Bernie Sanders wins Democratic presidential caucuses in North Dakota

WASHINGTON —Bernie Sanders has won North Dakota's Democratic presidential caucuses.

Participation in Tuesday's contest was expected to be dramatically higher than it was four years ago. That's mainly due to a procedural change that makes the caucuses function more like a traditional election, with citizens able to drop in at 14 caucus sites to cast their ballot and leave.

Sanders won the state's Democratic caucuses over Hillary Clinton in 2016 by nearly 40 percentage points. The race between Joe Biden and Sanders was upended by the former vice president's Super Tuesday turnaround.

But neither campaign focused closely on North Dakota. The state offers 14 pledged delegates.

Biden won primaries in Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and Idaho on Tuesday.