Joe Biden leads in Democratic presidential nomination

After the March 3 Colorado presidential primary and numerous Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses in other states, Joe Biden leads Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The nation is watching the March 10 primaries this week to see if Biden will maintain his new lead or if Sanders will move to the top again.

In the state of Colorado, Sanders was the top-runner in the Democratic presidential primary. He garnered 36.1% of the vote over Biden with 23.6%, Mike Bloomberg 20.5%, Elizabeth Warren 17.3% and Tulsi Gabbard 1.1%.

Phillips County favored Biden with 28.4% of the votes cast, followed closely by Bloomberg with 27.24%, Sanders 26.88%, Warren 10.12% and Gabbard 1.94%.

Bloomberg dropped out of the race Wednesday, March 4, while Warren announced her withdrawal Thursday, March 5.

Michael Bennet, Pete Buttigieg, John Delaney and Amy Klobuchar officially withdrew as candidates for the Democratic Party prior to March 3, but their names were still on the ballot.

Under Colorado law, any votes cast for candidates who formally withdraw after ballots are printed are invalid and are not counted.

Statewide, voter turnout was 45.56% for the presidential primary, and the Phillips County turnout was comparable at 45.88%. Phillips County Clerk and Recorder Beth Zilla noted that 1,503 ballots were counted in the March 3 presidential primary.

In Colorado’s presidential primary, unaffiliated voters were eligible to vote for the first time, by choosing and casting either a Democratic or Republican party ballot.

Trump is clear winner in Republican presidential primary

President Donald Trump won 92.5% of the statewide vote in the Republican presidential primary election in Colorado last week. Bill Weld picked up 3.6% and Joe Walsh 1.9%.

Phillips County voters favored Trump with 95.8% of the vote, followed by Walsh with 1.85% and Weld with just under 1%.