Sanders targeted Biden's record on trade, Social Security and fundraising just hours after billionaire Mike Bloomberg suspended his campaign and Elizabeth Warren confirmed she was privately reassessing her future in the race. The dramatic shifts signaled that the Democrats' once-crowded nomination fight had effectively come down to a two-man race for the right to face President Donald Trump in November.

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Sanders declared himself "neck and neck" with Biden as he faced reporters in his home state, Vermont, one of just four states he captured on the most consequential day of voting in the party's 2020 primary season. Biden won 10 states, assembling victories that transcended geography, race and class.

"What this campaign, I think, is increasingly about is, Which side are you on?" Sanders said.

The progressive candidate lobbed familiar attacks against the former vice president's record but ignored supporters' calls to be more aggressive and insisted his campaign would avoid any "Trump-type effort" that included personal criticism.

"I like Joe. I think he's a decent human being," Sanders said. "Joe and I have a very different vision for the future of this country."

Biden told reporters he would unify the country and, without naming Sanders, knocked the senator's frequent contention that he is beholden to an elite party establishment.

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"The establishment are all those hard-working people" who voted on Tuesday, Biden told reporters in West Hollywood, California.

Elected officials and leading donors rallied around Biden after his Super Tuesday romp. Top Democrats have long been skeptical of the 77-year-old lifelong politician's political strength but raced to unite behind him to blunt Sanders' rise.

After suspending his campaign, Bloomberg became the fourth failed Democratic presidential contender this week to endorse Biden. Like the growing chorus of Democratic officials, Bloomberg called Biden the best chance to defeat Trump in the general election.

Warren's future was uncertain.

Sanders confirmed that he spoke to his progressive ally earlier in the day, though it was unclear whether she would endorse him – or anyone else – should she leave the race. Warren didn't win a single state on Super Tuesday and finished in third place in her home state of Massachusetts.

A resurgent Biden, meanwhile, was poised to finish Super Tuesday with more delegates than Sanders – a stunning shift. Sanders' team had hoped he would finish the night more than 100 delegates ahead of his next closest competitor. He'll likely finish dozens of delegates behind once all the votes are counted.

Biden's allies sought to quickly capitalize on his success and take on Sanders. Biden campaign co-chairman, Rep. Cedric Richmond, blasted Sanders for suggesting that the Democratic establishment was colluding against him. Richmond said Biden is earning his votes.

"I just did not know that African Americans in the South were considered part of the establishment," the Louisiana Democrat said, noting that Biden's overwhelming support among black voters gave him wide delegate gains in Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia, among other states.

The Sanders campaign announced it would begin airing three new campaign ads across states holding the next series of primary contests on March 10 and March 17: Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Washington state.

One new ad features archived footage of former President Barack Obama praising Sanders. It's a not-so-subtle attempt by the Vermont senator to undercut Biden's frequently spotlighting his closeness to Obama.

Despite the aggressive ad buy, there was new evidence of internal frustration with Sanders' strategy, which some believe has not been tough enough in courting high-profile endorsements or attacking Biden.

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Sanders prefers to focus his criticism on the former vice president's record on key issues, declining to lean into more divisive attacks that will almost certainly come up in a prospective general election match-up against Trump.

For example, there has been internal discussion about highlighting Biden's role in the 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss strategy. As the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Biden allowed an all-male Senate panel to grill Anita Hill, who had accused Thomas of sexual harassment.

Sanders has largely avoided the subject.

Roseann DeMoro, a key Sanders ally and a former president of National Nurses United, said Biden's strong showing on Super Tuesday "caught people off guard." Sanders' struggle, she said, was likely tied to his "gentle" approach.

"Is Bernie too gentle on the Democratic Party? I think he's a gentleman, and they are not," DeMoro said. "Bernie's a statesman, and he's up against sharks. He needs to call people out for who they are."

Moumita Ahmed, co-founder of the independent group Millennials for Bernie, was also disappointed in Tuesday's outcome.

"I was thinking Bernie would do way better," she said, adding that the campaign needs a more effective strategy to connect with African Americans. "I would like to see a reassessment of how the campaign is run."

From his social media platform, Trump worked to fan the flames of growing frustration within Sanders' camp. The president amplified his long-running argument that the Democratic Party would move to stop Sanders from winning the nomination.

"The Democrat establishment came together and crushed Bernie Sanders, AGAIN!" Trump tweeted. He also called Warren "selfish" for staying in the race because it "hurts Bernie badly."

Biden's strong finish punctuated a dramatic turnaround in the span of just three days when he leveraged a blowout victory in South Carolina to score sweeping victories in 10 states that cemented his status as the standard-bearer for the Democrats' establishment wing.

The former vice president showed strength in the Northeast with victories in Massachusetts and Maine. He won delegate-rich Texas in the Southwest, Minnesota in the upper Midwest and finished on top across the South in Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas – in addition to Oklahoma.

Sanders scored the night's biggest delegate-prize in California but won just three other states: his home state of Vermont, as well as Utah and Colorado.

Biden racked up his victories despite being dramatically outspent and out-staffed. His moderate rival Bloomberg, for example, poured more than $12 million into television advertising in Virginia, while Biden spent less than $200,000.

The ultimate nominee must claim 1,991 delegates, which is a majority of the 3,979 pledged delegates available this primary season.

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Bloomberg announced his departure from the race after a disappointing finish on Super Tuesday in the slate of states that account for almost one-third of the total delegates available in the Democratic nominating contest. He won only the territory of American Samoa, and picked up several dozen delegates elsewhere. Biden, meanwhile, won big in Southern states where Bloomberg had poured tens of millions of dollars and even cautiously hoped for a victory.

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Two of his former Democratic rivals, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden as the moderate alternative to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders just the day before Super Tuesday.

Biden scored victories from Texas to Massachusetts on Super Tuesday, revitalizing a presidential bid that was teetering on the edge of disaster just days earlier. But his rival Bernie Sanders seized the biggest prize with a win in California that ensured he – and his embrace of democratic socialism – would drive the Democrats' nomination fight for the foreseeable future.

And suddenly, the Democratic Party's presidential field, which featured more than a half-dozen candidates a week ago, transformed into a two-man contest.

Biden and Sanders, lifelong politicians with starkly different visions for America's future, were battling for delegates as 14 states and one US territory held a series of high-stakes elections that marked the most significant day of voting in the party's 2020 presidential nomination fight.

It could take weeks – or months – for the party to pick one of them to take on US President Donald Trump in the November general election. But the new contours of the fight between Biden and Sanders crystallized as the former vice president and the three-term Vermont senator spoke to each other from dueling victory speeches delivered from opposite ends of the country Tuesday night.

"People are talking about a revolution. We started a movement," Biden said in Los Angeles, knocking one of Sanders' signature lines.

Without citing his surging rival by name, Sanders swiped at Biden from Burlington, Vermont.

"You cannot beat Trump with the same-old, same-old kind of politics," Sanders declared, ticking down a list of past policy differences with Biden on Social Security, trade and military force. "This will become a contrast in ideas."

Biden's victories were powered by Democratic voters who broke his way just days before casting their ballots – a wave of late momentum that scrambled the race in a matter of hours. In some states, the late-deciders made up roughly half of all voters, according to AP VoteCast, surveys of voters in several state primaries. He drew support from a broad coalition of moderates and conservatives, African Americans and voters older than 45.

Sanders' success proved he could deliver in perhaps the greatest test of his decades-long political career. His success was built on a base of energized liberals, young people and Latinos. But he was unable to sufficiently widen his appeal to older voters and college graduates who make up a sizable share of Democratic voters, according to AP VoteCast.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren finished in an embarrassing third place in her home state, and Bloomberg planned to reassess his candidacy on Wednesday after spending more than a half-billion dollars to score one victory – in American Samoa.

The balance of Super Tuesday's battlefield – with Biden winning nine states and Sanders four – raised questions about whether the Democratic primary contest would stretch all the way to the July convention or be decided much sooner.

Biden's strong finish punctuated a dramatic turnaround in the span of just three days when he leveraged a blowout victory in South Carolina to score sweeping victories on Tuesday that transcended geography, class and race. And lest there be any doubt, he cemented his status as the standard-bearer for the Democrats' establishment wing.

The former vice president showed strength in the Northeast with a victory in Massachusetts. He won delegate-rich Texas in the Southwest, Minnesota in the upper Midwest and finished on top across the South in Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas – in addition to Oklahoma.

Sanders opened the night as the undisputed Democratic front-runner and was in a position to claim an insurmountable delegate lead. And while he scored the night's biggest delegate-prize in California, he scored just three other decisive victories, winning his home state of Vermont, along with Utah and Colorado.

Biden racked up his victories despite being dramatically outspent and out-staffed. Moderate rival Bloomberg, for example, poured more than $12 million into television advertising in Virginia, while Biden spent less than $200,000.

The Democratic race has shifted dramatically as Biden capitalized on his commanding South Carolina victory to persuade anxious establishment allies to rally behind his campaign. Former rivals Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg abruptly ended their campaigns in the days leading up to Super Tuesday and endorsed Biden.

In Biden and Sanders, Democrats have a stark choice in what kind of candidate they want to run against Trump.

Sanders is a 78-year-old democratic socialist who relies on an energized coalition of his party's far-left flank that embraces his longtime fight to transform the nation's political and economic systems. Biden is a 77-year-old lifelong leader of his party's Washington establishment who emphasizes a more pragmatic approach to core policy issues like health care and climate change.

Across the Super Tuesday states, there were early questions about Sanders' claims that he is growing his support from his failed 2016 presidential bid.

Biden bested him in Oklahoma, though Sanders won the state against Hillary Clinton four years ago. In Virginia, where Democratic turnout this year surpassed 2016's numbers by more than 500,000 votes, Sanders' vote share dropped significantly. And in Tennessee, Democratic turnout was up more than 30% from 2016, but Sanders' raw vote total was only a few hundred votes greater than four years ago.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg was trying to look beyond the primary to the November election against Trump, who racked up easy victories in lightly contested Republican primaries across the country.

"We have the resources to beat Trump in swing states that Democrats lost in 2016," Bloomberg said Tuesday night while campaigning in Florida.

The billionaire former New York mayor, who threw more than a half a billion dollars into the Super Tuesday states, will reassess his campaign on Wednesday, according to a person close to his operation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

Warren was also fighting to be optimistic.

Facing a roaring crowd in Michigan before news of her disappointing home-state finish was announced, she called on her supporters to ignore the political pundits and predictions as her advisers insist she's willing to go all the way to a contested convention in July even if she doesn't claim an outright victory anywhere.

"Here's my advice: Cast a vote that will make you proud. Cast a vote from your heart," Warren declared. She added: "You don't get what you don't fight for. I am in this fight."

With votes still being counted across the country, The Associated Press has allocated 453 delegates to Biden, 382 to Sanders, 50 to Warren, 44 to Bloomberg and one for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. The numbers are expected to shift as new states report their numbers and as some candidates hover around the 15% vote threshold they must hit to earn delegates.

The ultimate nominee must claim 1,991 delegates, which is a majority of the 3,979 pledged delegates available this primary season.

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The urgency of the moment reflected deep concerns from the Democratic establishment that Bernie Sanders, a polarizing progressive, was positioned to seize a significant delegate lead when 14 states and one US territory vote on Tuesday.

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Klobuchar suspended her campaign and endorsed Biden Monday, a day after Buttigieg announced his exit. Both Klobuchar and Buttigieg, who had been Biden's chief competition for their party's pool of more moderate voters over the last year, declared their public support for Biden at evening events in Dallas. They were joined by another former competitor, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who also backed Biden on Monday.

"I'm looking for a leader, I'm looking for a president, who will draw out what's best in each of us," Buttigieg said alongside Biden. "We have found that leader in vice president, soon-to-be president, Joe Biden."

Speaking at a Biden rally later in the night, Klobuchar called for unity: "If we spend the next four months dividing our party and going at each other, we will spend the next four years watching Donald Trump tear apart our country," she said. "We need to unite our party and our country."

The dramatic developments came at a key crossroads in Democrats' turbulent primary season as the party struggles to unify behind a clear message or messenger in its urgent quest to defeat President Donald Trump. Yet as a field that once featured more than two dozen candidates shrinks to just five, the choice for primary voters is becoming clearer.

On one side stands Biden, a 77-year-old lifelong politician who represents a pragmatic approach to governing that emphasizes bipartisanship and more modest change. He's clearly relishing the swift improvement of his political fortunes in recent days. On the other stands Sanders, a 78-year-old democratic socialist who has for decades demanded aggressive liberal shifts that seek to transform the nation's political and economic systems. He is working to maintain the momentum he built coming out of the earliest voting states.

Yet the primary isn't currently a two-man race.

New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg, in particular, could create problems for Biden's establishment appeal. The former New York City mayor, who will appear on a 2020 ballot for the first time on Tuesday, has invested more than a half billion dollars into his presidential bid and racked up many high-profile endorsements of his own.

And Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has struggled for delegates and momentum over the last month, has vowed to stay in the race until the party's national convention in July.

On the eve of Super Tuesday, however, Biden received a significant boost following his resounding victory over the weekend in South Carolina.

He posted his best two-day fundraising haul in more than a year, raising roughly $10 million over the last 48 hours. And the former vice president added to his considerable endorsement lead in recent days as elected officials began to coalesce more meaningfully behind him. He has long been the favorite of many elected officials even as he struggled through the first three primary contests of the year.

Biden's new backers feature a who's who of current and former Democratic officials across the nation: former Nevada Sen. Harry Reid; Obama national security adviser Susan Rice; Arizona Senate candidate Mark Kelly; former Colorado Sen. Mark Udall; former California Sen. Barbara Boxer; Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va.; and Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-Calif.

Virginia Rep. Don Beyer, the first member of Congress to endorse Buttigieg, said he planned to endorse Biden and expected Buttigieg to as well.

"I do think it's the most logical," Beyer said of a Biden endorsement, given his echo of the former vice president's call for civility, a mantra of the Buttigieg campaign. "I think Joe is the next best possibility."

Perhaps the most powerful endorsement would come from former President Barack Obama, who has a relationship with most of the candidates and has talked with several in recent weeks as primary voting has begun. He spoke with Biden to congratulate him after his South Carolina victory, but still has no plans to endorse in the primary at this point.

Campaigning in Klobuchar's home state of Minnesota on Monday night, Sanders discouraged the crowd from booing Biden and welcomed his rivals' supporters to join his campaign.

"To all of Amy and Pete's millions of supporters, the door is open. Come on in," Sanders said. "We all share the understanding that together we are going to beat Donald Trump."

Sanders' senior adviser Jeff Weaver was less polite earlier Monday.

"It's becoming increasingly clear that the candidates funded by big money and super PACs are coalescing behind Joe Biden, and that's not a surprise," he said.

And while Biden's momentum is undeniable, not everyone in his party's moneyed establishment is convinced.

Some major donors preferred to wait until after Super Tuesday to decide whether to join the Biden movement. And even some of his more loyal fundraisers remain frustrated by disorganization within the campaign.

For example, the former vice president has struggled to raise money in Silicon Valley, where many wealthy donors prioritize organization and a data-driven plan. The inability of Biden's team to demonstrate such competence pushed many donors toward his rivals, and others are taking a wait-and-see approach.

"We need to see what happens tomorrow, which is going to be very telling," said Alex Sink, a Democratic donor and former Florida gubernatorial candidate who endorsed Bloomberg.

And the former vice president's strategy for the coming days, which relies on media coverage and dispatching his new collection of surrogates, reflects a stark reality: Compared to Sanders and Bloomberg, Biden is understaffed, underfunded and almost out of time as he fights to transform his sole South Carolina victory into a national movement.

Biden announced he raised $18 million in February, compared to an eye-popping $46.5 million for Sanders and $29 million for Warren.

Sanders has struggled to win over his colleagues in Congress but earned a high-profile endorsement of his own on Monday from Democracy for America, a national grassroots organization originally led by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean that boasts thousands of members across the county.

"The overwhelming support for Bernie we saw in our member vote should be a wake-up call to the broken, visionless, corporate Democratic establishment," said the organization's chair Charles Chamberlain. "Americans want fundamental change in Washington, not a return to the status quo."

Some Democrats also bemoaned the distinct lack of diversity in the shrinking field.

The National Organization for Women's political action committee endorsed Warren on Monday. The group's president, Toni Van Pelt, said she's alarmed about the lack of attention paid to the female candidates, who have often had to defend their "electability."

"It's time to support a woman," she said. "We want to make sure we're not looking at all these old white men again."

Through four primary contests, the AP allocated 60 delegates to Sanders, 54 to Biden and eight to Warren.

The first four states were always more about momentum more than math. Super Tuesday states offer a trove of 1,344 new delegates based on how candidates finish. Just 155 delegates have been awarded so far.

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