Joe Biden was the big winner on Super Tuesday, claiming eight of the 14 states that voted to pick a Democratic White House candidate.
The former US vice-president has swept Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia.
“We are very much alive,” he told supporters in Los Angeles. “Make no mistake about it, this campaign will send Donald Trump packing.”
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The BBC says Biden “appears to have won convincingly among the type of suburban voters who pollsters say have been turning away from the current US president”.
Bernie Sanders won the biggest prize of the night, California, and three other states. He told his own supporters: “We're taking on the political establishment. You cannot beat Trump with the same-old, same-old kind of politics.”
It was a disappointing night for Michael Bloomberg. The billionaire spent more than half a billion dollars of his own money but could only pick up a consolation win in American Samoa.
Elizabeth Warren, once the frontrunner, also had a tough evening. She endured an ignominious defeat to Biden in her home state of Massachusetts. The Guardian says she has suffered “crushing losses”.
“Looking ahead, this race is shaping up as two clear choices for Democratic primary voters,” attorney Raul A. Reyes told CNN.
“Sanders is offering a reshaping of what he sees as our country's broken and inequitable institutions. Biden is promising a return to an era when lawmakers on both sides of the aisle could work together. The question for voters is whether they want a revolution - or a restoration.”
Taking to Twitter, Donald Trump mocked Bloomberg and Warren. “The biggest loser tonight, by far, is Mini Mike Bloomberg,” he wrote. “$700 million washed down the drain, and he got nothing for it but the nickname Mini Mike, and the complete destruction of his reputation. Way to go Mike!”
Turning his attention to Warren, he said: “She didn’t even come close to winning her home state of Massachusetts. Well, now she can just sit back with her husband and have a nice cold beer!”
Meanwhile, the results put the Democrats at a clear crossroads: do voters opt for the moderate pragmatism of Biden or the progressive policies of Bernie Sanders. The successful candidate will need to secure at least 1,991 to secure the party's nomination.
Whichever of the pair wins, the next White House election is now set to be contested between two white men in their seventies.
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