Getty Who will win the Oklahoma Democratic primary?
Joe Biden won the Oklahoma Democratic Primary on Super Tuesday. It was one of several states Biden won over the course of the evening, confirming a definitive and remarkable shift for the former vice president, from a lagging candidate in the middle of the pack to a frontrunner, poised to contend with Bernie Sanders.
There were 42 delegates in Oklahoma up for grabs for the Democratic presidential candidates on Tuesday evening. This hardly marked a decisive victory on its own, though, given how small Oklahoma is, delegates-wise, compared to states like California and Texas.
A candidate needs at least 1,991 delegates to receive the nomination. You can read more about how the delegate system works in a presidential election here.
Speaking to supporters on Tuesday evening at a rally in Los Angeles, Biden said, “They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing…it’s still early, but things are looking awful, awful good.”
He continued, “For those who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind, this is your campaign.”
Below you’ll find a live results tracker for how many votes Biden and others brought home on Tuesday, as well as info on polling and delegates for the state of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Democratic Primary Results — Updated Live
Heavy has partnered with Decision Desk to show the live results of the Oklahoma Democratic primary as they come in. You can see the results below by clicking on the state of Oklahoma.
Polls Going into Super Tuesday Suggested Biden Was Favored to Win Oklahoma
Polls are now closed and Oklahoma Republicans are trickling in here at the Republican Party HQ. They tell me they’re watching the results closely, but don’t have major concerns when it comes to the President’s ability to beat any of the Democratic candidates. @kfor #SuperTuesday
Going into Super Tuesday, Biden was the favored candidate, based off of a number of polls collected by RealClearPolitics, with one poll putting Bloomberg as a favorite, as well.
The New York Times gave Biden the highest probability of winning Oklahoma, as polls began to report votes. With less than 5% of votes counted, the publication gave Biden an approximate 80% chance of winning the state, followed by Sanders with an approximate 20% chance of winning the state. Both Bloomberg and Warren were offered less than 3% chances of winning.
According to ABC, 47% of Oklahomans who took an exit poll said that they’d made up their mind about who they planned to vote for in the last few days.
How Many Delegates Does Oklahoma Have?
Oklahoma is a semi-closed primary, and awards 42 pledged delegates during the primary: 24 Congressional District delegates, and 13 At-Large delegates.
Given how spread out the delegates have been in the beginning primaries, many people have wondered what will happen if a candidate receives less than the requisite amount of delegates (1,991 are needed) to clinch the nomination, leading up to the Democratic National Convention. When no one candidate receives the requisite amount of delegates, it becomes a “contested convention.”
Per Politico, there are three types of delegates: pledged leaders, elected officials, and at-large delegates. Then there are the superdelegates, who are comprised of a number of types of elected officials, including: every Democratic member of Congress, Democratic governors, all former Democratic presidents and vice presidents, and more.