WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the 2020 presidential election (all times local):
6:35 p.m.
The Secret Service says no Democratic presidential candidate has yet requested protection.
The agency said in a statement Thursday that “recent media reporting characterizing the U.S. Secret Service as unprepared for candidate protection is categorically false.” It says it is ready to step in once a candidate formally requests protection.
The issue arose after protesters briefly interrupted Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday celebratory remarks to supporters in Los Angeles. Women holding signs reading “Let Dairy Die” stormed the podium where Biden was giving remarks Tuesday night, flanked by his wife and sister. Biden moved to the side as security removed the women.
A photo of Biden’s wife, Jill, pushing one of the protesters away from her husband went viral. Biden’s campaign press secretary, Symone Sanders, ran up onto the stage and helped drag one of the protesters away.
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3:05 p.m.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has canceled a trip to Mississippi to campaign in Michigan.
The Vermont senator was scheduled to speak Friday at Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson, the home of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. But his campaign announced Thursday that Sanders will travel instead to Michigan, where he is scheduled to hold rallies Friday night and Sunday.
Both Michigan and Mississippi hold primaries on Tuesday. Mississippi’s population is over one-third African American, a demographic that has heavily favored former Vice President Joe Biden, Sanders’ rival for the Democratic nomination. African Americans make up about 15% of Michigan’s population.
Biden is scheduled to campaign in Mississippi on Sunday and to be in Detroit on Monday.
Sanders’ campaign says it’s sending senior staff members and surrogates to Mississippi to campaign on his behalf.
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2:45 p.m.
Amy Klobuchar is going to Michigan to campaign for her former Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden.
The Minnesota senator dropped out of the 2020 race on the eve of Super Tuesday and endorsed Biden. Fellow former candidates Pete Buttigieg, Beto O’Rourke and Mike Bloomberg soon followed.
Klobuchar will visit with union members in Detroit on Friday before hosting a Women for Biden event in Southfield, Michigan. On Saturday, Klobuchar will speak at a get-out-the-vote event in Grand Rapids.
Biden won 10 of 14 states on Super Tuesday, including delegate-rich Texas. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders captured four states, including the biggest prize of all, California.
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12:50 p.m.
Elizabeth Warren says she will not be running for president in 2020 but guarantees that she will stay in the fight.
Speaking to reporters Thursday outside her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Warren said she’d likely endorse one of the two major candidates left in the race, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, but “not today.”
“I need some space and I need a little time right now,” she said, standing next to her husband, Bruce Mann, and golden retriever, Bailey.
Warren’s voice cracked when she talked about meeting so many little girls while campaigning around the country for the past year and knowing they “are going to have to wait four more years,” at least, to see a woman in the White House.
The Massachusetts senator was the Democratic presidential primary’s last top female candidate. She suspended her campaign Thursday, two days after a disappointing Super Tuesday that included a third-place finish in her home state.
Warren added: “I have no regrets at all. This has been the honor of a lifetime.”
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10:50 a.m.
Elizabeth Warren has ended her Democratic presidential bid after a disappointing finish in Super Tuesday states.
That’s according to a person familiar with her plans who wasn’t authorized to speak about Warren’s intentions and talked to The Associated Press on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity.
The Massachusetts senator’s campaign had the markers of success: robust poll numbers, impressive fundraising, a national organization.
But she was squeezed out by Bernie Sanders, who had an immovable base of voters she needed to advance. In the end, she didn’t even win her home state — she finished third behind Joe Biden, who won it, and Sanders.
Her exit from the race on Thursday came days after Amy Klobuchar dropped out. It leaves the Democratic field with just one remaining female candidate: Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.
— AP writer Will Weissert