US Election 2020: Joe Biden wins over Washington state primary

Former vice president Joe Biden surprised everyone with his surge of victories over the past several weeks and has since maintained a lead over his fellow candidates despite trailing behind in the early weeks of the campaign. The results from the Washington state primary came in recently with Biden emerging victorious.

Washington State held its primary last week alongside Missouri, Mississippi, Michigan, Idaho, and North Dakota. Compared to the five other states that turned in their results early, Washington State was the last to reveal their winner, as they usually voted through mail-in ballots. With Washington State’s results, Biden swept up wins in nearly all the state primaries last week with the exception of North Dakota, which went to Senator Bernie Sanders.

Biden won against Sanders by a very narrow margin, by 1.5 percent as he scored 37.9 percent of votes from the two million that were cast by the state’s residents. Sanders came in second with 36.4 percent. Tulsi Gabbard, the only other candidate along with them, only garnered 0.8 percent of votes.

Florida, Arizona, and Illinois are the states that will hold their primaries this week. Ohio decided to postpone their primary voting to June due to the concerns about the coronavirus. The state of Maryland has also decided to postpone their primaries until June 2nd, alongside three other states - Louisiana, Georgia, and Kentucky.

Meanwhile, CNN reports that the former vice president received the protection from the Secret Service. Due to the growing coronavirus pandemic, Biden and his team resorted to campaigning online and holding events for both the supporters and donors who wish to back the presidential candidate. The Secret Service later confirmed the report. “The U.S. Secret Service can confirm Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf, along with the Congressional Advisory Committee has authorized that the Secret Service provide physical protection for presidential candidate, former vice president Joseph Biden,” they said in a statement.

According to sources, Biden’s code name would be “Celtic,” which was what he used back in his terms as vice president. The former vice president also has private security close by, with the added protection of the local law enforcement at campaigns and rallies.