Driving Joe Biden’s campaign comeback: Voices of Virginia’s black voters

RICHMOND, Virginia– Former Vice President Joe Biden swept Virginia on Mar. 3, despite early polls showing Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg running neck-and-neck. Virginia was one of the 10 Super Tuesday states Biden carried, giving him the front-runner status over Sanders.

I spent the days leading up to the primary talking to Virginia’s black voters, who accounted for the majority of Biden’s Virginia and overall Super Tuesday victory.

I wanted to see what factors influenced their vote and who they thought should be the one to face-off President Donald Trump in November. My reporting shows the substantial role black voters play in propelling Joe Biden’s campaign forward and the influence they have in determining the 2020 Democratic nominee.

–AUDIO TRANSCRIPT–

Written, reported, photographed and produced by Angelina Campanile
Music by www.audionetwork.com and www.premiumbeat.com

[Music]

Angelina Campanile
From Medill News Service in Washington D.C., I’m Angelina Campanile.

Former Vice President Joe Biden surpassed national expectations last Tuesday, or what we call “Super Tuesday.”

Fourteen states held primaries and more than a third of all delegates for the Democratic National Convention were up for grabs.

In the week leading up to the big day, national polls showed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as the front-runner. That title was strengthened after his win in New Hampshire and Nevada—two states in which Joe Biden did not perform well. People questioned how much longer his campaign would last—

Joe Biden
Just days ago, the media and the pundits declared this candidacy dead.

Angelina Campanile
–until South Carolina.

Joe Biden
Now, that’s changed because we just won big because of you.

[Clapping and cheering]

Joe Biden
We are very much alive.

Angelina Campanile
He wins the state with almost 50 percent of the popular vote. Now, why is this such a big deal? In South Carolina, more than 65 percent of the Democratic electorate consists of black voters. It’s the first primary that really shows which candidates can appeal to the black electorate nationally.

So, two colleagues and I went to Virginia, where 20 percent of the state’s population is black—or one in five Virginians. We wanted to see if South Carolina was a one-time thing for Biden or if Bernie Sanders was the true front-runner.

All of the folks I interviewed in this story are life-long Virginians and members of the black community except for Charlie, John and Jamie….you’ll met them later.

Let’s take a few steps back to the morning of the South Carolina primary.

[Music]

[Car directions]

Angelina Campanile
Good morning, everyone and Happy Leap Day! It’s Saturday, February 29th and we’re on our way to McLean, just 25 minutes away in Northern Virginia. We’re going to a rally for former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Right now, he’s sitting in third behind Senator Bernie Sanders and Vice President Joe Biden in the Virginia primary polls. Bloomberg was actually leading polls here just a few days ago so I want to see what weight he’s actually pulling in this state.

[Car directions]

Angelina Campanile
So, let me give you a little background first so you know what we’re walking into here…Not about Bloomberg, but just a bit about Virginia.

Virginia’s been a red state pretty much up until 2008 when Barack Obama won the Virginia popular vote by a slim six percent. The state voted red in every presidential election from Richard Nixon in 1968 to George W. Bush in 2004.

Since then, more seats in the Virginia House of Delegates started turning blue. And then something crazy happened—

[News recording]

Angelina Campanile
–the state’s legislature flips blue for the first time in 25 years. General Assembly? Blue. State Senate? Blue. Governor? Blue. Virginia? Blue.

And who else’s political ideologies have also switched pretty recently?

Mike Bloomberg
There’s no better investment I can make in the future of our country than spending to defeat Donald Trump.

Angelina Campanile
That would be Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The lifelong Democrat identified himself as a Republican when he ran for mayor of New York City. In 2007, he registered as an independent and then realigned with the Democrats in 2018.

Angelina Campanile
Alright so here we are at the Hilton in Tysons Corner. It looks like half the people here is actually media. The crowd inside the ballroom where Bloomberg is going to speak is pretty much all white and middle-aged…no more than 200 people…majority women.

[Crowd chanting “We like Mike”]

Mike Bloomberg
Somebody said to me a few weeks ago ‘this campaign is costing a lot of money.’ And I said yes and he said, ‘well you shouldn’t spend all that money’ and I said I’m spending it to remove Donald Trump and he said ‘oh, spend more!’.

Angelina Campanile
Among the small lot of black supporters, I spoke with small-business man Alan McCain.

Alan McCain
I think he can go toe to toe with Donnie Trump and smack him like an old red-headed step job.

Angelina Campanile
Did you support another candidate for Bloomberg and if so, what made the switch?

Alan McCain
I originally was a Biden supporter because he’s done a great job. As time went on, I always thought that Buttigieg would come up…He’s clear, he is progressive, he is focused, he is what we can respect as a president of the United States, that potential. And I see the same thing in Bloomberg.

Angelina Campanile
What does Bloomberg have that Biden and Buttigieg don’t have?

Alan McCain
Biden, I think takes it for granted. I don’t think he’s hungry enough anymore. He seems tired.

Angelina Campanile
After speaking with three other former Biden, now Bloomberg supporters—interviews that I recorded on my phone but didn’t save because I ran out of storage space—I started to think ok, maybe this is going to be a different narrative than I thought. I wanted to find other black voters who may’ve previously supported Biden, so we drove a couple of miles Southeast to Springfield.

Bernie Sanders
For the sake of our kids and our future generations, for the sake of who we are as people, it is imperative that we defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country.

Angelina Campanile
Thousands of people were lined up a half-mile down the road to see Bernie Sanders. We got to the event an hour early and the traffic getting anywhere near the venue was so bad it took me 25 minutes to drive a quarter of a mile and another 25 minutes to find parking. I ultimately had to make my own spot and hop a fence to make my way in.

Bernie Sanders
Woah, there are a lot of people here.

Angelina Campanile
I walked into this indoor sports facility the size of a regulation soccer field. Then I actually climbed up this ladder to get a better look at the thousands of people in the room—which were mostly young and white. There were several people wearing hijabs and I could probably have counted on hand how many black supporters were there.

Michael Fasile
He’s a very refreshing option from typical establishing choices and he’s very exciting.

Angelina Campanile
Michael Fasile says he wants something new and is a big fan of the Green New Deal.

[Crowd chanting “Green New Deal”]

Bernie Sanders
Today we say to President Trump, sorry this is not an autocracy, this is a democracy.

Angelina Campanile
Sanders talked about almost every one of his policies. He talked for a long time about appealing to a diverse community. But the demographic makeup of the crowd definitely didn’t support that.

It was time to head down to Richmond. South Carolina results were coming in soon and I wanted to see what Biden’s future was going to be in this race.

I found a watch party in a small office space fitting no more than 15 people inside. The windows were covered in “Virginia for Biden” posters and through the window I see a tall, skinny man in a black trench coat who is getting ready to leave. He has a shining circular pin attached to the left side of his suit jacket.

As I’m in the car, again trying to find parking, I hear on the radio—

[News recording]

Angelina Campanile
I scramble to get to the office doors as this man is walking out and it’s one of Virginia’s congressional representatives, Donald McEachin, the first elected official to endorse Joe Biden for president. I asked to speak with him about Biden’s win but since the congressman was on his way out, his staffer gave me a place and time to talk the next morning.

I walk into this small space to just about a dozen folks cheering and smiling as they watched the South Carolina results pour onto the TV.

[News recording]

Charlie Diradour
I like Joe Biden’s manner. I like the fact that he is a democrat that reminds me of what it means to be a Democrat.

Angelina Campanile.
That’s Charlie. Charlie Diradour…he’s tonight’s host.

Charlie Diradour
I think we need someone who can bring us together again, heal the divides that have been just so desperately large and bring this country together again and make us whole again and that’s what I see in Joe Biden.

Angelina Campanile
Charlie’s been in Richmond for the majority of his life. I thought he sounded like a pretty hard-core Biden supporter…until I met Kyrie.

Angelina Campanile
What pulls Biden away from all of the other candidates? Why is he the best shot?

Kyrie Miller
Any other candidate is just like another generic candidate out of the book. Joe is not a politician in my mind. He’s just a caring guy that goes forward and gets things done.

He’ll look you in your eye and shake your hand. He’ll hug you; he’ll sympathize with you. If you lost somebody, he’s lost somebody too, he knows how to put himself in your shoes. That’s what separates him—the fact that he has a heart.

Angelina Campanile
Kyrie also grew up in Richmond and recently graduated from the University of Richmond. He works for the department of public relations in the Virginia General Assembly.

Angelina Campanile
What issues do you want former Vice President Biden to tackle that are closest to home for you?

Kyrie Miller
That’s a good question—health care, number one. A lot of people in my neighborhood cannot get their medicine and cant schedule doctor’s appointments because it’s too expensive and while the doctors can’t turn you down no more because of the law, they can stick you with high bills that cause you stress that put you right back in the sick situation so health care would be one to expand the work that him and President Obama already did instead of turn it all down like the others want to do.

Angelina Campanile
What is it about Warren or Sanders with their Medicare for All plan that you don’t agree with, that you don’t think will work?

Kyrie Miller
It’s a good plan on paper but they don’t have a plan to actually get it done. They have numbers, that’s good, I’ve been on the website and they have all of this pizzazz that gets you started listening to them, but Joe is the only one I’ve heard that has a plan that’s brick by brick by brick. He can go to this Republican senate and ask for it and Mitch [McConnel] might actually go ok we got something, or we got something we can work with. The rest of them, they sound good, you could put it on sound bites over and over and over and play it an he’ll get votes, but will you be able to go into Washington and actually do it?

Angelina Campanile
A lot of black voters are going towards former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Why not Bloomberg?

Kyrie Miller
Bloomberg is really another Trump but in reverse. Bloomberg is a bureaucrat; he is only for top percenters. He can give you all that crap that he’s for blacks, that he’s for low income…when he gets in office, the only policies he’s going to be making is for the top percenters. And also Bloomberg did lead the city out of 9/11 but that Stop and Frisk policy just does not sit well with me at all. What’s to say that you’re not going to bring it back? What’s to say that another Baltimore might arise, and he says I gotta bring this policy back but I’ll “modify” it. That just rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning

Angelina Campanile
Is there anything you wish that Biden can improve on?

Kyrie Miller
If it could it would be the gaffes.

Angelina Campanile
The gaffes?

Kyrie Miller
The gaffes are great, the gaffes are a part of him but sometimes—

Angelina Campanile
What do you mean by gaffes?

Kyrie Miller
Like he’ll get on TV and be like I’m Joe Biden, I’m running for Senate. Woah, no, no. When you’re in a tight race like this, every word you say matters. You gotta know you’re at least running for president and not Senate. That’s the one thing but everything else is check, check, check, perfect candidate.

Angelina Campanile
After talking to Kyrie, we waited for Biden to come onstage to give his victory speech from Charleston.

Kyrie Miler
It is Dr. Biden his wife. Wouldn’t she make a beautiful first lady?

Now imagine him as president, that’s going to be like all of our foreign relations are going to get back right when he picks a Secretary of State—

Joe Biden
South Carolina!

Just days ago, the media and the pundits declared this candidacy dead. Now, that’s changed because we just won big because of you.

[Clapping and cheering]

Joe Biden
We are very much alive.

[Room chants “Let’s go Joe”]

Angelina Campanile
Look at that 51%. Sanders at 19%. That’s a landslide.

Kyrie Miller
I mean every district he killed, killed.

Joe Biden
If the Democrats nominate me, I believe we can beat Donald Trump.

Kyrie Miller
Of course! Of course, he can beat Donald Trump!

Joe Biden
If the Democrats want a nominee who’s a real Democrat…

[Cheering, yelling and clapping]

Angelina Campanile
So, as this speech is happening, my phone is buzzing like crazy with emails from Biden’s campaign.

The first notification I see says “After Biden’s landslide victory in the South Carolina primary, former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe endorses Biden for president.”

Then there’s Senator Tim Kaine, Virginia Congressmen Bobby Scott, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, followed by dozens of other elected officials from Super Tuesday states.

I go to bed that night with not only an overflowing email inbox, but also newly published exit polls showing that Biden won about 66 percent of the black vote in South Carolina.

I wanted to speak to someone who represented the majority of black voters in Virginia, being in Richmond, so I woke up the next morning and met with someone who has quite some influence on the black community…

[Music]

Angelina Campanile
We’re in church. Sixth Street Zion Baptist church in Richmond.

[Music]

Angelina Campanile
It’s Sunday, March 1s. A beautiful morning and a clear blue sky in Richmond, Virginia.

Reverend Tyrone Nelson
We have a very important date ahead of us on Tuesday. Most of you already know what Tuesday is, right? We are a voting church 100%, if you can vote you go vote. Today we have with us a special guest 4th District U.S. Congressman Donald McEachin who is no stranger to us here.

Angelina Campanile
McEachin is a Richmond native and the third African American to represent Virginia in the United States Congress.

Rep. Donald McEachin
Good morning. As he has already said, we have an important day on Tuesday in the Democratic Primary should you choose to participate, I pray you choose to participate.

The Resurrection Sunday for this nation come in November and we have a seed to plant.

Angelina Campanile
He does something that doesn’t typically happen in a church.

Rep. Donald McEachin
I want to suggest to you, that that seed ought to be Joe Biden.

Angelina Campanile
McEachin literally tells the congregation to vote for Joe Biden.

Rep. Donald McEachin
You saw what our brothers and sisters did in South Carolina just last night. But I’m going to tell you that the reason we need to plant that seed is not just because he stood with Barack Obama because he’s right on the environment, he’s right for young people, he’s right on civil rights. He’s been fighting these fights his entire political career.

Angelina Campanile
I thought to myself, here you have a group of community members coming into church to listen to their pastor deliver God’s message and instead, you have the pastor deliver someone who’s telling you who to vote for in the primary election. That to me was pretty powerful.

Rep. Donald McEachin
We have a seed to plant on Tuesday. I recommend to you Joe Biden, but regardless of who you decide to vote for, go vote because our Resurrection Sunday is surely coming in November. God bless you.

Angelina Campanile
At the end of the service, Reverend Nelson said the Biden campaign was deciding between the rally later that day being in Richmond or Norfolk. Nelson said if they had gone with Richmond, Biden would have been at the service.

So, back to the person with the influence…I caught up with Congressmen McEachin after service.

Angelina Campanile
First of all, can I get your reaction to Joe Biden winning South Carolina yesterday—how did you feel about that?

Rep. Donald McEachin
I felt great about it. It was something we all knew was going to happen. Certainly, we didn’t know it would be that wide of a margin victory. It was especially gratifying because we’ve been working and trying to tell the country and the media that you have to look at the first four primaries as a unit. Now that we’re there, you see that we lead in the popular vote and we are within a handful of delegates behind Bernie Sanders so mission accomplished.

Angelina Campanile
What issues in particular do you think Joe Biden would support the most that would help your constituents directly?

Rep. Donald McEachin
Everyone is concerned about health care across gender, across racial divides. His plan to have Medicare, essentially to have a public option, that’s what we’ve been calling it all along in Virginia, the same position that Tim Kaine and I had 10 years ago to have people buy in if they want to, resonates with folks.

Angelina Campanile
What is something that Joe Biden has that none of the other Democratic candidates have?

Rep. Donald McEachin
He’s got the experience. He’s got the experience of being in the crucible as he stood with President Obama. He’s got the experience of dealing with foreign leaders as he’s done almost his entire political career. First through his service on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Senate then of course as vice president. This is the time for experience. This isn’t the time for on-the-job training. We have a lot of ground to make up given the Trump years and we need someone ready on day one and that’s Joe Biden.

Angelina Campanile
Reverend Nelson was saying that growth happens in the storm. What growth do you think we’ve had as a country over the past four years?

Rep. Donald McEachin
I think we have a deeper appreciation for our democracy, a deeper appreciation for the blessings that we’ve been given for being a free people and I really think that in large part is going to be what motivates folks to vote for Joe Biden not only in the Democratic Primary, but in the General Election.

If we go with Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump, we’ll have a successful resurrection. If we don’t, we’ll have four more years of darkness.

Angelina Campanile
Michael Short has been a member of Sixth Zion for 13 years. The 65-year-old Richmond native is supporting the former vice president because his ideals align most with Biden’s.

Michael Short
What gives Biden the edge is the fact that he worked at the capacity of a vice president for a year, he walked the walk for a year. He didn’t shine like the sun but at least his mindset and mine and what I’ve seen in his past history are close.
Angelina Campanile
Right now, Bernie Sanders is leading the Virginia polls…why do you think that is?

Michael Short
I am scared to death of Bernie Sanders because I look at Bernie Sanders as a cakewalk for Trump to repeat as president because no independent, no moderate Republican is going to vote for Bernie Sanders. It’s just not going to happen. I consider that just a wasted vote if I’m being honest with you, but if that’s all we have, that’s what I have to go with.

Angelina Campanile
After enjoying some soul for the morning, I needed to see what the former VP had to say for myself. So, we headed east to Norfolk, or what Virginian’s call “the Peninsula.”

[Music]

After a beautiful sunset drive across the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, we arrive at Booker T. Washington High School to a line of folks wrapped around the school an hour early waiting for the doors to open.

We go inside to put down our equipment and the setup is inside this small gym. We thought ‘how can they possibly fit all of those people inside this gym?’. The organizers said they definitely underestimated how many people would be there.

I spoke with some people waiting in line including government contractor and Virginia Beach resident Lorraine Seabrook.

Lorraine Seabrook
I’m here to support Joe Biden after the South Carolina big win. I was all in. I’ve been all in since he came in last year, I’ve been down with him since day one.

Angelina Campanile
Did South Carolina put him over the edge for you?

Lorrain Seabrook
Yes, and Jim Clyburn—with the endorsement from Mr. Jim Clyburn. Yes, that sealed the deal for me.

Angelina Campanile
South Carolina representative Jim Clyburn is the House majority whip. The highly respected congressman can be considered as the initial movement that kindled more black support in South Carolina for Joe Biden and pretty much the wave of endorsements following that victory.

Angelina Campanile
And obviously you saw he’s been endorsed by McAuliffe and Kaine, McEachin—

Lorrain Seabrook
And Elaine Luria

Angelina Campanile
The whole clan is coming in to support him huh?

Lorrain Seabrook
Yes. And I love it.

Angelina Campanile
What is one thing you want to see him really carry out, a promise to keep?

Lorrain Seabrook
There are so many things right now.

Angelina Campanile
Well what hits closest to home?

Lorrain Seabrook
What hits closest to home for me is education because I’m an education major. Right now, I’m a business administration student and education is the most important thing.

Angelina Campanile
What about education do you want?

Lorrain Seabrook
I’m not too concerned about free education because if you want anything in life, you have to work hard for it and you have to earn it so it’s all about earning an education and not someone giving you everything for free because if you get everything free, what is there for you to hope for?

Angelina Campanile
How can Joe Biden help you with education that the other Democratic candidates cannot?

Lorrain Seabrook
I believe that he stresses on the importance of education and just building better bridges for minority students to gain higher educational degrees and more opportunities for people, the black people, brown people, people that are less income driven to have better opportunities for educations…not just saying free education but just education for all.

Angelina Campanile
Education also plays a substantial role in the life of Norfolk resident Pamela Midgette. She’s an education manager for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Head Start Program.

Pamela Midgette
I believe in Joe. We’re here…we haven’t made a final decision yet but we voted for him when he was with President Obama and I believe right now that with everything that’s going on, he’s the most qualified person to really take the county where it needs to go because he’s been there and I think he has the most experience and I think he can get us back on track.

Midgette’s Husband
We need somebody in office that can say wait till April and the COVID will go away.

Pamela Midgette
That’s my husband.

Angelina Campanile
What drives you more toward Biden’s education policies, let’s say instead of Sanders.

Pamela Midgette
I mean I’m not really with [Medicare for All] because then you take away people’s private rights to have who they want that means that if you take my rights away I might not be able to see the doctor who has been getting me where I need to be and getting me healthy and to a good place and because he or she is not part of that or don’t want to participate, I lose out. We’re a country that stands for freedom we should have the freedom to choose who we go to for health care and who provides our health care.

Angelina Campanile
Everyone finally gets into the gym and the rally is about to officially begin. All of a sudden, half the press table flies out of the gym into the hallway. I go out there to see cameramen setting up as fast as they can for their correspondents to do standups and then I look at my phone.

[News recording]

After finishing in South Carolina with no delegates, the former South Bend, Indiana Mayor drops out of the race. We have less than two days until Super Tuesday and now all of the Buttigieg supporters have to find a new campaign to support.

The rally begins and its legislator after legislator after legislator speaking about Joe Biden. No famous bands performing or heads of organizations speaking. There were dozens of lawmakers who endorsed him in the room…and he has perhaps the most significant ones introduce him.

Mayor Levar Stoney
Before I begin tonight, I got a couple of questions to ask you. Did you enjoy that victory in South Carolina last night? And are you ready to do that on Tuesday night in Virginia?

Angelina Campanile
Levar Stoney is the mayor of Richmond.

Mayor Levar Stoney
I know some of y’all dated, flirted and dabbled a little bit in Mike Bloomberg earlier. All is forgiven because it’s now time to come home to Joe.

Angelina Campanile
Then our friend Congressman McEachin speaks.

Rep. Donald McEachin
As the first elected official to endorse Joe Biden, I just had to come down to say thank you for all that you’re about to do.

Let’s plant Joe Biden because he knows us, and we know him.

Angelina Campanile
Again, he brings in religion–something that plays a huge role in how people live their day to day lives and make decisions.

Then you have Congressmen Bobby Scott, Senator Tim Kaine and Governor McAuliffe.

Rep. Bobby Scott
When he gets elected, he’ll get things done. That’s why President Obama selected him as vice president because he gets things done.

Sen. Tim Kaine
Who’s ready for some decency back in the White House?

Gov. Terry McAuliffe
Are we fired up for Joe Biden, the next president of the United States of America! We’re looking good here in Virginia—how about that win in South Carolina? Every single county in South Carolina went for Joe Biden yesterday.

It is time to end Donald Trump and it is time to elect Joe Biden, the next president of the United States of America, Joe Biden.

Angelina Campanile
Joe Biden walks into the room with a contagious smile on his face and arms spread out wide embracing the cheering crowd…Then I notice something among these crowd members that was not at all evident at the Bloomberg and Sanders rallies I went to.

People were crying. Tears streaming down their faces. This was a different kind of support—an overwhelmingly emotional kind of support.

Joe Biden
Just days ago, the press and the pundits declared my candidacy dead. Now, thanks to the work of the Democratic party in South Carolina, I’m very much alive.

[Crowd cheering]

Joe Biden
The character of America is on the ballot, literally. We can either win big or lose big.

Angelina Campanile
He talks about expanding the Affordable Care Act, reforming the criminal justice system, enhancing the education system and taking extreme measures to combat climate change.

About five minutes in, he has a really tender moment with the crowd.

Joe Biden
How many people in this room, this gymnasium, have lost a son, daughter, or wife or sister from cancer? Look around, anywhere from half to two-thirds of people have. You know what I’m talking about.

Angelina Campanile
Biden lost his wife Nelia and daughter Naomi in a car crash in 1972. Then his son Beau died from cancer in 2015.

Purpose, he says, is what gets him through.

Joe Biden
We have to build more perpetuity because the American people have seen the alternative. So, my message is simple: Folks let’s get back up. We’re better than this moment and we’re better than this president. Get up! Let’s take this country back. This is the United States of America. We have never, ever, ever failed at anything when we set our mind to it. I mean it from the bottom of my heart, it’s time to get up, take back the country, and lead the world once again. God bless you always and may God protect our troops. Thank you.

[Music]

Angelina Campanile
Biden finishes his speech in less than twenty minutes. I watched him spend more time taking selfies with the crowd members afterward than he did speak. As he posed with his supporter, again I saw that intense eye contact with each and every person he met.

It took me seeing him in person to truly understand what people meant when they said they were voting for Joe Biden because he cares…With Biden, it’s blatant.

[Music]

[News recording]

Angelina Campanile
It’s Tuesday, March 3rd. Super Tuesday.

[News recording]

Angelina Campanile
Today’s the big day. A few things are at stake: 1,357 delegates, 14 states and the future of the candidate’s campaigns. Candidates have to finish with at least 15 percent of the vote, either in the statewide total or an individual congressional district, in order to win any delegates in a state.

[Voting ticket printing]

Volunteer
And what you’re going to do is go behind me and choose a booth. There’s an ink pen in there for you. If you’d like a piece of candy, you’re welcome to it.

Student
Not today

Volunteer
Not today ok, thank you.

Angelina Campanile
We started our day Virginia Commonwealth University in downtown Richmond…we wanted to see where the youth vote was headed.

Tim Edgerton
I was on the fence between Joe and Bernie… I saw that Joe was really into education, like building up our education system—paying teachers more and getting more funding for schools, and that is something I’m really interested in because I’m an education major.

Angelina Campanile
Tim Edgerton is a junior at VCU. He said a lot of his friends were on the fence between Buttigieg and Sanders.

Tim Edgerton
I think a lot of Pete’s support will go towards Sanders. I think a lot of his free schooling for all that really was like, who wants student loans?

Angelina Campanile
A lot of the students I spoke with said they weren’t going to vote because they had too much work or not enough time to spare. The majority of those students said they supported Sanders.

Naomi Tarike
I’m going to vote for Bernie because to me, he just seems like the better and the most realistic choice compared to the rest of the candidates.

Victoria Chegg
I’m also voting for Bernie Sanders, mainly because the same reasoning. I’m not that informed of the candidates as I should be, but honestly, for me it’s between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, but as I did merge, I’m not as big of a fan as Joe Biden, but as far as who could compete with Donald Trump, I think maybe Joe Biden might have a better chance rather than Bernie because Bernie does seem too extremist for some people.

Angelina Campanile
Then we headed to three other polling places around the city.

Angelina Campanile
This is your hometown?

Zanthia Mathis
This is my hometown all my life.

Angelina Campanile
Who did you vote for today?

Zanthia Mathis
I voted for Biden.

Angelina Campanile
Mathis voted at George Carver Elementary School.

Zanthia Mathis
He’s the most experienced. I was sort of leaning toward Bloomberg because he has the financial power to stay in the race and what we have in the White House now, money has to meet money sometimes, and they probably know the same people but I had to go with experience.

Angelina Campanile
So, experience over money?

Zanthia Mathis
I think in combination they could be a powerhouse, but we don’t seem to have the money and experience, it seems to be either-or.

Angelina Campanile
Is there one issue that Biden supports that hits home for you?

Zanthia Mathis
I think the issue of health care and just equality. The nation is divided. I’ve never seen so much hatred and now we have the leader of the free world saying what he pleases, and he’s given everybody else a free ticket just to say that and do that, and that’s not right. We need to get things back to what they used to be. He said, ‘Make American Great Again,’ how about make it more civil again.

We’ve got to get what’s in there out because we can’t have another four years–the poor is not going to get represented.

Angelina Campanile
Do you think Biden will beat Donald Trump?

Zanthia Mathis
It is my hope. That’s why I’m voting. As an Afro-American, it’s my duty to vote and if I don’t do anything, I don’t have a right to say anything if it goes the other way.

Angelina Campanile
Nolan Noel was handing out “I voted!” stickers at a table in the back. He has two oxygen tubes running through his nose.

Nolan Noel
I prefer to see somebody that’s more experienced instead of somebody else new on the ticket. You know, experience counts a lot. And I think he can beat Donald Trump.

Angelina Campanile
And is that a priority for you?

Nolan Noel
Above everything else, yeah because the country is so divided right now and it’s not a good feeling, you know?

Angelina Campanile
What’s the issue that hits closest to home that you think Biden can help or fix or support in any way?

Nolan Noel
Well, as you can see, I’m disabled and I’m elderly and I think he can help a lot with issues dealing with us.

Angelina Campanile
Noel suffers from congestive heart failure, mild kidney failure and COPD.

Angelina Campanile
So Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg dropped out over the past two days…where do you think their voters are going to go?

Nolan Noel
I think the younger voters like college students are going to go with Bernie Sanders because he said that he wants to get rid of student debt, you know, so what student, what young person doesn’t want to get rid of student debt?

Angelina Campanile
And do you think the older supporters are going towards Biden?

Nolan Noel
Yeah.

Angelina Campanile
As the day went on and I spoke to more Virginians I realized Nolan was right. While middle-aged and older voters were supporting Biden because of his familiarity with the White House, Virginia’s young Democrats were backing Sanders because of his promise to end student loans and college debt.

[News recording]

Alexsis Rodgers
It looks like Vice President Biden is going to be the winner tonight. And I think all of us in Virginia are all laser-focused on making sure we defeat Donald Trump and that ultimately, we’re all going to come together towards that goal.

Angelina Campanile
Alexsis Rodgers is the assistant vice-chair of the Richmond Democratic Committee. We went to their watch party.

Angelina Campanile
Between Biden and Sanders, because right now it’s looking like they are at the top, they’re competing for these states especially and Super Tuesday…who do you think has the best shot at beating Donald Trump?

Alexsis Rodgers
I think whoever can appeal to the most communities of colors, really, we’ve seen that black women voters and Latinx voters are the margin of victory for some campaigns and candidates.

John Murray
We needed to have somebody that could really bring the whole country together as we have a lot of division right now and I think Biden can do that.

Angelina Campanile
John Murray is a lobbyist in the General Assembly, Virginia’s law-making body. He’s also a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Murray says he would have voted for Buttigieg if he was still in the race because of the mayor’s historic run as the first openly gay presidential candidate.

Angelina Campanile
How do you think Biden can carry out some of the things that Mayor Buttigieg was supporting and talk about carrying out?

John Murray
A big piece of Mayor Pete’s focus was looking forward to the future. I know that Joe Biden is more of an establishment figure, but I know that he has the best chance at actually winning. And in order to beat Trump and bring about the vision that we want, he’s going to be the best vehicle for that.

Angelina Campanile
Jaime Nolan is the chair of the committee organizing the watch party.

Jaime Nolan
The black community in South Carolina stood strong behind Biden and as history and statistics and results show us, black people, particularly black women, are showing up at the polls more than any other community.

Angelina Campanile
And it looks like from the exit polls that are showing up now, they’re doing the exact same thing in Virginia.

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[News recording]

Angelina Campanile
Black voters transformed Joe Biden’s chances at the White House over the course of just three days.

Less than a week before Super Tuesday, people questioned the future and success of Joe Biden’s campaign.

The former vice president finished first in Virginia with more than 50% of the Democratic vote and captured 49 delegates to the national nominating convention. Sanders finished in second with 23% of the Virginian vote and 19 delegates. Mayor Bloomberg finished fourth behind Senator Warren, receiving less than 10% of the vote and no delegates.

Exit polls showed black voters accounted for the majority of Biden’s Virginia and overall Super Tuesday victory. Biden now leads the ring of candidates by 53 delegates in front of Senator Sanders.

The next string of Democratic primaries is on Tuesday, March 10th in six states. Biden will be looking to continue his momentum and defeat Senator Sanders in states like Michigan and Mississippi, where there’s a significant population of black voters.

Will black voters ultimately determine the 2020 Democratic nominee? Right now, that’s what it looks like.

For Medill News Service, I’m Angelina Campanile.

Thanks for listening.

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