Bernie Sanders Wins California Primary, Though Votes Still Coming

LOS ANGELES, California — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was immediately declared the winner of the California primary as polls closed on Super Tuesday, though there are millions of votes still to be counted.

The Associated Press called the race early, though billionaire Mike Bloomberg led marginally in the earliest results.

BREAKING: Bernie Sanders wins Democratic presidential primary in California, claiming biggest prize on Super Tuesday. https://t.co/FZHkka7C1w

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 4, 2020

The final numbers will likely not be known for several days, as the vast majority of Californians vote by mail, and ballots could be postmarked on Election Day and still be counted. The state also allows the controversial practice of “ballot harvesting,” in which third parties deliver mail-in ballots to counting sites, which is illegal elsewhere.

California is, by far, the largest prize on Super Tuesday, with 415 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Sanders lost the Golden State to Hillary Clinton in 2016, who won among older voters and in mail-in ballots.

In that race, losing California meant losing the campaign for the party nomination. But former Vice President Joe Biden used California as a site for his victory rally on Tuesday night, playing up his victories in the South, in Minnesota, and elsewhere.

It is not yet clear whether Biden will receive any delegates in California. He had been polling poorly in the state, and would need to clear a 15% threshold to share in the spoils.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.