A4| Wednesday, March 11, 2020 PWLC101112HTGKRFAM123456789OIXX ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
U.S. NEWS
Mr. Tuberville and Mr. Ses-
sions emerged from a Republi-
can primary this month to
compete in a runoff election on“I did not say that,” Mr. Bi-
den said. “It’s a viral video like
the other ones they’re putting
out that are simply a lie.”
It couldn’t be determined
which video the man was re-
ferring to. Mr. Biden has said
he wants to reduce firearms
violence, not take guns away.
The former vice president
said his position is to ban as-
sault weapons and repeatedly
asked the man, “Do you need
100 rounds?”
As the man continued to raise
his voice, Mr. Biden told him,
“Don’t be such a horse’s ass.”
The confrontation was broken
up by other workers at the plant
and members of Mr. Biden’s
staff, and Mr. Biden proceeded
to meet with other employees.
The exchange was being cir-
culated online Tuesday by both
the National Rifle Association
and the Trump campaign.
Andrew Bates, a Biden
spokesman, responded to the
Trump campaign by tweeting,
“We will literally pay them to
keep promoting it.”In another tweet, he took
aim at the NRA, saying, “Re-
member that it’s not only Don-
ald Trump who’s terrified of a
Biden presidency. It’s the NRA,
who Joe Biden has beaten
twice—to ban assault weapons
and pass the Brady Bill.”
Some gun-rights activists
have amplified their criticism of
Mr. Biden after he was endorsed
by former Texas Rep. Beto
O’Rourke. Mr. O’Rourke, who
ended his presidential bid in No-
vember, claimed in a Democratic
presidential debate last year,
“Hell yes, we’re going to take
away your AR-15, your AK-47.”
Mr. O’Rourke became a vo-
cal proponent of stricter gun
laws after a mass shooting in
his hometown of El Paso in
August, and called for a man-
datory buyback program of as-
sault weapons. Mr. Biden has
said any buyback program
should be voluntary.
At a rally in Dallas last week,
Mr. Biden said he would tap Mr.
O’Rourke to help craft gun policy
if he is elected president. A cam-DETROIT—Former Vice Pres-
ident Joe Biden had a heated
exchange over gun rights while
visiting an auto-assembly plant
in Michigan on Tuesday as vot-
ers headed to the polls in the
battleground state.
As Mr. Biden greeted work-
ers at the Fiat Chrysler Auto-
mobiles plant in Detroit, one
worker told the Democratic
presidential front-runner he
was “actively trying to end our
Second Amendment right and
take away our guns.”
“You’re full of shit,” Mr. Bi-
den responded.
Mr. Biden said he supports
the Second Amendment and
has owned several shotguns for
hunting over the years. “I’m not
taking your gun away at all,” he
said.
But the man didn’t back
down and claimed a viral video
showed Mr. Biden saying he
was going to confiscate people’s
firearms, prompting Mr. Biden
to grow visibly frustrated.
BYSABRINASIDDIQUI
Front-Runner Gets Into
Heated Argument on Guns
paign adviser emphasized that,
if elected, Mr. Biden would seek
Mr. O’Rourke’s help on “grass
roots” organizing around guns.
Aides to Vermont Sen. Ber-
nie Sanders also circulated the
exchange in Detroit on social
media.
Hours after he was con-fronted, Mr. Biden was joined
at a recreation center in Co-
lumbus, Ohio, by two gun-
safety groups that endorsed
his campaign.
“As president, I promise
you I will act,” said Mr. Biden,
who was flanked by activists
from Moms Demand Actionand Brady: United Against Gun
Violence. “I’ve beaten the NRA
before.”
Mr. Biden was asked about
the criticism surrounding his
exchange in Detroit.
“I’m surprised that Sanders
is joining Trump,” Mr. Biden
said.Presidential candidate Joe Biden argued with a man about gun rights in Michigan on Tuesday.MANDEL NGAN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGESsouri by the Associated Press
shortly after the states’ polls
closed, an early sign of his
clout in two states with large
African-American voting blocs.
Black voters made up about
two-thirds of the electorate in
Mississippi, according to exit
polls. Mr. Biden had won more
than 80% of support in the
state, with 89% of precincts re-
porting.
Mr. Biden, who served under
President Obama, campaigned
ahead of the Missouri primary
among African-Americans in St.
Louis and Kansas City. With
93% of precincts reporting, Mr.
Biden had about 60% of the
vote in Missouri.
Mr. Sanders returned to his
home in Burlington, Vt., and
did not speak publicly after the
election results. A campaign
aide said he intended to partici-
pate in Sunday’s debate in
Phoenix.
Mr. Biden entered Tuesday
with a delegate edge of 670 to
574 over Mr. Sanders, accord-
ing to a Wall Street Journal
delegate tracker, even as Super
Tuesday states such as Califor-
nia and Colorado, which Mr.
Sanders carried, continue to
process election results.
Mr. Sanders was seeking to
steady his campaign after Mr.
Biden consolidated the support
of party moderates following his
victory in the South Carolina
primary last month. Some in the
ContinuedfromPageOne
Biden Wins
Michigan
Primary
March 31. Mr. Tuberville won
the primary by a few points.
The endorsement could be
decisive in the race, which has
largely become a contest about
supporting the president. Mr.
Trump won Alabama by 28
percentage points in 2016.
The winner will face Demo-
cratic incumbent Sen. Doug
Jones in November. While Mr.
Jones has raised more funds
than both candidates, Republi-
cans see the primary as the
real obstacle. Mr. Jones won a
2017 special election by just 2
percentage points after the Re-
publican nominee was accused
by several women of sexual
misconduct that they say oc-
curred when they were under-
age.
Mr. Sessions formerlyserved in the Senate and was
one of Mr. Trump’s early back-
ers in the 2016 campaign. He
was then picked to serve as at-
torney general but angered the
president by recusing himself
from the probe into Russia’s
interference in the 2016 presi-
dential election and any ties
between Russia and Mr.
Trump’s campaign.
Mr. Trump needled Mr. Ses-
sions repeatedly in tweets dur-
ing his tumultuous time in the
administration, forced him to
resign in 2018 and later said
appointing him was his “big-
gest mistake.”
Mr. Tuberville, a native of
Arkansas, has faced attacks
from Mr. Sessions that he isn’t
Alabamian enough to represent
the state.WASHINGTON—President
Trump endorsed former foot-
ball coach Tommy Tuberville
in the runoff to be the Republi-
can nominee for the U.S. Sen-
ate in Alabama, throwing his
influence behind the opponent
of his former attorney general,
Jeff Sessions, who is trying to
win back his old seat.
“Tommy was a terrific head
football coach at Auburn Uni-
versity,” Mr. Trump wrote in
tweets late Tuesday. “He is a
REAL LEADER who will never
let MAGA/KAG, or our Country,
down! ... Coach Tommy Tuber-
ville, a winner, has my Com-
plete and Total Endorsement,”
Mr. Trump tweeted.BYNATALIEANDREWS
ANDALEXLEARYTrump Endorses Ex-Coach’s Senate Bid
Wednesday due in part to a spike
in absentee-ballot requests.
In Michigan on Tuesday, Mr.
Biden defended his support of
the Second Amendment in a
heated exchange with an auto
worker and later spoke of the
Obama administration’s bailout
of General Motors and Chrysler,
two titans of the state’s auto in-
dustry, more than a decade ago.
“We bet on you,” Mr. Biden
said during a visit to a Fiat
Chrysler assembly plant in De-
troit. “If I end up being the
president, you’ll never have a
better friend in the White
House.”
During a Detroit rally on the
eve of the primary, Mr. Biden
was joined by Sen. Kamala Har-
ris of California and Sen. Cory
Booker of New Jersey, two for-
mer presidential rivals who re-
cently endorsed Mr. Biden’scandidacy.
The pair—who have been
discussed by some Democrats
as potential running mates for
Mr. Biden if he wins the nomi-
nation—could help him appeal
to black voters in the state.
Mr. Sanders courted voters
at a Dearborn Heights, Mich.,
polling place on Tuesday, re-
peating criticisms he has raised
about Mr. Biden’s record, in-
cluding the former Delaware
senator’s past support for the
North American Free Trade
Agreement.
Mr. Sanders told reporters
that Michigan was “obviously a
very important state” but that
he thinks every state is impor-
tant to try to win.
“When our record is com-
pared to Biden’s, when our vi-
sion is compared to Biden’s,
when we have that debate inparty’s establishment have ex-
pressed fears that Mr. Sanders, a
self-described democratic social-
ist who won the New Hampshire
and Nevada contests, would be
too liberal for many voters in the
general election.
The campaigns competed for
votes against the backdrop
of growing economic con-
cerns over the spread of the
coronavirus.
Messrs. Sanders and Biden
both canceled rallies in Cleve-
land Tuesday, ahead of Ohio’s
primary next week, citing pub-
lic-health concerns. Both candi-
dates have questioned Mr.
Trump’s handling of the cri-sis in recent days. The Demo-
cratic National Committee also
said it would have no live audi-
ence at the Phoenix debate, in
response to concerns about the
outbreak.
Exit polls showed Mr. Biden
winning handily among black
and older voters and perform-
ing well with voters who had at
least a college degree. Mr. Biden
was also prevailing in cities
such as St. Louis, Kansas City
and Detroit and in their sur-
rounding suburban areas, in-
cluding Oakland County, Mich.
Mr. Sanders was maintaining
a substantial advantage over
Mr. Biden among young voters,
exit polls showed, more evi-
dence that the former vice pres-
ident would need to improve
his standing with that group if
he became the party’s nominee.
The Vermont senator has
staked much of his campaign on
motivating the young—and oth-
ers disenchanted with current
politics—to come to the polls.
Mr. Sanders went into Tues-
day with high hopes for Michi-
gan, where he narrowly de-
feated the eventual nominee,
Hillary Clinton, in 2016. Mr.
Trump beat Mrs. Clinton in the
state in the general election, be-
coming the first Republican to
carry Michigan since 1988.
Michigan’s secretary of state
warned that the full results
might not be known untilPhoenix, I’m feeling pretty
good,” Mr. Sanders said.
Tuesday’s contests served as
the first opportunity for voters
to consider a one-on-one choice
between Messrs. Biden and
Sanders after other candidates
dropped out. In the last two
weeks, billionaire former New
York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar
of Minnesota and former South
Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Butt-
igieg all exited the race and en-
dorsed Mr. Biden.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D., Ha-
waii) was still seeking the nom-
ination but has been unable to
break out of single-digit per-
centages in polling.
Mr. Biden has largely sought
to avoid confrontation with Mr.
Sanders.
But in his stump speech, the
former vice president has
pointed out that it is he, and
not the senator, who has so far
driven up turnout in primaries.
“Sen. Sanders likes to say,
‘We need a record turnout to
beat Donald Trump.’ He’s abso-
lutely right,” Mr. Biden has told
audiences in recent days, rat-
tling off Super Tuesday turnout
boosts in Virginia, Texas and
North Carolina.
“Guess who they voted for?
They voted for us,” Mr. Biden
said.
—Alexa Corse
contributed to this article.A voter filled out a ballot in Dearborn Heights, Mich., above, where Sen. Bernie Sanders, below, was campaigning in the state's Democratic primary.LUCAS JACKSON/REUTERS (2)Tommy Tuberville will face Jeff
Sessions in a runoff election on
March 31.MICKEY WELSH/ASSOCIATED PRESSThe promise
inside Hazel
is greater than
the poverty
around her.
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