TALLAHASSEE — Joe Biden dominated Florida’s Democratic presidential primary, an anti-climactic end to an Election Day marked more by coronavirus concern than political intrigue.
With more than half of precincts reporting, Biden had 61 percent of the vote to 23 percent for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The layup was consistent with the nearly 40-point lead the former vice president had in a Real Clear Politics average of polls going into Election Day.
The ballot, which the party finalized in December, had 16 Democratic candidates.President Donald Trump won the state’s Republican primary, where he faced only token challengers.
A broad political network of Florida elected officials helped prop up Biden’s campaign even as it hemorrhaged momentum and cash in early nominating contests.
After Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, Biden was on the ropes and his campaign was running on fumes. As a result, he was never able to build staff or office infrastructure in Florida, where 219 delegates were up for grabs.
Sanders spent $5.9 million on television advertising in Florida, compared to Biden’s $4.9 million, hardly enough to make a dent in Florida’s expensive media markets.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who dropped out after an underwhelming Super Tuesday performance, spent more than $40 million on Florida TV spots.
What Biden lacked in financial resources he made up for in local political clout built, in part, during his term as President Barack Obama’s second-in-command.
Dozens of Florida state and federal elected officials endorsed Biden, including Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only Democratic statewide elected official, every member of the congressional delegation, and a vast majority of legislative Democrats.
The support began pouring in more than a year ago.Biden was long seen as the Florida front-runner, but Bloomberg’s flooding of state media markets for a snapshot in time made the Sunshine State primary seem competitive.
In February, polling had Biden and Bloomberg neck-and-neck.
After Bloomberg dropped out, conventional wisdom returned, and Biden stepped back into his role as front-runner.
Sanders won the first three nominating contests, but never was considered a serious contender in Florida.
Four years ago, Hilary Clinton trounced Sanders by more than 30 points in Florida. This time around, his campaign was dogged by comments that seemed to support leftist Latin American strongmen.
On a “60 Minutes” interview, Sanders was asked about a comment he made in 1985 that Cubans didn’t “rise up in rebellion against Fidel Castro” because “he educated their kids, gave their kids health care, totally transformed society.”
He made no mention of the firing squads, political purges and mass arrests that accompanied the 1959 revolution. The comment all but cemented his fate in Florida, home to an influential cross-section of Latino voters whose families fled the Castro regime and others in Latin America.
Sanders’ success in the early states prompted South Florida Democrats to worry that, if nominated, he would hand Republicans a weapon to target down-ticket Democratic candidates in the state.
Given Sanders’ baggage and Biden’s comfortable lead going into Tuesday’s vote, Election Day was more about ensuring the safety of voters as the coronavirus spread through the state, most prominently in the Democratic strongholds of Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
In the days leading up to the election, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel Lee were asked if the primary should be postponed. Both were clear it would not be affected and could be done safely.
“They voted during the Civil War,” DeSantis said last week, in a comment that got viral attention on social media. “We’re going to vote.”
Because turnout was low, coronavirus concerns didn’t materialize at many polling places, all of which were stocked with disinfectant and hand sanitizer.
The virus did cause some disruptions as large numbers of poll workers quit in some counties at the last minute. Palm Beach County had to abruptly shift three polling places on Tuesday because of poll worker no-shows, meaning that voters who showed up weren’t able to cast ballots right away.
“That was a little surprising learning this morning that people weren’t there,” said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link during a mid-day interview with a West Palm Beach television station.
Florida election officials, however, probably dodged major mishaps because turnout was relatively light.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make a correlation to voters being pensive to vote with a potential health hazard,” said Brian Corley, supervisor of elections for Pasco County, north of Tampa.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine delayed his state’s Tuesday primary because of the coronavirus, but voters in Arizona and Illinois turned out.
Late Monday, a handful of civil rights groups filed a lawsuit in Florida arguing that the DeSantis administration wasn’t doing enough to protect voters. U.S. Judge Robert Hinkle on Tuesday morning rejected the call to intervene.
“The national healthcare emergency is not a basis to cancel an election,” Hinkle wrote,adding that he was not ruling on the merits of the case. Instead, the judge said he would look at the issue once the polls were closed.