LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A resurgent Joe Biden continued his momentum Tuesday by winning Michigan’s Democratic primary, denying Bernie Sanders’ attempt to rekindle his presidential campaign in what will be a presidential battleground in November.
The primary was the largest delegate prize in this week’s slate of contests, which came one week after Biden’s big Super Tuesday wins winnowed the field. Michigan is part of the “blue wall” that flipped to Donald Trump in 2016, and Sanders campaigned heavily here in the closing days in hopes of repeating his primary victory four years ago.
But voters backed Biden, the former vice president who pointed to the auto bailout under President Barack Obama and pledged to expand health coverage.
Voters enjoyed expanded rights in Michigan’s first major election since the approval of a 2018 constitutional amendment that has resulted in a surge of early voting, which began in late January. People who now can cast an absentee ballot without needing an excuse took advantage, submitting 804,000 through Monday — compared with 447,000 at the same point in 2016 when there was a competitive Republican primary.
The swell of absentee ballots, combined with so many Democratic candidates dropping out — especially since South Carolina and Super Tuesday — led to spikes in the number of voters scratching their ballots and submitting a new one. More than 36,000 ballots were “spoiled,” an eight-fold increase over 2016.
The trend is thought to benefit Biden as the party’s more moderate wing consolidates around him. Many states do not allow such do-overs.
Michigan’s influence has shown from candidates’ visits in the closing days.
Sanders, a senator from Vermont, urged large crowds to “think big” and embrace his plans to to cancel student debt and guarantee health care for all.
“We are capable of making sweeping change if we have the courage to do it,” he said in Ann Arbor.
Sanders criticized the former vice president’s record on trade, saying his support for the North American Free Trade Agreement more than 25 years ago would give Trump an edge in battleground Michigan in November.
Biden was joined on the trail by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer along with Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris — two former rivals for the nomination.
Biden touted “Obamacare” and said it should be expanded with a Medicare-like “public option,” not scrapped with a single-payer system that would supplant private insurance.
“I’m going to stand firm against anyone who tries to tear down the progress and start all over again,” Biden said in Grand Rapids. “Now Sen. Sanders is a good man. His Medicare-for-all push would be a long and expensive slog, if he can get it done at all.”
This is the first statewide contest in which people can register to vote at any time without a deadline, including on Election Day. Clerks in college towns saw lines on Monday and prepared for more students to show on Tuesday.
Tune into our local and state newscasts, anytime day or night, for this story and more.
Follow WLEN-FM: 
#wlenradio #wlennews #lenaweenews