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Black voter support helps lift Biden on Super Tuesday

Democratic strategist Abou Amara says if you can't win black voters, you don't have a path to the Democratic nomination.

If Super Tuesday were a movie, Democratic strategist Abou Amara says he'd call it  "The Moderate Strikes Back."

It was a blockbuster night for Biden. He won ten states.

He entered Super Tuesday with one primary win under his belt: South Carolina.

That victory was thanks to black voter support.

"That was an anomaly. I don't think anybody saw that coming," Amara said. "When (Sen. Amy Klobuchar)  asked the people of Minnesota to vote for Joe Biden, they did."

Biden also has strong support from black elders.

While Biden doesn't have the nomination  he picked up a great deal of delegates. Sen. Bernie Sanders won four states. Amora says if you can't win black voters, you don't have a path to the nomination.

"(Super Tuesday) confirmed what was always true which is the black vote is key to winning the democratic nomination. If you look over history the past three democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama all of them have extensive experience with the black community," he said. "If you take a look, in Tennessee, Alabama or Texas, Joe Biden beat Bernie Sanders by 40 points with African American votes. Elizabeth Warren had a smaller percentage of  black voters than Sanders."

RELATED: 14 states voted on Super Tuesday. Here are the results.

Amora says in the south, African Americans make up 25-50 percent of the voters.

"That base has been critical for any nominee. You can't win without the south in the democratic primary it makes up roughly 350- 500 delegates," he said. "You need the south and you need African American voters ... base of people you can't ignore."

And it appears President Trump is trying to court black voters, too. In November he rolled out a platform called Black Voices for Trump.

"He understands the power of the black vote," Amora said. "Exit polls tell us, if he can just get 13-15 percent of black voters that might be enough to stop a democratic nominee from winning the presidency."

RELATED: The power of the black vote

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