Why Joe Biden winning Michigan is a big deal

Winning Michigan has a big impact. Here’s why

Published: March 10, 2020, 7:32 p.m. MDT

Supporters hold a sign before a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Los Angeles. Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press

Multiple reports suggest former Vice President Joe Biden will win the primary election in Michigan.

Winning Michigan is a rather big deal, experts said on Twitter, since it is a blue-collar state that flipped for President Donald Trump in 2016.

And, in the 2016 Democratic primary, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders shocked Hillary Clinton to win the state in the primary race.

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Social media reacted with a number of insights into why this is a big deal.

BREAKING: Joe Biden is projected the winner of Michigan, dealing a major blow to Bernie Sanders in a state that he won in 2016 and where he relocated over the past few days.
— Matt Viser (@mviser) March 11, 2020

Biden wins Michigan. If Dandy Don were alive, he’d surely be singing “Turn our the lights, the party’s over”.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 11, 2020

The primary was over in 2016 even when Bernie barely squeaked out a win in Michigan.

It's extremely over now that he lost it handily in 2020.
— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) March 11, 2020

This is a huge deal for Sanders whose electability argument stemmed in part from how he beat Clinton in Michigan in 2016.

He won the white vote by 14 points in 2016
As of now he’s losing it by 4 per @SteveKornacki https://t.co/AXvlhFB6iR
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) March 11, 2020

The primary is over.
— Josh Russell (@josh_emerson) March 11, 2020

At this point it would be a shock if Sanders gets within 10 points of Biden in Michigan.
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) March 11, 2020

So in Michigan, @BernieSanders loses African-American voters, blue-collar whites and college-educated whites. The rest is just talk.
— David Lauter (@DavidLauter) March 11, 2020

Pretty straightforward story in Michigan: Biden doing better than Clinton just about everywhere. Won't be a race call until all the polls are closed, but at this rate it wouldn't surprise me if there wound up being enough for a call at that point
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) March 11, 2020

I personally don't think any of the states next week (FL-AZ-OH-IL) are as favorable to Sanders as Michigan. HRC carried them all last time and only IL was close -- and Sanders was dependent there, as in MI, on outstate anti-HRC backing that seems to be deserting him now
— Kyle Kondik (@kkondik) March 11, 2020

The voters decided.

Biden's coalition was broader and deeper than Bernie's. Bernie won't be the nominee because he didn't spend the 4 years between races reaching out to black voters or making lifelong Ds comfortable with his outsider message.
— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) March 11, 2020

So you’re saying that that confrontation with an auto worker didn’t hurt Biden in Michigan?
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) March 11, 2020

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