What Went Down In Michigan, Washington And Other Democratic Primaries

On one hand, nothing unexpected has happened yet tonight. Biden had a 99 in 100 chance to win all three states that have been called so far tonight; you’d expect North Dakota, Idaho and Washington to be closer. However, “as expected” gets you to a near-certain Biden nomination at this point. Sanders can’t just win those three Western states; he needed to pull off a surprise (and specifically in Michigan).

Here’s what I’ll say: Bernie Sanders must have some kind of whiplash given the last two weeks. He was the presumptive nominee back then. Oof.

The margin in Michigan is still somewhat up in the air. We don’t have a lot of votes from Detroit or Flint reported yet. And we don’t know the mix of Election Day-to-absentee vote — nor the order in which they’re being reported, which may vary by county — or exactly who is doing better in which count. But, obviously, this is the sort of state that Sanders needed to win by some margin to be on track for the nomination.