Biden hopes closely contested Maine will be another win
Patrick Whittle | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 8 months AGO
Election clerks Pauline Plourde, left, and Susan Gallant process absentee ballots for the primary election, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Election clerks check in voters for the primary election, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Joe Cormier votes in the primary election, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Freeport, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Election clerk Ginny MacDonald reinforces her instructions to a voter she checked in for the primary election, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Mike Walsh votes in the primary election, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Freeport, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Louise Wilcox checks her ballots after coming out of a booth while voting in the primary election, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Mechanic Falls, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden is hoping his wave of success on Super Tuesday will extend all the way to Maine, which was still tallying results on Wednesday morning.
With roughly 75% of precincts reporting, Biden had a lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders of about 1,300 votes out of more than 180,000 counted. That is a margin of less than 1 percentage point.
Biden has a chance to score a win in a state where he had little ground game but won endorsements from some prominent Democrats, such as House Speaker Sara Gideon.
Gideon, who is running to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins, said Biden was the “most able to bring the country together and to look into the future to address all the challenges we face.”
Sanders has attracted large crowds at Maine rallies in recent years and has a following in the state among progressives and college students. Tim Meehan, a Portland voter, said he's popular because he cares about “poor people, the needy and justice for all.”
Maine’s primary apportions 24 delegates, and Sanders and Biden were sure to each win some of them. The state was among 14 holding its primary on Super Tuesday.
Biden's strong showing in Maine was part of a surge of support around the country that followed a slow start in the earliest contests. He claimed nine victories on Tuesday, including a critical win in Texas and a surprising victory in Massachusetts, the home of fellow candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
It was Maine's first primary in two decades. Maine last used primaries in 1996 and 2000 and then switched to the caucus system for the next four presidential election cycles.
The return to primaries, made through a legislative change, meant turnout was much higher than previous contests. There was also a much-debate statewide referendum on the ballot that helped drive people to the polls.