Black And Latinx Voters Braved Hours-Long Lines In Texas On Super Tuesday

Texas has spoken: On Tuesday (March 3), the state's Democratic voters selected former Vice President Joe Biden as their primary election winner, with 33.4 percent of the vote and 97 percent of precincts reporting. He was followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who earned 29.9 percent of the vote;  former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with 15.1 percent of the vote; and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, with 11.4. Percent of the vote. President Donald Trump won the Republican primary, as projected.


The state had 228 pledged delegates up for grabs, as the Texas Tribune notes, and 268 delegates total. 42 of those are right now pledged to Biden; Sanders followed with 38 delegates, and Bloomberg followed and Warren followed with one delegate each. Young voters in Texas overwhelmingly supported Sanders; according to exit polls conducted by the Washington Post, 65 percent of voters aged 18-29 indicated their support for the senator. They comprised 16 percent of the vote. Sanders also won big with the 31 percent of voters who were Latinx, 45 percent of whom indicated their support for him. Sixty percent of Black voters, who comprised 20 percent of voters, showed out for Biden.


Voting wasn't without its problems: At least 750 Texas polling sites have been closed since 2013, Slate notes, which resulted in hours-long lines for several of the state's Black and Latinx residents.


The state also voted for United States Senate and Home of Representatives. In the Senate, incumbent Republican John Cornyn will face an as-yet-to-be-determined Democrat challenger; MJ Hegar will participate in a runoff election, per a local Houston NBC affiliate. NPR has consolidated the entire list of Congressional battles, including the primary races that have however to be called. Notably, Millennial challenger Jessica Cisneros narrowly lost to incumbent Congressman Henry Cuellar, by a margin of 52 to 48.


The state wasn't the only location to hold a presidential primary on Tuesday — a total of 14 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia also cast their votes, as did the territory American Samoa.


This is a developing story. MTV News will update it as we know more.