JACKSON — Former Vice President Joe Biden easily won Mississippi’s Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, outdistancing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as many voters said they see Biden having the best chance to unseat Republican President Donald Trump in November.
The Associated Press called Biden the winner over Sanders even though state officials had yet to release any results from the election. The news agency did so based on results from AP VoteCast, its wide-ranging survey of the American electorate. That election research captures the views of voters on whom they vote for and why.
Biden also was declared the winner in Michigan and Missouri, with races in Idaho, North Dakota and Washington state still to be decided.
In Leflore County, Biden received 87% of the vote. Sanders was second with 9%, and Michael Bloomberg was third with 2%.
“Anybody who can beat Trump, I’m voting for him,” said retired federal government employee John Walters, 63, who voted for Biden at a church in Southaven. Walters said he likes Biden’s record as a longtime senator and as vice president — and he thinks Biden can win the general election: “What I know about him, he’s a decent guy, and he’s for the working class.”
Patricia Ponton said Sanders earned her vote with his promises of big change, particularly his support for universal health care. Ponton said she does not think Sanders has as strong a chance of beating Trump as Biden, but she voted for the Vermont senator “to make my voice heard.”
Biden campaigned in Mississippi on Sunday, working to shore up support among African Americans, who make up 38% of Mississippi’s population and most of the Democratic electorate. He spoke to a predominantly black congregation at New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson, then ate lunch at a soul food restaurant before speaking to a racially diverse crowd at Tougaloo College.
Sanders canceled a plan to appear Friday in Jackson so he could campaign in Michigan. Actor Danny Glover, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and other Sanders surrogates knocked on doors and worked on other get-out-the-vote activities.
The Republican primary ballot in Mississippi listed Trump and two other candidates. Mississippi was one of Trump’s strongest states in the 2016 general election, and he easily won its 40 Republican delegates Tuesday.
