Associated Press calls Democratic presidential race for Joe Biden

The Associated Press declared US President Joe Biden the winner of Democratic presidential contests in several states on Tuesday minutes after polls closed.

Initial vote results showed him with overwhelming leads over the rest of the field.

Mr Biden was declared the winner in Virginia at 7:09pm local time.

Although less than 1% of the vote had been tabulated in the commonwealth, Mr Biden received more than nine out of 10 votes.

He led by such a wide margin that the AP’s analysis of Virginia’s voting history and the political leanings of different areas showed no scenario would allow a trailing candidate to take the lead.

Mr Biden also led with about nine out of every 10 votes when AP called the Vermont contest at 7:20 pm local time, shortly after the state’s 7pm poll closed.

Although only about an estimated 2% of the vote had been tabulated by that point, the initial vote results showed Mr Biden with commanding leads across the state’s political spectrum — from the state’s Democratic-leaning areas to Republican-leaning territory and the moderate swing areas in between.

The state’s heavily Democratic areas had yet to report, but they did not offer a path to victory for any of his challengers.

In North Carolina, Mr Biden was declared the winner at 7:39pm local time — less than 10 minutes after polls closed — with some vote results reported from about a quarter of the state’s 100 counties.

He was the only named candidate on the ballot, and initial vote results showed him easily leading “No preference,” the only other option.

Again, Mr Biden won about nine out of every 10 votes in geographic regions throughout the state.

Earlier, Mr Biden was declared the winner in Iowa’s first vote-by-mail Democratic presidential preference contest.

Voting occurred between January 12 and Super Tuesday among registered Iowa Democrats who requested a mail ballot.

Ballots postmarked by Tuesday will be accepted until the party certifies the vote on March 16.

The Iowa contest was the first race called on Super Tuesday when voters decide primaries and caucuses in 16 states and American Samoa. Based on Tuesday’s contests, more than 70% of the delegates needed to mathematically clinch either the Democratic or Republican presidential nomination will be decided.

Mr Biden has won every contest so far of the 2024 primary by wide margins.

His closest race was in New Hampshire, where he skipped the primary but still won by more than 40 percentage points when supporters mounted a write-in effort on his behalf. In Michigan, where a protest vote resulted in “uncommitted” winning two delegates, Mr Biden still received more than 81% of the statewide vote.

Heading into Super Tuesday, the earliest Mr Biden could win enough delegates to clinch the nomination was March 19.

To win the nomination by that date, he would need to win about 77% of the delegates at stake on Super Tuesday through March 19.