Loading…
Update 11:00 p.m.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was the runaway winner of the Tennessee presidential primary, easily defeating Vt. Sen. Bernie Sanders, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the rest of the Democratic field without significantly campaigning in the state.
Tennessee followed the trend of Southern states — South Carolina, Virginia, Alabama and Oklahoma — where Biden enjoyed comfortable margins despite a weak showing in the year’s early contests.
Returns initially showed a tight race between Biden, Sanders and Bloomberg, with each drawing between 20% and 25% of the early vote. But as election day results came in, Biden’s lead widened substantially, indicating he’d received a boost from his win in South Carolina last weekend.
The final results in Davidson County were not available until late. A judge ordered voting to be extended at five sites set up to handle voters affected by the tornadoes that ripped through the region. By the times polls closed, the race had already been called for Biden, but the results from Davidson County did not significantly alter the margin. Biden received nearly 3,000 more votes than Sanders and more than 10,000 more than Bloomberg in Metro Nashville.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the support for Biden in early voting elsewhere. His campaign had been criticized as lackluster, and he was far outspent by Bloomberg in Tennessee. Until last Saturday’s victory in South Carolina, he hadn’t won any states.
The expectation was that Biden might surge on Super Tuesday, but the returns showed Biden won even the early voting in many counties.
Storms disrupt polling
Voting was only part of the story of Super Tuesday. By day’s end, 24 people had been confirmed dead in Tennessee in the wave of storms that hit overnight.
The winds damaged polling locations in at least three Middle Tennessee, forcing election officials to scramble. Nashville consolidated some precincts into two “mega sites” and three “super sites.” In one of those locations, Donelson Presbyterian Church, the line snaked out the door and into the parking lot.
Jennifer Escue only got about two hours of sleep last night, while checking in with friends and family. But, as fire trucks wailed behind her, she said she didn’t mind waiting in line to cast her ballot.
“Everyone had a story about being up all night, having damage to their house and still figuring out where they were supposed to go to vote. And they did it and they came and we all waited in line for at least an hour. So that was really encouraging.”
Precincts in Wilson and Putnam counties were also damaged, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office.
But because polls opened an hour later than originally scheduled, a judge ordered polling to remain open until 10 p.m. those locations. That came after the Tennessee Democratic Party and four of the leading campaigns called for voting to be extended in the wake of the storms.
This was the to vote line at Cleveland Park this morning where several tornado-affected polling locations are consolidated. I’m told that additional equipment has arrived but that lines are still very long. pic.twitter.com/0y4PZDb5lr
— Sean Parker (@SeanForFive) March 3, 2020
Power to East Nashville tornado survivors voting at Cleveland Park. The wait to vote is a few hours, but they are not deterred. Exercise your priviledge and VOTE. pic.twitter.com/QhrKkbBm0v
— Maddox Fund (@maddoxfundTN) March 3, 2020
https://twitter.com/keeboch/status/1234953618434002948
Correction: A voting location was misidentified in a caption. It was the Cleveland Park Community Center, not Donelson Presbyterian Church.
WPLN’s Samantha Max and Sam Zern contributed to this story.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM