WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Joe Biden has won the Democratic primary in Tennessee and Oklahoma, US media projected, bringing to five his number of wins in the crucial Super Tuesday contests to pick a challenger to take on President Donald Trump.
The states send 64 and 37 delegates to the party’s convention, respectively, and the victories underscore a strong start to the night for the centrist former vice president over his leftist rival, Senator Bernie Sanders.
Most of Biden’s wins have occurred in southern states with large black populations, demonstrating his strong support among African-Americans, according to exit polls.
Oklahoma is the exception — the central state has a relatively high Native American population and relatively small black population, and Sanders carried it in 2016 with a comfortable 10-point margin over Hillary Clinton.
Sanders’ first and so far only victory was in his home state Vermont, with a small and overwhelmingly white population.
But the biggest prizes of the night are yet to come: Delegate-rich California, where the self-described socialist is a strong favorite, and Texas.
A total of 1,357 delegates are at stake on Tuesday, and Biden needs a good performance to prevent Sanders from taking a potentially insurmountable lead into the party’s nominating convention in July.
© Agence France-Presse