Joe Biden won the Massachusetts 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 91 delegates in Massachusetts at stake, making it one of the most significant states, delegate-wise, to take place on Super Tuesday.
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, as well as info on polling and delegates for the state of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Democratic Primary Results — Updated Live
Heavy has partnered with Decision Desk to show the live results of the Massachusetts Democratic primary as they come in. You can see the results below by clicking on the state of Massachusetts.
Polls Going into Super Tuesday Suggested a Sanders/Warren Battle for First Place
This Boston Globe column says Sanders’ attempt to win the Massachusetts primary is “very disrespectful” to Sen. Warren, a form of “major humiliation,” one that reveals an ugly character flaw of “unbridled ambition” that is “exceedingly off-putting”
😂😂😂https://t.co/8MygGBlQaP
Most polls have showed Sanders and Warren vying for first place in Massachusetts, with Sanders often edging Warren out by a few percentage points.
A FiveThirtyEight data compilation of a number of polls for the Massachusetts primary put Sanders at the top of the list, giving him the highest percentage likelihood of being “ahead” in Massachusetts, with 24% likelihood. Warren came behind him, with a 20% chance of being “ahead” in Massachusetts, and Biden came after both of them, with an 18% estimated chance, based on those polls.
According to WCVB, a record number of voters in Massachusetts are expected to vote on Super Tuesday. William Galvin, the Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth, said he expected as many as 1.5 million people to vote throughout the day. By noon on Tuesday, the Boston Election Department had reported turnout within the city to be over 15% of the pool of registered voters.
WCVB reports that just under 230,000 Massachusetts voters took advantage of early voting the week before. Another 70,000 submitted absentee ballots.
How Many Delegates Does Massachusetts Have?
▶️ Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren vote in Vermont and Massachusetts respectively, on Super Tuesday.
👉 Sanders Poised to Score Big in Delegate-rich California & Texas, Put to Test in South
t.co/pQeFg6l5qt
The Massachusetts primary is technically a semi-closed primary, which means that 91 of the state’s 114 delegates are pledged delegates who align with a candidate based on the results of the primary.
The state rules for Massachusetts dictate that these delegates are allocated proportionally to any candidate who receives at least 15% of the primary vote. In other words, candidates can only begin to “earn” delegates in Massachusetts if they first earn at least 15% of the vote.
The remaining 23 delegates are superdelegates, also called “automatic delegates.” They go to the Democratic National Convention un-pledged to any candidate, and only vote on the second ballot, if there needs to be one. So these delegates will not be affected by the results on Super Tuesday.
READ NEXT: What Happens to the Delegates After a Candidate Drops Out?