Joe Biden wins Kansas primary, putting him fewer than 600 delegates away from clinching nomination
Joe Biden has won the Kansas primary, and CBS News estimates he picked up another 29 delegates. That gives him a total of 1,424 out of the 1,991 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.
Bernie Sanders was awarded 10 delegates. Sanders suspended his campaign in April, but has remained on the ballot in an effort to increase influence at the party's convention in August.
As the coronavirus began spreading nationwide in March, Kansas reorganized its primary to be conducted entirely by mail. Ballots had to be received by Saturday, May 2 to be counted.
The Kansas Democratic Party said Friday that it already had record turnout, and as of Friday, had triple the turnout of the 2016 caucuses. Sanders won the 2016 caucuses with more than 67% of the vote.
"It is very exciting to see such a significant increase in voter turnout for the 2020 Presidential Primary and is testament to the Democratic enthusiasm building among Kansas voters for the last three years," Kansas Democratic Party chair Vicki Hiatt told CBS News on Friday.
With a number of states postponing their primaries until June 2, that day is now shaping up to be the next Super Tuesday. Six states — Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island — delayed their primaries to June 2, joining the four states and the District of Columbia that were scheduled to already scheduled to hold primaries that day.
Musadiq Bidar contributed reporting.