Joe Biden has won the Democratic primary in Arkansas, US media projected, continuing his impressive showing in the crucial Super Tuesday contests to pick a challenger to take on US President Donald Trump.
The victory is his sixth of the night against just two for his main rival, the leftist Senator Bernie Sanders, who has so far carried his home state Vermont and Colorado. There are 14 states at play.
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Arkansas has 31 delegates and is the latest southern state to be won by Biden, a centrist who has the backing of his party’s establishment.
Exit polls have underscored strong African American support for Biden, who served two terms as Barack Obama’s vice president.
A total of 1 357 delegates are at stake, about a third of the overall national total.
AFP earlier reported that Biden won the Democratic primary in Tennessee and Oklahoma, bringing to five his number of wins in the crucial Super Tuesday, according to US media.
The states send 64 and 37 delegates to the party’s convention, respectively, and the victories underscore a strong start to the night for the centrist former vice president.
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Most of Biden’s wins have occurred in southern states with large black populations, demonstrating his strong support among African-Americans, according to exit polls.
Oklahoma is the exception – the central state has a relatively high Native American population and relatively small black population, and Sanders carried it in 2016 with a comfortable 10-point margin over Hillary Clinton.
But the biggest prizes of the night are yet to come: Delegate-rich California, where the self-described socialist is strong favourite, and Texas.
