Joe Biden hopes to take a big step toward the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday when six states cast votes, while Bernie Sanders aims for an upset win in Michigan that would keep his White House hopes alive, Reuters informs.
Biden, who claimed the position of Democratic front-runner with a sweeping series of wins last week in Super Tuesday nominating contests, could build a formidable lead in the race to pick a challenger to President Donald Trump with another round of decisive victories.
The biggest showdown between Biden and Sanders will take place in Michigan, a political battleground where Sanders sprang a stunning 2016 upset over Hillary Clinton that ensured a long nominating fight – something Biden hopes to avoid this time.
With 125 delegates, Michigan is the largest prize of the six states voting on Tuesday, when a total of 352 delegates to July’s Democratic nominating convention will be up for grabs.
Missouri, Mississippi, Washington, North Dakota and Idaho also hold nominating contests.
Since last week’s romps on Super Tuesday, Biden has roared into the national lead in polling and delegates, knocked out his remaining viable rivals except Sanders and swept up another wave of endorsements from prominent Democrats and former rivals such as Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.
Democrats who were worried that Sanders’ democratic socialist proposals to restructure the economy would doom the party to defeat in the November election have rushed to rally behind Biden, the former vice president under Barack Obama.
Biden has a double-digit lead in the four most recent polls taken in Michigan. But Clinton held a similar lead in Michigan polls over Sanders, a senator from Vermont, before the 2016 primary, making predictions of the outcome this time even less reliable than usual.
Like his resounding win in South Carolina that was powered by overwhelming support from African Americans, Biden was again lifted in Super Tuesday contests by strong support from black voters.
In 2016, about one-fifth of Democratic primary voters in Michigan and Missouri, and an overwhelming 70% in Mississippi, were black.
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