "The county needs to get someone out here to fix this."
In Texas, polls are open until 7 p.m.
'Delegate math': Inside the Biden campaign's Super Tuesday strategy
OAKLAND, Calif. — Joe Biden never expected a coronation, and his campaign prepared accordingly.
Despite his status as a former vice president and widely-admired party elder, his campaign knew the crowded field and ideological diversity of the party would pose headwinds for him and suggested a long, bruising battle for the nomination. The fact that Biden was never a prolific fundraiser also meant what resources the campaign had would need to be invested with great precision.
So the Biden campaign’s approach to Super Tuesday perhaps best illustrates what became a mantra of his top strategists: if Andrew Yang was the “math” candidate, Biden would be the delegate math candidate.
While much of the focus Tuesday will be on the statewide results in the more than dozen Super Tuesday contests, the Biden team will be looking just as closely for the results district-by-district — especially in the South. Of the more than 1,300 delegates at stake Tuesday, 875 will be awarded not based on the statewide tally but from the results in individual congressional districts (or, in the case of Texas, state senate districts).
For the full look at Biden’s delegate strategy, read here.
Trump on Democratic candidates: 'Whoever it is, I don't care'
Ahead of more than a dozen primary contests Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he doesn't care who secures the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
"Whoever it is, I don't care. I really don't care. Whoever it is, we will take them on," Trump told reporters outside of the White House, touting a rebuilt military and a strong economy.
Trump said he would "very gladly" debate "any of them" in the general election and is ready "to take on anybody."
The president said that there's "no question" that the Democratic establishment is trying to take the nomination away from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
"Look, a lot's going to be learned tonight. We'll see how well Biden does; we'll see how well Sanders does. I would have said two, three days ago, Biden was not looking too good. Now he's looking better," he said. "Probably by 9 or 10 o'clock tonight, we're going to have some big answers."
Paper ballots, transportation issues in Tennessee after tornado
At least one polling station in a Tennessee county began using paper primary ballots Tuesday after a tornado ripped through the central part of the state, killing at least 22 people.
The polling place in Wilson County's St. Stephen Catholic Church, east of Nashville, began using paper ballots because it lost electricity, said Lauren Breeze, a member of the county's election commission.
As a result of the tornado damage, a number of people had to enter two shelters that opened in Wilson County, including 35 to 40 people at Victory Baptist Church and at least 13 people at the Highland Heights Church of Christ. Neither shelter was offering transportation to polling sites, Breeze said.
In addition, two high schools in the county that were originally supposed to be polling locations were closed because of storm damage. Voters who were assigned to those sites have been redirected to other locations.
Homeland Security hasn't seen signs of election meddling — so far
The Department of Homeland Security is “at a heightened state of operational readiness” as Super Tuesday voting gets underway, a senior official said Tuesday.
In a press call Tuesday morning, a senior official at DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told reporters that the agency’s two election war rooms in Arlington, Virginia — one classified and one unclassified, and filled with representatives from multiple levels of government — had been on alert for potential issues “since early January,” but hadn’t seen anything concerning yet. Per the terms of the call, the senior official requested to not be identified by name.
CISA has sought to take a clearer leadership role in election security since January 2017, when DHS classified U.S. elections as critical infrastructure after the Russian government interfered in the 2016 campaign.
While declining to share specifics, the government was monitoring “low-level” of activity targeting the major threats to elections, cyberactivity on election-related infrastructure and dis- or misinformation campaigns. But that’s a constant, the official said.
Constant scanning of internet-connected networks is a reality, and influence operations are “a 365-day threat,” the official said. "There’s a low level of constant activity, but at the moment we’re not seeing any appreciable increase or spike in activity."
Super Tuesday spending wars: Bloomberg drops almost $200 million on airwaves
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's deep pockets have translated into an overwhelming spending edge on the airwaves in Super Tuesday states.
In the 14 states that hold their presidential nominating contests on Tuesday, Bloomberg has spent $198.4 million on television and radio ads, according to ad-tracking firm Advertising Analytics. That's more than six times the spending of the rest of the field combined and their affiliated super PACs.
Total Super Tuesday TV and radio ad spending
- Bloomberg: $198.4 million
- Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders: $15.7 million
- Persist PAC (A super PAC supporting Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren): $9 million
- Former Vice President Joe Biden: $2.1 million
- Warren: $2 million
- Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: $338,000
- Unite the Country (Pro-Biden super PAC): $163,000
Bloomberg is the top spender in each one of the 14 states, dropping more than half his total between California and Texas, the two biggest delegate prizes of Tuesday's slate.
California TV and radio spending
- Bloomberg: $71 million
- Sanders: $7.1 million
- Persist PAC: $3.6 million
- Biden: $629,000
- Gabbard: $74,000
- Unite the Country: $18,000
Texas TV and radio spending
- Bloomberg: $52 million
- Sanders: $3.9 million
- Persist PAC: $2 million
- Warren: $790,000
- Biden: $463,000
- Gabbard: $46,000
- Unite the Country: $29,000
And he's responsible for at least three-quarters of all money spent on TV and radio ads in 13 of the 14 states (he's spent six out of every 10 dollars dropped on the Virginia airwaves).
Biden's team says 'thanks, but no thanks' to Comey's endorsement
Bates, Biden's rapid response director, then quickly clarified his tweet.
Coronavirus fears keep some poll workers away
Election officials in Travis County, home of Austin, Texas, are implementing emergency procedures to fill in for poll workers who didn’t show up to their stations Tuesday because they fear contracting the coronavirus.
Some poll workers were relocated to some of the county’s most severely understaffed polling centers.
"It's been in the news, just because they’ve been seeing it in the news, and reading about what they find to be scary stats relating to it," said Victoria Hinojosa with the County Clerk's Office. "A lot of them are older so their health is always a concern."
“Most locations are up and running now, and we’re continuing to work on resolutions to get everywhere fully staffed,” Hinojosa said.
In Sacramento, California, around a dozen of the nearly 700 election clerks opted out over coronavirus fears.
"To better equip our Vote Centers for any spread of germs, we’ve sent out sanitation supplies to our vote centers including hand sanitizer, antiseptic wipes for the voting booths, tissues and gloves that people using the touchscreens can use," said a spokeswoman for the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters.
Analysis: Warren is the undercard
Obviously, everyone's watching to see where Sanders and Biden finish in terms of delegates — an answer that might not be fully detailed for days or weeks.
But the undercard is Elizabeth Warren's delegate count. The departures of Tom Steyer, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg make it more likely that the Massachusetts senator will make the 15 percent threshold in states and congressional districts across the country. If Sanders and Biden are running close to each other, two or three hundred delegates apiece in the baskets of Warren and Mike Bloomberg over the course of the primary season could easily prevent either Sanders or Biden from winning a majority of delegates outright.
Since Bloomberg is running to the right of Biden, his delegates would be very unlikely to move toward Sanders in any scenario.
But Warren's delegates could conceivably go either way — or split — which might end up giving her a ton of leverage heading into the Democratic convention this summer. That's why her delegate count tonight, driven primarily by whether she makes threshold statewide in California and Texas, is a big dynamic to watch.
7 things to watch on Super Tuesday
The Democratic contest is rapidly becoming a two-person race between establishment-friendly moderate Joe Biden and progressive populist Bernie Sanders. Super Tuesday will determine which one has the edge — and whether any wild cards remain in the hunt.
It's the biggest day on the primary calendar, with one-third of Democratic delegates up for grabs in 14 states — Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Vermont — as well as the territory of American Samoa and the votes of those living abroad.
There are several things to watch for on a critical day of voting as the race narrows to four major candidates — Biden, Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Mike Bloomberg.
Click here for the full analysis
Warren heads to the polls
Bloomberg: Biden's 'taking votes away from me'
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said Tuesday that former Vice President Joe Biden was taking away votes that he could be receiving in the Democratic presidential race.
"Joe's taking votes away from me, and I think that is true," Bloomberg told reporters in Miami, who said that he's also taking votes away from Biden as the two moderate candidates left in the race.
"Well it goes in both directions. Have you asked Joe whether he's going to drop out?"
Bloomberg predicted that none of the Democratic presidential candidates will receive a majority of the delegates needed to secure the party's nomination, resulting in a contested convention.
Asked if he wants a contested convention, Bloomberg conceded that that might his only chance of victory.
"I don't think that I can win any other ways. But [a] contested convention is a democratic process."
Deadly Tennessee tornado alters polling locations for voters
The tornado that tore through central Tennessee early Tuesday morning and killed at least 19 people has prompted the state's Division of Elections to alter some polling times and locations for voters who want to cast ballots in today's primary.
Nashville was among the hardest hit areas, and government officials announced that all polling locations in the region would open an hour late, at 8 a.m., but will still close at 7 p.m. The government also tweeted guidance redirecting voters to other polling locations if their original voting place was affected by the tornado.
The website for Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett said that the state's Division of Elections is open Tuesday and can be reached at 1-877-850-4959. The other divisions of Hargett's office are closed as a result of the tornado.
Hargett tweeted Tuesday that he's working with election officials to ensure that polling locations in counties experiencing damage are open for the required 10 hours.
Can Latinos seal the deal for Sanders on Super Tuesday?
AUSTIN, Texas — As soon as California moved its primary to Super Tuesday, it was clear Latinos would be crucial in choosing the Democrats’ presidential nominee.
Bernie Sanders is heading into the 14-state primary contest on Tuesday having dominated the Latino vote in the first three states to vote, including Nevada, giving him the early lead in the delegate race.
Now there is potential for Latino voters in California and Texas, which rank first and second in the number of Latinos eligible to vote, to bolster and widen that lead.
“What we saw in Nevada, Bernie was the first candidate to be able to expand his coalition," said Oscar Ramirez, a Democratic strategist with Fulcrum Public Affairs. "He won the majority of Latino votes there. He was the first candidate to be able to grow beyond his base."
But Ramirez added that the Latino electorate varies by state, “and Nevada is very different from Texas.”
Sanders jokes he got 'at least two votes in Vermont'
Campaign's next phase: Go big to win, or hang on for dear life
WASHINGTON — The Democratic presidential primary is about to super-scale, moving from a series of single-state battles for momentum to a national multifront war for delegates, putting extra pressure on underdog campaigns that can't raise huge amounts of money or field large armies of supporters in dozens of places at once.
Half the states in the country will vote this month, making the person-to-person politics of the small early states no match for the more-is-more style of campaigning needed to win mega-states like California, Texas, Florida and Illinois, which all vote this month.
The scale of the coming contests is enormous. About 10 times as many delegates are at stake on Super Tuesday as were up for grabs in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina combined, and nearly three times as many people have already voted early in California alone as voted in all four early states.
"There are a bunch of candidates who need to ask themselves why they're in this race," said Lilly Adams, a former top aide to Sen. Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. "Are they in it today to be introduced as a presidential candidate at events, or are they in it to win? If they are the former, not the latter, then they should get out."
Everything you need to know about Super Tuesday
The Democratic presidential candidates are in crunch mode as they prepare for the most important day in the primary race so far: Super Tuesday.
More than a million voters across over a dozen states have already voted early or by mail-in ballot, but the rest will head to the polls Tuesday to make their choice.