WASHINGTON — Tuesday, March 3 is Super Tuesday. Virginia is one of 14 states, including the U.S. territory American Samoa, participating in the Democratic presidential gold ring. A total of 1,357 delegates are up for grabs this day.
Fourteen candidates will be listed on the Democratic presidential ballot in Virginia, including nine people who have canceled or suspended their campaigns. All their bios are below, along with their campaign websites.
Poll hours in Virginia are 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Virginia is an open primary state, which means any registered voter in the Commonwealth can cast a ballot, regardless of their party registration.
There will be no Republican primary on March 3. President Donald Trump is expected to be picked as the party’s nominee at a state party convention, where delegates to each national convention will also be selected.
According to the Virginia State Board of Elections website, you will need to show a photo ID when you go to the polls. Acceptable forms of ID include:
- Virginia driver’s license
- Virginia DMV-issued photo ID
- United States passport
- Employee-issued photo ID
- Virginia Voter Photo ID card
- Other U.S. or Virginia government-issued photo ID
- Student photo ID issued by a school, college, or university located in Virginia
- Tribal enrollment or other tribal photo ID
The Virginia State Board of Elections website says “If you get to your polling place without photo ID, you will have to vote a provisional ballot."
They also say Virginians can get a free Voter Photo ID at any Virginia voter registration office, including on Election Day.
To find your polling place, go to this link: https://www.elections.virginia.gov/citizen-portal/
Who's on the ballot? Meet your Democratic candidates
Joe Biden
Biden served as Vice President of the United States from 2009-2017 in the Obama administration. Biden launched his presidential run in April 2019.
Before becoming Vice President, Biden served in the U.S. Senate for over three decades representing the state of Delaware. Biden spent part of his time in Congress as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and eight years as the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
While serving as Vice President, Biden touts his accomplishments in helping with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the implementation of the Recovery Act to stabilize the economy and traveling to more than 50 countries.
"The world is facing inescapable challenges,” Biden wrote on his campaign website. “The next president must repair our relationships with our allies and stand up to strongmen and thugs on the global stage to rally the world to meet these challenges.”
Among his policy proposals: banning the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, protecting the Affordable Care Act by giving Americans more choice and reducing healthcare costs, and ensuring the U.S. reaches net-zero emissions no later than 2050.
“We’re in a battle for the soul of America,” Biden wrote on his website. “It’s time to remember who we are. We’re Americans: tough, resilient, but always full of hope.”
RELATED: Biden gets hopeful Virginia bump with endorsement from former Commonwealth governor Terry McAuliffe
Michael Bloomberg
Bloomberg served as Mayor of New York City from 2002-2013. The businessman entered the run for President of the United States in November 2019. Super Tuesday marks the first time his name will be on ballots. His name did not appear on ballots in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina.
Bloomberg is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., a financial services, software, and mass media company. Before forming his company in 1981, Bloomberg worked at the securities brokerage firm, Salomon Brothers.
Bloomberg’s campaign website talks about his commitment to dealing with climate change, gun violence, public health, and education.
Bloomberg’s health coverage plans include creating a Medicare-like public health insurance option, which would allow people to keep their private insurance, as well as expanding enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans. His “all-in economy” plan says he will invest in local communities to create jobs of the future and increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Bloomberg has taken some criticism for his Stop and Frisk policy while he was Mayor of New York. He has since apologized for that policy.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser endorsed Mayor Bloomberg in January.
Tulsi Gabbard
A fourth-term Congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard is the first female combat veteran to ever run for the office of President.
Gabbard was first elected to Congress in 2012. She served two tours in the Middle East and is a Major in the U.S. Army National Guard.
In Congress, Gabbard has been a member of the Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, and Homeland Security Committees.
RELATED: While she won't participate in the upcoming presidential debate, Tulsi Gabbard isn't giving up
Part of her policy plan, according to her website, includes calling a summit between the United States, China, and Russia “to end this new Cold War, stop the arms race, reduce tensions, and increase cooperation going forward.”
Among her other policy proposals are: a path to legal status for DREAMers, having a single-payer health care system that will allow access to private insurance based on individuals’ choice, and upholding the 2nd Amendment “while also upholding our responsibility to keep our children and communities safe.”
Recently, Gabbard voted “present” on both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, the only lawmaker to do so.
Bernie Sanders
The U.S. Senator from Vermont announced he was running for President of the United States in February 2019. This is his second run for the office, having run in 2016.
Sanders has been a U.S. Senator since 2006. Before that he spent 16 years in the U.S. Congress.
Sanders has identified himself as someone who can “achieve economic, racial, social and environmental justice for all.” Among his plans to accomplish that mission is Medicare for All, a single-payer, national health insurance program that the Sanders’s campaign website says “will provide everyone in America with comprehensive health care coverage, free at the point of service.”
Sanders’s other plans include the Green New Deal, which he says will create 20 million jobs as well as reaching 100 percent renewable energy for electricity and transportation by no later than 2030, and passing the For the 99.8 Percent Act, which would establish a progressive estate tax on millionaires and billionaires. Those taxes would be part of his proposal to pay for his measures.
Before he served in Congress, Sanders was elected Mayor of Burlington, Vermont, where he served for eight years.
RELATED: Local Safeway worker speaks at Sanders' Northern Virginia rally. She may be going on strike soon
Elizabeth Warren
Warren has served as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts since 2013. Before that, she was a law school professor specializing in bankruptcy law.
During the financial crisis of 2008, she served as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel and helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for which she served as the Special Advisor under President Obama.
Warren’s campaign website describes her efforts as a fight “to protect taxpayers, hold Wall Street accountable, and ensure tough oversight of both the Bush and Obama Administrations.”
As president, Warren says she would support a Medicare for All plan that would be free for children under the age of 18 and qualifying families based on income. She says the cost would be “modest” and eventually free for everyone. Warren says she would pay for the plan by asking Americans to pay their fair share in taxes and closing loopholes that allow big companies to avoid federal income taxes.
Other plans Warren details include raising wages, cancel debt for 95 percent of Americans with student loans, and transitioning to 100 percent clean energy through the Green New Deal.
Candidates who have suspended their campaigns, but their names still on the Virginia ballot
The following nine candidates are still on the ballot in Virginia, even though they have suspended their campaign. The deadline for the Virginia Democratic Party to provide a list of candidates to appear on the ballot was in December 2019, before these candidates ended their campaigns.
Cory Booker
Booker dropped out of the Presidential race in January.
“I’m proud I never compromised my faith in these principles during this campaign,” Booker wrote. “And maybe I’m stubborn, but I’ll never abandon my faith in what we can accomplish when we join together.”
Booker has served in the U.S. Senate since 2013, representing New Jersey. Previously he was Mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013. He was also a tenant lawyer and city councilman.
According to his website, he says his main accomplishments in the Senate have been helping to write and pass the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, and co-sponsoring the Equality Act.
While running for President, Booker unveiled his policy proposals, including decriminalization of marijuana and fighting to end the War on Drugs, fighting for Medicare for All, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, and expanding protections for DREAMers.
Michael Bennet
Bennet suspended his campaign on Tuesday, February 11.
Bennett was appointed in 2008 as a U.S. Senator for Colorado, He won elections in 2010 and 2016. Before his time on Capitol Hill, he was the Superintendent of Denver Public Schools for four years.
Bennet currently serves on the Senate Committees on Intelligence; Finance; and Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
According to his campaign website, Bennet was running “to build opportunity for every American and restore integrity to our government.” His “Real Deal” agenda includes access to preschool for every three- and four-year-old, an annual $3,000 payout to every family with children, and access to jobs in clean energy and infrastructure for “millions of people.”
Bennet also supports raising the minimum wage, passing paid family and medical leave, expanding the Child Tax Credit, and offering a public health care option called Medicare-X.
Pete Buttigieg
Buttigieg suspended his presidential campaign on Sunday, March 1.
Buttigieg served as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana from 2012 to 2020. He launched his campaign for U.S. President in April of 2019.
He was previously a consultant at a management consulting firm and served as a naval intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve. During his first term as Mayor of South Bend, he took a leave of absence to serve in Afghanistan (2014) and was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal.
According to his website, Buttigieg says college is too expensive and he supports expanding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program that clears loans in exchange for public service. He also wants to create new jobs with a $1-trillion plan that focuses on climate issues. He also supports the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Green New Deal. He is calling for net-zero emissions by 2050. He also supports universal background checks on guns. He wants to expand Medicare coverage and keep private health insurance plans.
Julián Castro
Castro suspended his campaign on January 2nd, 2020.
The former Mayor of San Antonio and a member of President Obama’s cabinet announced his run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in January 2019.
Castro, who served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, frequently discussed policies related to his experience in housing. He shared accomplishments that included making housing more affordable and reducing homelessness for veterans, according to his campaign’s website.
Among Castro’s other policy plans were strengthening federal food assistance programs, including SNAP, racial justice-focused provisions in education, tackling racial disparities in housing and decriminalizing homelessness, and providing a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers.
As part of his People First policy rollouts, Castro advocated a Medicare for All system that would allow individuals to opt-out of Medicare if they have a high-standard private insurance plan that is regulated under the Affordable Care Act.
Amy Klobuchar
Klobuchar has served in the U.S. Senate, representing Minnesota, since 2006. She was also the Hennepin County Attorney in Minnesota for eight years, making her responsible for criminal prosecutions.
She announced her candidacy for President in February 2019.
On her website, Klobuchar outlined her plan for her first 100 days as president, where she will get the U.S. back into the International Climate Agreement, suspend the Trump Administration’s efforts to eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and fill judicial vacancies by nominating well-qualified judges.
Klobuchar supports universal health care through a public option that expands Medicare or Medicaid, and education reform that includes tuition-free one- and two-year community college degrees and technical certifications.
Among her other policy proposals are raising the age to buy military-style assault weapons to 21, and fighting to ban the sale of assault weapons, a trillion-dollar plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure, and introducing legislation that will put the U.S. back on the path to 100% net zero emissions by 2050.
Deval Patrick
Patrick suspended his campaign for President in February. He entered the race in November 2019.
Patrick served as Governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He succeeded Mitt Romney, who chose not to seek re-election.
He served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division under President Clinton.
He also held high-ranking positions at Bain Capital, Coca-Cola, and Texaco.
While he was Governor of Massachusetts, he oversaw the implementation of the state’s health care reform program.
During his run for President, Patrick labeled himself as a moderate. On healthcare, Patrick did not support Medicare for All; but on his campaign website said he supported a “health care system that provides access to high-quality, low-cost health services everywhere and for every single individual, bar none.”
Tom Steyer
Steyer suspended his presidential campaign on Sunday, March 1.
Steyer made his fortune as a hedge fund manager. He announced his candidacy in July 2019.
Steyer started the hedge fund Farallon Capital and has since signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment that he will give away most of his fortune during his lifetime.
He also founded the nonprofit NextGen America, which "combats climate change, promotes social justice, and increases participation in our democracy through voter registration and grassroots organizing," his website says.
Steyer says his number one priority is combating climate change. He has said he will declare the climate crisis a national emergency on the first day of his presidency and has plans to eliminate fossil fuel, call on Congress to create a Civilian Climate Corps to create jobs, and invest $2 trillion in federal funding over 10 years for American infrastructure.
Among Steyer's other policy proposals: establishing Congressional term limits, passing a federal $15 an hour minimum wage, and repealing President Trump's tax cuts and institute a wealth tax. He also supports a universal health care system that includes a "strong public option that aggressively competes with the private insurance marketplace."
Marianne Williamson
Williamson dropped out of the race in January 2020.
Before she announced her run for President, Williamson was an author and spiritual advisor. She wrote books such as Healing the Soul of America and A Politics of Love: Handbook for a New American Revolution.
She previously ran for a California congressional seat in 2014, finishing fourth.
Her website includes policies that include the creation of a cabinet-level U.S. Department of Peace, a Whole Health Plan that planned to fix the root causes of illnesses, and a study of public schools across the country with a guarantee that there would be an adequate number of trained counselors in every school.
Andrew Yang
Yang suspended his campaign for the presidency in February following the New Hampshire primary.
Before he announced his candidacy, the tech executive founded Venture for America, an organization designed to help entrepreneurs create jobs in communities to “rejuvenate local economies.”
According to his campaign website one of Yang’s most notable policy proposals was his Freedom Dividend, a universal basic income of $1,000 per month for every American adult, which would be done through a Constitutional Amendment. Yang says this proposal would grow the economy by $2.5 trillion in the first five years and increase the labor force by over four million people. Yang says that giving American adults this extra income would eventually go back into the consumer economy.
Some of Yang’s other policy proposals included a Medicare for All system, creating a common-sense gun licensing policy, achieving net-zero emission by 2049, and implementing a system for Americans to have their taxes filed automatically.
To find your polling place, go to this link: