WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th March, 2020) Former US Vice President Joe Biden is looking to build on the momentum he gained last week as he heads into Tuesday for another round of Democratic primaries in six states with 356 delegates at stake.
On Tuesday, voters will head to the polls in the states of Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Idaho and Washington.
The earliest polls to close will be in Michigan, Mississippi and Missouri at 8:00 p.m. EST (1:00 a.m. GMT on Wednesday), however, four counties in Michigan will close at 9:00 p.m. EST. Most polls in North Dakota and Idaho will close at 10:00 p.m. EST and in Washington polls close at 11:00 p.m. EST.
Biden leads US Senator Bernie Sanders by 91 delegates (664-573) in the wake of Super Tuesday, when voters in 14 states - including California and Texas - and one US territory hit the polls. So far primaries in 20 US States or territories have been completed.
Candidates need 1,991 delegates to win the presidential nominee for their party.
Michigan (125 delegates), Missouri (36), and Washington (89) will be key states to win, which could give Biden the votes needed to maintain his lead or give Sanders the boost needed to stay in a tight race.
Biden holds a 20-plus point lead in most of the recent polls in Michigan, a 3-point lead in recent polls in Washington, and on average has been up by about 10 points in Missouri.
Biden was initially lagging behind in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination but was able to make a huge comeback after Senator Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden prior to Super Tuesday.
This week it will be interesting to see if either candidate gets a boost from voters that were planning to vote for Senator Elizabeth Warren, who dropped out of the race last week and refused to endorse a candidate.
Moreover, voters in the state of Washington may be skeptical of heading to the polls as the state battles to contain the worst outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country so far with more than a hundred confirmed cases and at least 16 deaths.
US President Donald Trump said as of Monday morning there are 546 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States, including 22 deaths.
After the Tuesday primaries, the last two critical days of Primary dates remaining will be on May 17 and April 28 with even more delegates at stake compared to this week. A Democratic convention will be held in July but with a few delegates up for grabs.
Trump is cruising through the Republican primaries as he has no real challenger to face.
