Biden surge continues with defeat of Sanders in Texas Democratic primary
DALLAS - Joe Biden's campaign is back from the dead and got its biggest win yet in 2020 on Super Tuesday in Texas.
Sanders started out with a lead of about five points with the early vote, which took place before Biden won South Carolina and other moderate candidates dropped out and endorsed him. But Biden slid ahead of Sanders just after 11 p.m. with more than half of the vote counted in the state.
As of Wednesday morning, he was leading with about 34% of the vote.
RELATED: Super Tuesday election results
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the only other Democratic candidate who was above 15 percent in the state, as of 6 a.m. That number is the threshold to gain delegates from the statewide vote.
Texas could determine which candidate emerges as the national delegate leader after Super Tuesday. Although Sanders won an even larger prize in California, Biden racked up more state primaries on the night -- including all of the others in the South.
Kathryn Cavanaugh cast her vote in Dallas in the Democratic primary for Bernie Sanders, saying she thinks he's the candidate that can rally voters.
Cavanaugh, 33, is among voters in Texas choosing from a field of Democratic presidential candidates on Super Tuesday.
"I think that someone who is very firm in what they stand for is going to do well, especially in this upcoming election,” Cavanaugh said.
In Houston, 28-year-old Racchel Cabrera agreed, saying she thinks Sanders, a Vermont senator, has the best chance to defeat Republican President Donald Trump in November. She said she voted for Sanders based on his "consistency and lifelong activism for equality."
But Daniel Navarro in Dallas decided to cast his vote for former Vice President Joe Biden. The 40-year-old said he wants someone who can work across party lines, and added he thinks Sanders' ideas "are too out there."
Meanwhile Democrat Sally Climber, who is 39, said that while she thinks the majority of Texas Democrats would go for a centrist candidate, her views are further to the left, so she voted for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.