Multiple outlets call Virginia primary for Biden, Vermont for Sanders minutes after polls close

Minutes after polls closed on the East Coast on Super Tuesday, multiple news outlets already started calling winners in the states of Virginia and Vermont.

Shortly after 7 p.m. on Tuesday — which saw primary elections in 14 states — the Associated Press, ABC News, and CNN all projected that Biden would win the Democratic primary in the Old Dominion. Winning in Virginia would give the former vice president his second primary win of the 2020 election, following his strong showing in South Carolina on Saturday.

Meanwhile, during the same time frame, multiple outlets — including the Associated Press, NBC News, ABC News and CNN — also called the primary race for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) in his home state of Vermont.

Virginia awards 99 delegates for the Democratic convention, while Vermont sends 13, meaning that the two contests account for a small percentage of the more than 1,300 delegates to be awarded during the "Super Tuesday" primaries.

In the lead-up to Tuesday's critical primary elections, Biden received a wave of support and endorsements in an apparent widespread effort to slow Sanders' momentum in the primary race. On Monday, the former vice president was endorsed by former primary rivals Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, as well as Beto O'Rourke and former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"It's raining endorsements right now, from every corner of the country, so much so that it's like drinking out of a fire hose, our vetting machine is having a difficult time keeping up," a Biden adviser told Politico on Monday.

Polling released earlier on Tuesday showed that the recent efforts to boost Biden appear to have worked. A Morning Consult survey conducted between 3 p.m. Monday and 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday showed the former vice president with 36% support among Democratic primary voters, with a considerable 8-point lead over Sanders, who was at 28%.