Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was declared winner of the Alaska primary after the state shifted to postal voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The state’s ballots were sent out before Biden’s rival Bernie Sanders pulled out of the race last week, meaning the Vermont senator also took a proportion of the vote.

However, Biden emerged as the clear winner with 55.3 per cent of the vote on Saturday and nine of the state’s 15 delegates, Alaska Democrats tweeted from the party’s official account.

Sanders took 44.7 per cent of the votes and eight delegates, according to the tweet.

Earlier this week, US Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign that cleared the way for rival Joe Biden to win the Democratic nomination and challenge incumbent Donald Trump in November.

Sanders, who challenged Hillary Clinton for the party’s nomination in 2016, mounted a formidable challenge to Biden in the 2020 race, becoming the frontrunner early this year and earning the most votes in the first three state-wide contests.

Last month, Biden won the party’s primary in the state of South Carolina.

With less than 1 per cent of the precincts having reported results, Biden, the former Vice President, gained 58.7 per cent of the votes, followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who got 13.2 per cent.

In 2019, Biden retained a ten-point lead over Senator Elizabeth Warren in a national poll of likely Democratic primary voters.

Earlier, Biden had said that President Trump won’t destroy me or my family over the latter’s call for an investigation against the former Vice President and his son”.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the race and made it a close choice between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in the month of March.

Biden, like most Americans, is under stay-at-home orders due to the global coronavirus pandemic, and has marked becoming the de facto 2020 nominee with press releases and comments broadcast online from his basement.

He has also urged Sanders supporters to join his campaign, which already has the backing of nearly all other ex-rivals in the race including senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, and former Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg.