Campaign

The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden riding wave of momentum after stunning Super Tuesday

by Julia Manchester,Max Greenwood and Jonathan Easley - 03/04/20 6:07 PM ET

Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, your daily rundown on all the latest news in the 2020 presidential, Senate and House races. Did someone forward this to you? Click here to subscribe.

We’re Julia Manchester, Max Greenwood and Jonathan Easley. Here’s what we’re watching today on the campaign trail.

LEADING THE DAY:

JOEMENTUM: Former Vice President Joe Biden is feeling the momentum today after a slew of wins on Super Tuesday. Biden won at least nine of the 14 states up for grabs and currently leads the delegate race with 513 delegates. Biden scored big in the South, following his huge win in South Carolina on Saturday. Virginia and North Carolina were called for Biden within minutes of the polls closing in those states. He also racked up big wins in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. He even eked out a win in Texas, where progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was leading in the polls. Biden’s support among the African American community was what, in large part, put him over the top in the south. This all started with the endorsement of House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) last week. “On the day after the Saturday vote, I went to North Carolina,” Clyburn told me last night. “I heard from people in Goldsboro, [and] people in Fayetteville [who said], your endorsement was exactly what we were waiting for.”

While he continues to trail Biden in the delegate count, Sanders did win the biggest prize of the evening, California, along with Colorado, Utah and his home state of Vermont. However, the progressive senator still trails the former vice president, carrying 461 delegates. Sanders showed no sign of letting up in the wake of the Super Tuesday results, telling reporters in Burlington on Wednesday that he and Biden will be going forward “neck-and-neck.” With former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg out of the race, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) poor showing on Super Tuesday, Sanders assessment of the race appears to be correct.

The new dynamics in the race, which developed rapidly over the course of 72 hours, further solidify the moderate-progressive divide within the Democratic Party. Sanders and Biden will turn their sights to the March 10 presidential primaries in Michigan, Idaho, Washington, Mississippi, Missouri and North Dakota. Sanders already hit Biden over his record on what he called “disastrous trade agreements” on Wednesday, as he focuses more on the Midwest. However, cracks could already be emerging for Sanders in the Midwest, especially in Michigan, which he won in 2016. A Detroit News/WDIV-TV poll released Tuesday shows Biden leading Sanders by nearly seven points in the state.

–Julia Manchester

READ MORE:

The Hill’s Jonathan Easley: Five takeaways from Super Tuesday.

The Hill’s Jonathan Easley: Biden seeks to capitalize on Super Tuesday surprise

The Hill’s Niall Stanage: Winners and losers.

The Hill’s Max Greenwood: Democratic turnout surges.

FROM THE TRAIL:

Bloomberg dropped out of the 2020 race on Wednesday after a disappointing performance on Super Tuesday despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars in advertisements. Bloomberg threw his support behind Biden, giving the former vice president endorsements from four former rivals over the past few days.

Warren, meanwhile, is reassessing her campaign after a poor showing on Super Tuesday, underscored by a third place finish in her home state.

PERSPECTIVES:

Steve Israel: How Joe Biden won Super Tuesday

Max Friedman: How the Democratic candidates should talk to voters about Cuba

Jim Newell: Democrats fall in line

Jeet Heer: Biden’s electability problem

Ezra Klein: Sanders can’t lead Democrats if he treats them like the enemy

FROM CONGRESS AND THE STATES:

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) is expected to launch a bid for Senate in his home state, reversing course after months of insisting that he would not do so, The Hill’s Reid Wilson reports. His candidacy would give Democrats a top recruit for a seat that could add to their prospects of recapturing control of the Senate in November. Democrats are largely playing offense this year, bullish about their chances of flipping seats in Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina and Maine. But they are also bracing for a potential loss in Alabama, making them all the more eager to bring Montana into play.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) is set to get a big boost from one of the Republican Party’s most prominent members. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, is expected to endorse Loeffler in her special election battle against Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), The Hill’s Juliegrace Brufke reports. Haley teased the endorsement in a video message posted on Twitter on Wednesday. “Hi Georgia friends, it’s Nikki Haley and I am coming to Atlanta on Monday with a super exciting announcement. I hope you’ll stay tuned — I look forward to seeing you soon,” she said. The endorsement would be a big get for Loeffler, who was appointed in December to fill the seat of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.).

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is heading to a runoff in his bid to recapture his old Senate seat in Alabama, The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports. Sessions, who left the Senate in 2017 to run President Trump’s Justice Department, will face former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville in the March 31 runoff, after neither candidate was able to win the 50 percent of the vote needed on Tuesday to clinch the Republican Senate nomination. The eventual winner will face off against Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) in the November general election.

Cal Cunningham will take on Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in North Carolina’s Senate race in November after he bested three rivals in a Democratic primary contest on Tuesday, Jordain reports. Cunningham, a former state senator, was the favorite to win heading into the primary, having won the backing of national Democrats, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Meanwhile, Tillis easily scored the GOP nomination after facing only nominal opposition within his own party. The Senate race in North Carolina is expected to be among the most competitive of 2020.

POLL WATCH:

WDIV/DETROIT NEWS – MICHIGAN

Biden: 29.2 percent

Sanders: 22.5 percent

Bloomberg: 10.5 percent

Warren: 6.7 percent

Buttigieg: 5.8 percent

Klobuchar: 2.7 percent

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

March 10:

-Idaho primaries

-Michigan primaries

-Mississippi primaries

-Missouri primaries

-North Dakota Democratic caucuses

-Washington State primaries

March 15:

-Eleventh Democratic presidential primary debate

March 17:

-Arizona Democratic primary

-Florida primaries

-Illinois primaries

-Ohio primaries

March 24:

-Georgia primaries

March 29:

Puerto Rico Democratic primary

ONE FUN THING:

THE BODYGUARDS: Jill Biden and the former vice president’s senior adviser Symone Sanders stole the show at Biden’s Super Tuesday night rally in Los Angeles last night when they both intercepted an anti-dairy protester on stage.

The moment, which nearly broke the internet, started when Biden turned around to notice the protester yelling “Let dairy die” from the crowd of supporters behind the podium, Jill Biden went into action, blocking her husband from the protester.

Then Sanders leapt into the fray, pulling the protester off the stage.