Joe Biden picked up early primary wins Tuesday in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, CBS News projects. As of 10:30 p.m., he had 1,862 delegates out of the 1,991 needed to clinch the nomination. Votes are still being counted in several states.
More than 400 delegates were up for grabs in seven states and Washington D.C. on Tuesday, making it one of the biggest nights since Super Tuesday.
While it’s mathematically possible for Biden to clinch the nomination, Bernie Sanders is still accumulating delegates.
Poll closing times for June 2 primaries:
- Indiana: 7 p.m. ET
- District of Columbia: 8 p.m. ET
- Maryland: 8 p.m. ET
- Pennsylvania: 8 p.m. ET
- Rhode Island: 8 p.m. ET
- New Mexico: 9 p.m. ET
- South Dakota: 9 p.m. ET
- Montana: 10 p.m. ET
There have been changes wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Indiana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Maryland were supposed to hold their primaries earlier but postponed them to June 2. And New Jersey and Connecticut were both set to hold their primaries on Tuesday, but New Jersey postponed its primary until July 7 and Connecticut has rescheduled its primary for August 11.
To protect the safety of their voters, states are mostly allowing mail-in voting, a method President Trump has condemned as “substantially fraudulent,” though he has never offered any evidence of this. Voting by mail will, however, mean that counting the votes will take longer, since not all of the ballots will be in by Election Day.
BIden picked up an early win in Pennsylvania, a state that is central to the Biden campaign, which is headquartered in Philadelphia.
Biden traveled for the first time in months from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to Philadelphia City Hall to give a speech on the ongoing nationwide protests. “The country is crying out for leadership, leadership that can unite us,” Biden said.
