WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest on the 2020 presidential election (all times local):
11:55 p.m.
In her final campaign stop in California, Elizabeth Warren is telling the story of Latina janitors who organized for better working conditions.
Warren is delivering her speech in East Los Angeles, which is heavily Latino. Latinos make up roughly 40% of California’s population and are a key voting bloc that her progressive rival, Bernie Sanders, has been aggressively targeting.
California is one of 13 states to hold its primary on Tuesday.
At the outdoor rally, Warren is sharing the story of 400 janitors who protested on the streets of Los Angeles in 1990, where dozens were arrested and hospitalized. But several weeks later, the janitors won stronger wages and benefits.
She says the movement showed three things: The fight for justice is never done, it takes a plan to turn ideas into reality, and it takes “a winning coalition” to make real change. Those lessons fold neatly into Warren’s campaign message that she would be the most effective president in the Democratic field.
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11:35 p.m.
As the Democratic presidential field shrinks around her, Elizabeth Warren is digging in and going after rival Joe Biden as he ascends.
Warren says nominating a “Washington insider will not meet this moment,” nor will nominating a man “who says we do not need any fundamental change in this country.” Her remarks come during an outdoor rally in the Los Angeles area on Monday night, hours before California and 13 other states hold primaries.
While she’s not mentioning Bernie Sanders directly, she says voters have more than two choices, one who represents outsiders and another who represents insiders. She’s crafting herself as a candidate who can transform government from the inside and lead a grassroots movement outside it.
Earlier Monday, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg endorsed Biden, offering the former vice president a show of force from the party’s moderate wing. Warren has yet to win a primary or caucus. She says she looks forward to “gaining as many delegates as we can” in Tuesday’s primary.
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10:15 p.m.
Beto O’Rourke is the latest former Democratic presidential candidate to endorse Joe Biden.
The former Texas congressman appeared at Biden’s rally in Dallas on Monday night, along with Amy Klobuchar, who ended her own 2020 bid earlier in the day.
To cheers, O’Rourke said, “Tomorrow, March 3, 2020, I will be casting my ballot for Joe Biden.”
Biden also nabbed the endorsement of Pete Buttigieg, who suspended his campaign on Sunday night and appeared with the former vice president ahead of Monday night’s rally.
O’Rourke ended his own White House run last year after failing to recapture the enthusiasm, interest and fundraising prowess of his 2018 Senate bid.
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9:50 p.m.
Amy Klobuchar says that if Democrats spend the next four months “dividing our party and going at each other,” they “will spend the next four years watching Donald Trump tear apart this country.”
Klobuchar appeared in Dallas on Monday night at a rally in support of Joe Biden, whom she endorsed after dropping her own bid for the White House.
She says, “It is time for Americans to join hands instead of pointing fingers.” She also says Americans must dream bigger than trying to “outdivide the divider-in-chief.”
The Minnesota senator says Biden will fight for the average American. With her voice cracking, she said, “I cannot think of a better way to end my campaign than by joining his.”
Pete Buttigieg ended his campaign on Sunday night and announced his support of Biden earlier Monday.
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8:20 p.m.
Bernie Sanders wants President Donald Trump to stay out of the Democratic presidential primary.
Sanders is among the Democrats looking to replace Trump in the White House. Trump, who frequently inserts himself into the Democratic race, has taken to accusing other Democrats of trying to “rig” the nomination contest against Sanders, an allegation he made again Monday at a rally in North Carolina.
Sounding exasperated, the Vermont senator said on CNN on Monday: “President Trump, stay out of the Democratic primary. Why don’t you do your job for a change as president? Stop lying. Stop running a corrupt administration.
Two Democrats, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, have dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, who could be Sanders’ biggest rival for the nomination.
In informal polls taken at Trump’s rallies, his supporters agree that Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, would be easier for the president to defeat in November than Biden, a moderate.
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7:50 p.m.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has formally announced his endorsement of Joe Biden for the White House.
Buttigieg made the announcement Monday night in Dallas ahead of a Biden rally. Standing behind Buttigieg, Biden put his hands on the former South Bend, Indiana mayor’s shoulders, and both smiled.
Buttigieg says it is crucial that Democrats win not only the White House but also the Senate and House. He says America needs politics that are about decency and dignity, and he says, “That’s what Joe Biden has been practicing his entire life.”
Biden, speaking after Buttigieg, said his former rival “has as much moral courage as he has physical courage.” He said Buttigieg reminded him of his late son Beau, which he called the highest honor he could bestow on anyone.
Buttigieg ended his bid late Sunday. Amy Klobuchar ended her 2020 campaign earlier Monday and plans to endorse him in Dallas, as well.
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4:15 p.m.
Joe Biden has avoided mention of the turmoil in the Democratic primary race at a rally in Houston as his rivals Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar end their campaigns with plans to endorse him.
Biden campaigned in Texas on Monday, the day before 14 states hold Super Tuesday primaries, as the political world buzzed with the shakeup of moderates coalescing around him as the alternative to Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist senator from Vermont.
Biden says, “The decision Democrats make tomorrow and the next few weeks will determine what we stand for, what we believe, and where we’re going to go.”
In a dig at Sanders’ signature call to action, the former vice president said, “Most Americans don’t want a promised revolution. They want guaranteed results.”
It was a message similar to what Biden unveiled Saturday in South Carolina after his near 30-point margin of victory there reframed the race. Sanders had led through the first three contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
Biden notably did not mention billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who will be on primary ballots Tuesday for the first time. Bloomberg skipped the first four contests, spending more than $500 million of his own money on a strategy that he could make a late entry into the nominating fight and become the moderates’ preferred option in place of Biden.
Biden will be in Dallas on Monday night with Buttigieg and Klobuchar.
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4 p.m.
Mike Bloomberg is not dropping out of the primary race, even as his former rivals end their campaigns and consolidate around Joe Biden.
Speaking at a canvass kickoff in Manassas, Virginia, the former New York mayor told the crowd in reference to his past mayoral elections, “I’ve won three elections so far. I don’t plan to start losing now!” The billionaire will be on the ballot for the first time on Tuesday, when he’s competing for delegates in the 14 states and a U.S. territory that vote in the Super Tuesday primary. He has poured more than a half billion dollars into the Super Tuesday states.
He told the crowd that he had spoken to Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, both of whom exited the race within the last 24 hours. He said that he “wished them all the best” and that both of them “behaved themselves” and “represented their country and their states very well.”
Bloomberg added: “I felt sorry for them, but I’m in it to win it, and we are going to go out and we’re going to go get ’em.”
The businessman spent Monday largely in Virginia, which votes Tuesday, but is already looking past this Tuesday’s primaries to next week. He plans to campaign in Florida, which votes March 17.
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3:15 p.m.
Pete Buttigieg is endorsing his former Democratic rival Joe Biden for president.
Two people familiar with Buttigieg’s decision say the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor will appear with Biden in Dallas on Monday night, a day after he dropped his own White House bid. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Buttigieg is the second 2020 candidate to exit the race and put his backing behind Biden. Earlier Monday, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar decided to end her campaign, and she plans to appear with Biden at the rally, as well.
The moves reflect an urgent push among moderates to consolidate behind Biden as a counter to progressive rival Bernie Sanders, who remains the front-runner in the race as Super Tuesday looms.
— By Thomas Beaumont
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2:25 p.m.
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has endorsed Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The move comes as part of an establishment avalanche in the former vice president’s favor heading into the Super Tuesday lineup that features 14 state primaries.
“Biden will be a much-needed stabilizing force following Trump’s disastrous term, offering a positive and progressive alternative to Trump’s dark vision of racism, xenophobia and policies built on cruelty and exclusion,” Reid said in a statement. “I believe Biden is best able to defeat Donald Trump and enact the policies we all care about.”
Reid notably held his endorsement ahead of the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 22. Bernie Sanders won Nevada by a wide margin, but Biden came in second place, giving his campaign a boost after dismal finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Biden parlayed that improvement into a resounding South Carolina primary win Feb. 29.
Amy Klobuchar, one of Biden’s Democratic presidential rivals, dropped out of the 2020 race on Monday and also announced plans to endorse Biden.
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1:30 p.m.
Amy Klobuchar is ending her Democratic presidential campaign and is set to endorse Joe Biden.
Her campaign says she is flying to Dallas and plans to join Biden at his rally Monday night.
The Minnesota senator is the third presidential candidate to drop out of the race in less than 48 hours, following Pete Buttigieg’s departure on Sunday and Tom Steyer’s exit on Saturday.
Their decisions reflect an urgent push among moderates to consolidate behind Biden as a counter to progressive rival Bernie Sanders.
Klobuchar outlasted several better-known and better-funded Democrats, thanks to a better-than-expected third-place finish in in New Hampshire. But she couldn’t turn that into success elsewhere.
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1:15 p.m.
Officials say turnout in Saturday’s Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina was the largest in state history.
Democratic Party officials said Monday that more than 539,000 votes were cast in the contest. That’s nearly 7,000 more than in 2008, the previous record.
Officials said turnout increased significantly in several counties, in some places by more than 80%.
South Carolina has open primaries, meaning that some Republicans may have crossed over to vote in the Democratic contest. State Republicans opted not to hold their own primary this year, citing cost savings and high levels of GOP support in the state for President Donald Trump.
Former Vice President Joe Biden won Saturday’s primary, providing a much-needed boost for his campaign heading into Super Tuesday, when 14 states and a U.S. territory vote.
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