Joe Biden is on the cusp of formally securing the Democratic presidential nomination after winning hundreds more delegates in primary contests that tested the nation's ability to run elections while balancing a pandemic and sweeping social unrest.
Biden could lock down the nomination within the next week as West Virginia and Georgia hold primaries.
On Tuesday, voters across America were forced to navigate curfews, health concerns and National Guard troops -- waiting in line hours after polls closed in some cases -- after election officials dramatically reduced the number of in-person voting sites to minimize the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
Biden and President Donald Trump easily swept their respective primary contests that ranged from Maryland to Montana. The two men are certain to face each other on the presidential ballot in November, yet party rules require them first to accumulate a majority of delegates in the monthslong state-by-state primary season.
Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination in March.
Pennsylvania, which offered Tuesday's largest trove of delegates, also represented a significant test case for Republicans and Democrats working to strengthen their operations in a premier general election battleground.
Political groups have had to adjust as some states move to a system that relies largely on voting by mail. They include Montana, where all 56 counties decided to vote entirely by mail. Voting rights watchdogs in multiple states on Tuesday expressed concerns about access to mail ballots, confusion about deadlines and a shortage of poll workers that led to long lines.
In Iowa, Republican Rep. Steve King, known nationally for controversial remarks, lost his bid to be nominated for a 10th term to state Sen. Randy Feenstra. House Republicans stripped King of his committee assignments in 2019 after comments that seemed to defend white nationalism, providing fuel for Feenstra's argument that King was no longer an effective representative for the 4th District.
In a New Mexico race for an open House seat, ex-CIA operative Valerie Plame lost the Democratic primary to attorney Teresa Leger Fernandez, a professional advocate for American Indians and voting-rights issues. A first-time candidate for public office, Plame harnessed her fame as the operative whose secret identity was exposed shorty after her diplomat husband disputed U.S. intelligence used to justify the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Information for this article was contributed by Rodrique Ngowi and Terry Spencer of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/04/2020