HONOLULU (AP) 鈥 President Joe Biden won the Democratic caucuses in Hawaii on Wednesday, propelling him closer to winning his party鈥檚 nomination again after romping through the Super Tuesday contests earlier this week.
The president defeated long-shot candidates including U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson.
Biden went into the vote with the advantage of incumbency and name recognition. He鈥檚 expected to formally clinch the Democratic nomination later this month and will almost certainly face Donald Trump in the general election after his last major Republican rival, , exited the race.
Biden won with 66% of the vote in a contest in which only 1,563 votes were cast, according to the Hawaii Democratic Party. Twenty-nine percent of voters chose 鈥淯ncommitted.鈥
John Bickel, a high school social studies teacher, voted for Bernie Sanders four years ago but showed up to this year鈥檚 caucus in a blue Biden-Harris T-shirt. He liked how Biden shepherded an expansion of the child tax credit, which cut the U.S. child poverty rate in half, and how he stood on the picket line with striking auto workers. He said no other president has done what Biden has done to 鈥渂e there personally for labor.鈥
鈥淭hose kinds of things really impressed me about Joe Biden,鈥 he said.
Bill Milks, an 80-year-old retiree, voted uncommitted because he doesn鈥檛 think Biden, who is 81, is capable of effectively debating or campaigning for president.
鈥淗e just is not healthy enough to exhibit a lot of enthusiasm and inspire people to believe that he can hang in there and do a good job for four more years,鈥 Milks said.
Democrats in Hawaii cast their ballots at school cafeterias, community centers and union halls across the state. Only registered voters who were party members were allowed to participate but the party made same-day day party enrollment and voter registration possible at each poll site.
Hawaii is a Democratic Party stronghold. Democrats control both chambers of the state legislature and the governor鈥檚 office. All four members of the state鈥檚 congressional delegation are Democrats.
Republicans in Hawaii will hold their presidential caucuses on March 12.
