Biden, Trump primary election wins certified

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on June 11, 2019 shows US President Donald Trump(L) as he departs the White House, in Washington, DC, on June 2, 2019, and former US vice president Joe Biden during the kick off his presidential election c

Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump were formally declared the winners Tuesday of their parties’ March 17 presidential primary elections in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis quickly certified the two decisive victories during a teleconference meeting of the state Elections Canvassing Commission.

The primary contest, held as the state was ramping up its response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, helped cement Biden’s position as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Of the 1.739 million votes cast by Democrats for 16 candidates, Biden received more than 1.1 million, nearly 62 percent. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who received nearly 400,000 votes, was second with about 23 percent.

Trump, who in the past year has relocated his primary residence from New York to Palm Beach County, received just under 94 percent of the nearly 1.24 million votes cast by Republicans.

There were three other Republicans on the ballot. Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, with 39,319 votes, was second with a little more than 3 percent of the vote.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.