BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – Hillary Clinton enters a series of Super Tuesday contests poised to extend her lead over Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, who risks a major setback for his insurgent campaign with a poor showing in primaries and caucuses across the nation.
Backed by black voters, Clinton aimed for a sweep of Southern states holding primaries on Tuesday and polls showed her with a big advantage in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas. Sanders could only bank on winning his home state of Vermont and both campaigns were vying for support in Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Virginia.
“I am confident that if there is a large voter turnout today across this country we are going to do well,” Sanders said after voting in his home state of Vermont. He joked, “After a lot of deliberation, I know that Bernie Sanders, here in Vermont, got at least one vote. I was working on my wife, so I probably got two.”
All told, Clinton and Sanders were competing for 865 delegates in 11 states and American Samoa on Tuesday, the biggest single-day prize of the 2016 campaign. Black voters powered Clinton to victory in South Carolina last weekend, with 8 in 10 voting for her, and were expected to give her a huge advantage throughout the South.
Clinton starts Tuesday with 546 delegates, including super delegates – the party leaders and members of Congress who can support any candidate. Sanders has 87 delegates and needs to begin winning states with a healthy margin to gain ground on Clinton. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.