Former Vice-President of the United States Joe Biden moved closer to the nomination of the Democratic Party with an easy win over Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in Tuesday's Illinois Presidential Primary Election.
Biden, who served as Vice-President under former President Barack Obama, won with 59 percent of the vote, with a total of 909,406 with 99 percent of the vote counted statewide, with Sanders receiving 36 percent, or 554,974. The only other active candidate, Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbert, finished a very distant sixth, with only six-tenths of a percent, which translated into 8.991 votes.
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Three candidates who previously withdrew from the race for the White House --- former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York senator Elizabeth Warren and former South Bend, Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg --- ended up third through fifth respectively, all garnering a total of 3,5 percent of the vote.
In the all-important delegate count for the Democratic National Convention, scheduled for July 13-16 in Milwaukee, Biden picked up a total of 93 delegates, while Sanders won the remaining 46.
Biden won in all counties in the state except for Champaign County, the home county to the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, who gave Sanders the nod with 11,676 votes to Biden's 10,879, Biden won easily in Madison, Jersey, St. Clair, Couperin, Greene and Calhoun Counties, helping him to the statewide victory.
In the Republican primary, President Donald J. Trump won easily over Roque De La Fuente with 96 percent of the vote.
In local races for the House of Representatives and the Senate, Republican Mark Curran won the primary for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate, and will face incumbent Democrat Dick Durbin in November's general election. In House races, Raymond Lenzi held a slight lead over Joel Funk for the Democratic nomination in a race too close to call in the 12th District, while in the 13th district, Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan won the Democratic nomination, while in the 15th District, Democrat Erika Weaver will face Republican Mary Miller in the election to replace longtime GOP Congressman John Shimkus, who is retiring at the end of his current term.
In contested General Assembly races, Republican incumbent Avery Bourne in the 95th district, along with Republicans Paul Jacobs in the 115th district and David Friess in the 116th district, won nomination, while in the Democratic race for Madison County State's Attorney, Crystal Uhe won the nomination over Susan Jensen.
Both Biden and Trump also won primaries in both Florida, with Biden also winning the Arizona primary. The Ohio primary was postponed late Monday because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Voter turnout appeared to be light, with concerns over the pandemic the main reason. Poll workers in all polling places wore rubber gloves as a precaution, while hand sanitizer and other hand-washing materials were readily available in all polling places statewide.
The general election for President and all other federal, state and local offices is set for Nov. 3.
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