Biden wins hard-fought Michigan, deals major blow to Sanders

Joe Biden decisively won Michigan’s Democratic primary on Tuesday, seizing a key battleground state that helped propel Bernie Sanders’ insurgent candidacy four years ago.

The former vice president’s victory there, as well as in Missouri and Mississippi, dealt a serious blow to Sanders and substantially widened Biden’s path to the nomination. The Vermont senator’s hopes rested on Idaho, North Dakota and Washington state, where votes were still being cast or tabulated but where far fewer delegates were at stake. Biden again showed strength with working-class voters and African Americans, who are vital to winning the Democratic nomination.

Tuesday marked the first time voters weighed in on the primary since it effectively narrowed to a two-person race between Sanders and Biden. And the first three large states easily went to Biden, a dramatic reversal for a campaign that appeared on the brink of collapse just two weeks ago. Now it is Sanders, whose candidacy was ascendant so recently, who must contemplate a path forward.