Joe Biden romps in Super Tuesday presidential contests

Joe Biden powered to a dominating sweep of the South and surprisingly strong showings in New England and the Upper Midwest on Tuesday night, as he sought to seize control of the Democratic presidential race and overtake Sen. Bernie Sanders as the delegate leader.

Sanders was holding on to a lead in California, the state with the biggest delegate haul of the Super Tuesday primaries, as votes were slowly counted there. But Biden’s victories in Texas and eight other states threatened to at minimum erase the lopsided delegate advantage Sanders hoped to gain from the day’s voting. The results set up a more vigorous fight ahead that presents the party with divergent choices, between a pragmatist vowing a return to normalcy and a populist promising a revolution.

Sanders easily won his home state, Vermont, and carried Colorado and Utah.

But Biden’s victories were significant and widespread, with a string of states across the South offering an early confirmation that his win three days earlier in South Carolina had swiftly and dramatically reshaped the presidential contest.