Biden wins Arkansas; Trump dominates on GOP side

Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Arkansas Democratic Party presidential primary Tuesday (March 3) on the same night he won a string of Southern states.

ABC News projected Biden as the winner in Arkansas at 9:15 p.m. Shortly after 9 p.m., Biden was leading the field with 33.4% of the vote, according to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s website. At the time, 19% of the state’s 2,570 areas had reported.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was second with 21%, while former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was third with 20%. All three will pick up delegates because they won 15% of the vote. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was fourth with 10% of the vote, meaning she would not qualify for any delegates.

President Donald Trump easily won the Republican Party primary as expected. Trump was leading with 97% of the vote over former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who had only 2.6% of the vote, and Rocky De La Fuente, who had only .82% of the vote.

In the Democratic primary, two candidates who dropped out of the race after South Carolina’s primary Saturday placed fifth and sixth. Mayor Pete Buttigieg won 6% of the vote, while U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., won 5%. Fort Smith attorney Mosie Boyd, who is on the ballot in Arkansas, New Hampshire and California, had collected 136 votes.

Thirty-one delegates were at stake in Arkansas’ Democratic primary, while 40 delegates were at stake in the Republican primary. While Democratic delegates were allocated proportionally to all the candidates who exceeded 15%, the Republican Party awarded delegates on a winner-take-all basis for the candidate who exceeds 50% statewide and in the state’s four congressional districts. Trump will win them all.

To gain the Democratic nomination outright, a candidate will need 1,991 delegates.

A month ago, Biden slightly trailed Bloomberg in a Talk Business & Politics/Hendrix College poll conducted Feb. 6-7. Bloomberg led with 19.6%, followed by Biden with 18.5%. Sanders had 16.4%, while Buttigieg was fourth with 15.5%. Warren was fifth with 8.9%.

But on Super Tuesday, Biden rode a wave of support in Southern states following his big victory in South Carolina Feb. 29. He started the night off by easily winning Virginia and then won North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Minnesota. Sanders won his home state of Vermont along with Colorado. Bloomberg won American Samoa.

Results were still awaited in California, Texas, Utah, Massachusetts and Maine.