Sanders vows to stay in race despite Biden’s growing lead

A day after Joe Biden continued his dominating run in Democratic presidential primaries, his main opponent, Bernie Sanders, said he would not withdraw from the race.

Biden, former US vice-president in Barack Obama's administration, won four of the six states contested Tuesday, including the one with the most delegates (125) at stake — Michigan — a state that Sanders won in 2016 against eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.

Biden, 77, also won handily in Idaho, Mississippi and Missouri.

Sanders, 78, was the winner in North Dakota, and had a thin lead in Washington state, which had the second-most delegates available on Tuesday. That state appears vital to the US senator from Vermont, because combined with California, which he won on Super Tuesday on March 3, it could give him a solid West Coast foundation.

"Last night obviously was not a good night for our campaign," Sanders said Wednesday in Burlington, Vermont. "From a delegate point of view, we lost in the largest state up for grabs yesterday, the state of Michigan.

"On the other hand, we won in North Dakota, and we lead the vote count in the state of Washington, the second-largest state contested yesterday. With 67 percent of the votes having been counted, we are a few thousand votes on top," he said.

Sanders and Biden will debate in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday ahead of key primaries next Tuesday in Arizona along with those in Florida, Illinois and Ohio.

"On Sunday night, in the first one-on-one debate of this campaign, the American people will have the opportunity to see which candidate is best positioned to accomplish that goal," Sanders told reporters Wednesday.

"Joe, what are you going to do to end the absurdity of the United States of America being the only major country on earth where healthcare is not a human right?" Sanders asked.

"Joe, what are you going to do to end the absurdity of billionaires buying elections and the three wealthiest Americans owning more wealth than the bottom half of our people?" he said.

Biden already has begun to look ahead to the November election against President Donald Trump, calling for party unity and making an appeal to Sanders' supporters.

"We share a common goal, and together we are going to defeat Donald Trump," Biden said in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. "We are a step closer to restoring decency, dignity and honor to the White House. We need presidential leadership that's honest, trusted, truthful and steady.

"I promise you I'll strive to give the nation that very leadership every day, every day I have a privilege to hold office," Biden said.

In a column for Newsweek, David French wrote that an "exhausted majority" on the center and center-left "fed up with the polarization plaguing American government and society" is propelling Biden past the democratic socialist Sanders' smaller core of voters.

"The energy of the progressive activists simply can't overcome the sheer numbers of the suburban and African-American voters who are demonstrably more moderate than the disproportionately white progressive base," French wrote.

Of Washington state's 89 pledged delegates, 31 are allocated based on the statewide result, according to US News & World Report. The other 58 are calculated on the voting returns from the state's 10 congressional districts, which may not be compiled until the election is certified by the secretary of state's office. That could come as late as March 27, according to the website.

With 67.15 percent of precincts reporting in Washington state as of 5 pm ET Wednesday, Sanders had 335,498 votes (32.75 percent), while Biden had 333,414 votes (32.54 percent).

The overall delegate count as it stands now is Biden with 860 pledged delegates, and Sanders with 710, according to The New York Times.

In Democratic presidential primaries, pledged delegates are awarded on a proportional basis, not winner-take-all. However, in order to enjoy a slice of the delegate pie, a candidate must win at least 15 percent in a given state.

A candidate needs 1,991 pledged delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention, which will be held July 13-16 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

If there is a second ballot, the Democrats' 771 superdelegates, also called automatic delegates, come into play. They are current and former members of Congress, former presidents and governors, members of the Democratic National Committee and other party luminaries.

The superdelegates can vote for any candidate they choose, which can lead to what is known as a "floor fight" for the nomination. The number of delegates needed to secure the nomination on the second ballot is 2,376.

The primaries are taking place against a backdrop of increasing concern about the spread of the coronavirus, which the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared a pandemic.

The US now has more than 1,200 confirmed cases and at least 32 deaths contributed to COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, the caseload has surpassed 124,000, with more than 4,500 deaths.

Biden and Sanders canceled public campaign events on Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio, because of concerns about the virus. Sanders also canceled a rally planned for Friday in Illinois.

Biden's triumphant Tuesday earlier included a feisty dust-up with a union worker at a Fiat Chrysler plant under construction in Detroit, Michigan, in which he told the worker he was "full of s---" and a "horse's a--" in a disagreement about gun rights.

Reuters contributed to this story.