Bernie Sanders wins Democratic caucus in Northern Mariana Islands

March 14 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucus Saturday in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Sanders, I-Vt., won 84 votes while his rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, nabbed 48 votes.

Six pledged delegates were up for grabs. Sanders received four of them and Biden received two.

After winning several races earlier this month, Biden has 884 pledged delegates and Sanders has 731 with 1,991 pledged delegates needed to win the nomination on the first ballot.

Sanders has vowed to stay in the race despite Biden's lead.

As a U.S. territory since 1975, the Northern Mariana Islands is part of the presidential primary process, but not the general election. In 2016, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the Democratic caucus there.

Sanders and Biden will debate each other one-on-one on the debate stage for the first time Sunday. The debate, which was originally scheduled to be held in Arizona, will be held instead in CNN's studio in Washington, D.C., without a live audience because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The debate comes ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primaries in Arizona, Florida, Ohio and Illinois, where 577 delegates are up for grabs.

Northern Mariana Islands is the second U.S. territory to vote in the Democratic primary so far. America Samoa was the first.

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has since dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden, won that caucus on Super Tuesday and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, came in second.

Puerto Rico, which has 51 pledged delegates, will hold its Democratic primary on March 29.