This election cycle’s Super Tuesday (March 5) unfolded as anticipated, with Donald Trump winning the vast majority of Republican delegates in 14 states, Biden proceeding essentially unchallenged, and Trump’s only remaining opponent, Nikki Haley, suspending her campaign.
On the Republican side, Trump won 14 of 15 states, losing only in Vermont where Nikki Haley walked away with 50.1 percent of the vote to Trump’s 45.9 percent.
Vermont was a close race, with Haley taking around 3,000 votes more than Trump.
Trump dominated in every other state, securing solid wins in Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Colorado, Minnesota, Texas, California, Utah, and Alaska.
In Texas, the former president won with 77.9 percent of the vote to Haley’s 17.4 percent; in California, he garnered 78.6 percent of the vote compared to Haley’s 17.9 percent.
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Tuesday’s elections had the largest number of Republican delegates up for grabs on a single day and Trump walked away with the mass majority of them. In total, 865 delegates were at stake and, with Trump winning all but one of the primaries and caucuses held, he secured an estimated 777 delegates.
While Trump has not officially won the Republican nomination, with no major opponent left in the race and commanding wins in nearly every state so far, it is expected that he will run as the Republican nominee in his third presidential election this November.
Voter turnout was low in many of the primary races. According to Politico, in California, only eight percent of its 22 million voters returned their mail-in ballots a week before voting day and only two percent of the coveted voter cohort of 18 to 34-year-olds returned their ballots during the same period.
Minnesota’s secretary of state, Steve Simon, told reporters on Tuesday that the low voter turnout does not necessarily reflect how the turnout will be in November.
“Over the last many years, there has been virtually no connection, virtually none, between early in the year primary turnout and general election turnout,” Simon said.
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Biden the clear Democratic winner
Despite speculation that Democrats want to run another candidate this November, Biden easily won nearly every race on Tuesday.
That odd loss was in the American Samoa Democratic primary where he lost to a little-known candidate, Jason Palmer, who, with 99 percent of the vote counted, received 56 percent of the vote to Biden’s 44 percent.
The loss is being described as “inconsequential,” but it made Biden the first incumbent president to lose a primary election in 44 years.
Only 91 ballots were cast in the American Samoa primary and campaign finance records show that Palmer loaned his presidential campaign over $500,000 of his own money.
Palmer told ABC News that “it feels great” to win and that his win sends a message to the Biden administration.
“This is the message that Joe Biden needs to hear that the American people want to pass the torch to the next generation,” Palmer said. “And so I thank the people of American Samoa for stepping up to make that statement for the rest of America.”
“You’re sending a strong message to Joe Biden that he’s been a great public servant for the last 50 years, but it’s time to pass the torch,” he said. “I think a larger percentage of Americans, based on the polls I’ve seen, want Joe Biden to do the right thing and step back and pass the torch to the next generation of Americans. And you know, that could be me, but that could equally be people like Gretchen Whitmer, Jared Polis, Gavin Newsom.”
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Haley steps aside
Despite winning her first state, it was clear following the Super Tuesday vote that Trump, not Haley, will be the likely Republican nominee.
The former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor had only won one other race this season, the District of Columbia, in last week’s primary.
On Tuesday, she fell short in states like Virginia where she was expected to do well among college-educated suburban voters.
Haley, who has repeatedly said that Trump cannot win November’s general election, has not endorsed Trump and instead urged him to work to win the support of the moderate Republicans and independent voters who supported her.
Trump, in his typical fashion, took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to react to the results.
“Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries,” Trump wrote. “Much of her money came from Radical Left Democrats, as did many of her voters, almost 50%, according to the polls,” Trump claimed.
There are still a number of delegates up for grabs, with primary elections still scheduled to move forward in several states over the coming weeks and months.
On March 12, Georgia, Mississippi and Washington will hold both Democratic and Republican primaries, and on March 19, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio will as well.
Other primaries and caucuses are currently scheduled out to at least June 25, and the 2024 RNC Convention, where the Republican nominee will be officially announced, is scheduled to be held from July 15 to 18.
