NEW YORK: Former Vice President Joe Biden is continuing his march towards the Democratic Party nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in November by sweeping the latest three primaries. In the party elections to select the nominee that was held on Tuesday under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic in Florida, Illinois and Arizona he defeated Senator Bernie Sanders, the only serious rival left in the race.
Biden, who had stumbled in the first three-party elections, has staged a comeback winning 19 of the 27 held so far. The primary was not held Ohio as scheduled on Tuesday because of the coronavirus pandemic. When a judge refused Governor Mike DeWine’s request to postpone the election, he got the state Health Director to declare a “health emergency” to stop the polls.
So far, five states have postponed the party elections and Democratic National Committee President Tom Perez has asked the 23 states that have yet to hold polls switch to postal ballots.
Sanders, who is a self-described Democrat, is facing pressures to leave the race because he is now neither going to win the nomination nor the presidential election even if he were to be nominated and continuing the battle would only weaken the party. All other candidates except for Hindu American member of the House of Representatives Tulsi Gabbard, another leftist like Sanders, have dropped out of the race.
Most of them are backing Biden because they fear that if Sanders became the party nominee Trump would defeat him citing his ideology. Sanders is persisting in the race to propagate his progressive agenda and challenge the party’s leadership IANS