Biden earns over 85% of votes in Missouri Democratic presidential preference primary
The Missouri Democratic Party released the results from its presidential preference primary held March 23, revealing that President Joe Biden won with 85.3% of the vote.
“The Missouri Democratic Party congratulates President Biden on his decisive victory in our party-run presidential preference primary last weekend,” said Missouri Democratic Party Chair Russ Carnahan.
More than 19,000 votes were cast in the party-run presidential preference primary, a stark contrast to the more than 666,000 voters who participated in the state-run Democratic primary in 2020. That means less than 3% of the number of voters from 2020 participated in the 2024 primary.
This could be due to the fact that Biden had already won enough delegates nationwide to be the party’s candidate in the 2024 election. He has now earned 61 of Missouri’s 64 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
Carnahan touted Biden’s initiatives in Missouri as reasons for his strong support in the state.
“From capping the cost of insulin at $35 for Missouri seniors to the over $2.8 billion in funds for infrastructure projects in Missouri communities, including $122 million to replace Chester Bridge in Perry County, $31 million to replace the bridge over Table Rock Lake, and $7.8 million to repave MO 53 in Butler County from Business 67- Route 25, Missourians are feeling the real impacts of the Biden Administrations’ investment on their daily lives,” Carnahan said.
Coming in second to Biden with more than 2,200 votes was the option for “uncommitted,” showing that 11.7% of the voters who took time to participate in the primary did so to show that they did not support any of the listed candidates.
Other eligible candidates included Dean Philips, who has suspended his presidential campaign, with 0.9% of the vote, Stephen P. Lyons with 0.2% of the vote, Armando Perez-Serrato with 0.1% of the vote, Marianne Williamson with 1.6% of the vote and Jason Michael Palmer with 0.2% of the vote.
A 2022 rule change by the Missouri General Assembly abolished the state-run presidential preference primaries, which is why Missouri Republicans had their candidate nominating event, the county level caucuses, on March 2.
More: MO Republicans choose Donald Trump as presidential candidate in county level caucuses
Former President Donald Trump won in every county caucus across the state, and now has enough delegates to earn the Republican Party’s nomination as its presidential candidate.
Missouri Democrats have lamented the change from state-run presidential preference primaries to party-run nominating events, which must be solely funded by the respective political parties. However, Carnahan said that this has not dampened the resolve of Democrats in the state, who are prepared to challenge Republicans in the remainder of the 2024 elections.
“Over 450 Missouri Democrats volunteered to organize a statewide election with nearly 100 in-person voting locations to ensure as many of their neighbors could cast their vote for their preferred Democratic nominee for president as possible,” Carnahan said. “Missouri Democrats are fired up and ready to fight in 2024.”
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Joe Biden wins Missouri Democratic presidential preference primary