Arkansas Super Tuesday Democratic Primary: Biden Called As Winner

LITTLE ROCK, AR — Former Vice President Joe Biden has been called as the winner of the Arkansas Super Tuesday Democratic presidential primary, strengthening his support in the South, where he was called as the winner in Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and, importantly, Texas.

The New York Times, The Associated Press and the Baxter Bulletin in Arkansas all projected Biden as the winner in Arkansas, which has 31 pledged delegates at stake. Biden also won Massachusetts and Minnesota in Super Tuesday voting.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent whose campaign of democratic socialism looked nearly unstoppable before Biden's commanding win in South Carolina Saturday, picked up only 22 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results updated at 8 a.m. local time Wednesday with 84 percent of Arkansas ballots counted. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had 15 percent of the votes counted.

Biden's Super Tuesday finishes show his campaign is building momentum following a commanding win in Saturday's South Carolina primary, after poor showings in other early primary states.

Polling data was sparse in Arkansas, but the political news site FiveThirtyEight forecast Biden would win Arkansas. Going into Super Tuesday, he was leading in each of the state's four congressional districts.

Of them, the 3rd District is the most competitive. FiveThirtyEight says Biden has close competition from Bloomberg, on the ballot for the first time in the Super Tuesday Democratic presidential primaries, and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The three districts where Biden has the greatest lead are between 15 percent and 25 percent African American. In the 3rd District in northwest Arkansas, where retail giant Walmart's corporate parent is located, less than 5 percent of voters are black, making it more competitive.

» Follow Super Tuesday Voting In 14 Primaries

FiveThirtyEight had forecast Biden would win 29 percent of the delegates in the 3rd District, compared with 25 percent each for Bloomberg and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont. Warren also was expected to pick up support in the 3rd District, where the University of Arkansas maintains its flagship campus in Fayetteville.

Super Tuesday also was voting day for Alabama, American Samoa, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia Democratic and Democrats Abroad.

Democrats are awarding 1,357 pledged delegates in Super Tuesday. That's 34 percent of the total needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

Sanders was leading in the committed delegate count heading into Super Tuesday with 58, compared with Biden's 50. But former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota both have pledged their support for Biden after dropping out following Saturday's South Carolina Democratic primary.

Buttigieg had 26 pledged delegates going into Super Tuesday, and Klobuchar had 7.

» Follow Arkansas Super Tuesday voting results on the Baxter Bulletin.