Tennessee Super Tuesday Results: Biden To Be Projected Winner

An hour after most Super Tuesday polls closed in Tennessee, former Vice President Joe Biden was the projected winner of the state's Democratic primary, according to multiple sources. Biden has also been projected as the winner in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, North Carolina and Virginia.

The New York Times declared Biden as projected winner after unofficial results placed him in the lead with 60 percent of precincts reporting. The Associated Press, MSNBC and CNN have also declared for Biden, who has received the most votes so far in 88 of Tennessee’s 95 counties, The New York Times reported.

On Wednesday, Biden had 42 percent of votes with 100 percent of precincts reporting, according to unofficial New York Times results. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders came in behind Biden with 25 percent of votes, followed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with 16 percent. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren had 10 percent of votes.

There are 64 pledged delegates at stake in Tennessee.

RELATED: Super Tuesday Nationwide Results: The South Goes Biden

At a rally in Los Angeles, Biden triumphantly addressed supporters.

“Primary report: We are very much alive,” Biden said at the rally. “And make no mistake about it, this campaign will send Donald Trump packing. Join us … we need you, we want you, there’s a place for you in this campaign.”

The last Tennessee polls closed at 10 p.m. CT, after a judge ruled those in tornado-ravaged Davidson County would stay open past the scheduled 7 p.m. CT closing time, CNN reported. The ruling allowed five "mega sites" in the county, which includes the city of Nashville, to extend voting by three hours, while other precinct locations remained open until 8 p.m. CT.

The decision came after a lawsuit was filed by the Democratic Party and the four top campaigns to extend voting after storm damage delayed opening of polls, according to CNN.

In Tennessee, Biden led all candidates among voters who selected their candidate of choice in the last few days, women, moderates, voters ages 65 and older, and those with no college degree and who oppose a single government health care plan, according to an Edison Research exit poll.

Biden was also the candidate of choice among black voters in the Tennessee primary. Fifty-three percent of black voters in the state voted for Biden, compared to 20 percent for Sanders.

The Democratic field was thinned over the weekend when Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, dropped out on Sunday, followed on Monday by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. The remaining candidates included Biden, Sanders, Bloomberg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

A win in Tennessee would further propel Biden toward a possible nomination. Biden captured second place in the Nevada caucuses behind Sanders and was the winner of Saturday's South Carolina Democratic primary by a huge margin, giving his campaign a jolt of life.

Sanders garnered 20 percent of the South Carolina vote, followed by billionaire Tom Steyer, who finished a distant third before dropping out of the Democratic presidential race.

Going into Tuesday, Sanders led in the delegate count with 56, followed by Biden with 50 and Warren with eight.

In-person voting was disrupted Tuesday after tornadoes ripped across Tennessee in the early morning hours, shredding at least 140 buildings and killing at least 25 people, The Associated Press reported. One of the twisters caused severe damage across downtown Nashville.

With more than a dozen Super Tuesday polling places in Nashville's Davidson County damaged, voters were sent to other locations, some of them with long lines.

The Tennessee secretary of state delayed opening polls in the disaster area for an hour, according to AP. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law urged the governor and elections officials to extend the primary through at least the end of the week.

More than 336,000 Tennessee residents voted early or absentee, according to the secretary of state’s website, with about 2,400 more Democratic ballots than Republican ballots cast as of Feb. 25, the final day of early voting.

A conservative state by voting record, a Republican holds every major elected office in Tennessee, according to The Associated Press, including seven of the state’s nine U.S. congressional seats. Democrats in the Tennessee General Assembly hold only 26 out of 99 seats in the House and just five out of 33 in the Senate, The Tennesseean reported.

Donald Trump won the state’s popular vote over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, according to Washington Post election results, garnering the most electoral votes and 61 percent of the state’s popular vote.

Tennessee voters historically have shown preference for Republican presidential candidates, with a majority of the state’s popular vote going to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney in 2012, the late Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008 and George W. Bush in 2004.

Tennessee’s Democratic base has a history of being more moderate than those in other states. While Tennessee voted for Hillary Clinton over Sanders in 2016, state Democrats chose Clinton over Barack Obama in 2008 and eventual nominee John Kerry over the more populist John Edwards in 2004, a report by The Brookings Institution said.

Democratic candidates campaigning in Tennessee ahead of Super Tuesday placed an emphasis on connecting with these moderate voters. Bloomberg made three stops Friday in Tennessee, speaking in Memphis, Clarksville and Johnson City. Biden and Warren sent high-profile surrogates to campaign in their place, according to AP.

Tennessee Democrats spent recent weeks traveling to states such as Iowa, campaigning for more-moderate candidates such as Biden and Buttigieg.

Some Tennessee Democrats, as well as candidates running against Sanders, have argued a party nomination for Sanders — a front-runner since the Iowa caucuses — would threaten the party's chances at the White House and even pull down Democrats running for other offices in November.

Christopher Hale, a 2018 candidate for Congress and active Tennessee Democrat, told The Tennesseean he fears a Sanders victory could have a major effect on state elections this fall, adding he believes Biden could win the state’s primary.

“We are on the Titanic right now,” Hale said of the Tennessee Democratic Party. “A Bernie Sanders victory would be an iceberg into our ship."

In addition to Tennessee, Super Tuesday is voting day for Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia Democratic and Democrats Abroad.