(CN) – Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Democratic primaries in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday.
The wins were the second and third for Biden, who struggled through early nominating contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. His win this past weekend in South Carolina kicked off an about-face that led to endorsements from former 2020 candidates Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Beto O’Rourke.
During exit interviews conducted by Courthouse News on Tuesday morning, Biden and Sanders appeared to vastly outpace their opponents in Virginia.
This was the second time Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has lost Virginia. In the state's 2016 primary, Hillary Clinton beat Sanders without about 57% of the vote.
Although Biden only has one campaign office in Virginia, returns showed him with 53.3% of the vote to Sanders' 23.1%. In third place, Elizabeth Warren had garnered 10.8% of the vote, followed closely by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at 9.7% with almost all of the precincts reporting.
North Carolina’s polls closed at 7:30 p.m. and with 99% of precincts reporting, Biden landed on top with about 42.99% and Sanders had 24.11%. At 110 delegates, North Carolina’s support is crucial on the road to the White House.
The returns show Bloomberg was in third at 12.99% and Warren fourth with 10.48%.
"It's still early, but things are looking awful, awful good," Biden said during a rally on Tuesday night. "This campaign will send Donald Trump packing."
"Just a few days ago, the press and the pundits declared the campaign dead. Then came South Carolina and they had something to say about it," he added.
Despite early losses in Virginia and North Carolina, Sanders remained confident on Tuesday.
"Tonight I tell you with absolute confidence, we're gonna win the Democratic nomination and we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country," Sanders told the crowd at a Tuesday rally.
President Donald Trump's campaign manager Brad Parscale on Tuesday night said in a statement the current results across the 14 Super Tuesday states will "only increase the likelihood that no candidate will have enough delegates for a first ballot victory at their convention, which only means more chaos!"
Parscale said Biden is "just as terrible a candidate right now as he was a few days ago."
"At the same time, establishment Democrats have ganged up to try to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination, which is causing even more mayhem," he added.
Incumbent Senator Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who made an appearance during a Trump rally in Charlotte Monday night, is maintaining the lead in the Republican primary run for North Carolina’s U.S. Senate seat.
Tillis has garnered 78.10% of the Republican vote thus far, while his closest Republican rival, Paul Wright has about 7.54%.
Former North Carolina state senator Cal Cunningham appears to be beating state Senator Erica Smith, 57% to 34.75%, in the race for the Democratic Senate nomination. As the apparent primary winner of this race, Cunningham will challenge Tillis in November.
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