March 3, 2020
As statewide results trickled in on Super Tuesday, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden appeared neck and neck in the Texas Democratic primary for president.
Unofficial statewide results from the Texas secretary of state showed the two candidates within a percentage point of each other at 10:30 p.m., but those numbers did not include Dallas, Harris, Tarrant or Travis counties. According to those counties’ election offices, Biden was leading in Dallas and Harris counties while Sanders was leading in Travis. The two were virtually tied in Tarrant. Many votes still needed to be counted across the state.
Statewide numbers were slow to come in Tuesday evening, and some voters were still waiting in line to cast their ballots in Harris County two hours after the polls closed.
In Texas, polls conducted before election day gave Sanders a lead over Biden, but Biden’s decisive victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday raised the former vice president’s hopes for the state. Sanders had a decisive lead in the state’s five biggest counties early in the night, but as more election day results came in, Biden made great strides in closing the gap.
In the run-up to election day, many of the Democratic Party’s centrist forces rallied together in an effort to stop Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, from securing the Democratic nomination. Former rivals Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar shuttered their respective White House bids Monday night and announced their support for Biden during a rally in Dallas. O’Rourke, the former congressman from El Paso, also endorsed Biden.
Sanders, speaking to jubilant supporters after winning his home state of Vermont, predicted a landslide victory in other states across the nation.
“We’re doing well in Texas right now,” Sanders triumphantly declared.
Biden, meanwhile, didn’t appear to concede defeat in the Lone Star State.
“We won Minnesota because of Amy Klobuchar. And we’re doing well in Texas because of Beto O’Rourke,” Biden said from Los Angeles.
Candidates need 15% of the vote to pick up delegates statewide. They can also pick up delegates by winning 15% of the vote in individual state Senate districts. Total delegate hauls likely won’t be available until Wednesday.
Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.