Biden Scores a Narrow Win in Texas

Bush grandson failed to make runoff in bid for Congress
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 4, 2020 3:11 AM CST
Biden Scores Narrow Win in Texas
Dallas County election worker Maxx Nunez helps Democrat Jamie Wilson cast his ballot in the Super Tuesday primary at John H. Reagan Elementary School in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Tuesday, March 3, 2020.   (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Joe Biden ended a triumphant Super Tuesday with a narrow victory over Bernie Sanders in Texas, where Democrats are seeking a rare return to power in 2020. The former vice president's victory over the Vermont senator capped a string of victories across the South for Biden, who won at least nine states but none bigger or more symbolic than Texas. Just 24 hours earlier in Dallas, Biden mounted a display of force by the Democratic Party's moderate wing—revealing endorsements by former rivals Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Beto O'Rourke. The primary put Texas' fast-changing politics to the test and delivered some surprises, the AP reports. For Republicans, that included a rare loss for the Bush brand in the Lone Star State after Pierce Bush, a grandson of former President George HW Bush, failed to even make a runoff in a bid for Congress.

The last-minute gambit may have helped overtake Sanders, who had built a firm foothold in Texas just four years after badly losing the state to Hillary Clinton. Sanders was banking on young and Latino voters in booming Texas to accelerate his path to the nomination. His rise emboldened an unusual crop of liberal challengers in Texas—and like Sanders, they were also running close into Wednesday. In Texas' Senate race, Democrat MJ Hegar awaited an opponent after advancing to a May runoff. Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez, who was endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was fighting to make the cut. The winner of the Democratic Senate runoff will try to unseat Republican incumbent John Cornyn, who is seen as a heavy favorite in a state where a Democrat hasn't won a Senate seat since the 1970s.

(More Super Tuesday stories.)

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