Accumulating victories in almost all the polls on a super Tuesday without much suspense, Joe Biden and Donald Trump have taken giant steps towards an unprecedented rematch next November, an electoral meeting which arouses more anxiety than d enthusiasm among Americans.
Sixteen states and territories held primaries or caucuses in the two major parties’ nomination races for the 2024 presidential election. The Democratic president swept every state in which he contested, suffering his only defeat in American Samoa against an unknown entrepreneur, Jason Palmer, who was not a candidate elsewhere.
Donald Trump suffered his only setback in Vermont, where Nikki Haley snatched her second victory of the electoral season after that of last Saturday in the District of Columbia. She received 50% of the votes against 46% for her rival.
It was little consolation for the former South Carolina governor, who was dominated or crushed in other states that held consultations, including Virginia, where she had hopes. However, Donald Trump was declared the winner less than 25 minutes after the polls closed.
PHOTO SHELBY TAUBER, REUTERS
Nikki Haley surrounded by supporters in Forth Worth, Texas on Monday evening
By the end of the evening, Nikki Haley had won only a handful of delegates, a performance that calls into question more than ever the viability of her campaign.
Donald Trump won by margins of at least 50 percentage points in seven states – Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Maine – and by at least 25 percentage points in four other states – Virginia, Minnesota, Colorado and Massachusetts. He also triumphed in California. The results of the Utah caucuses and the Alaska primary had not yet been announced at the time of writing.
“It’s not for nothing that we talk about ‘Super Tuesday,’” the former president said while celebrating his victories in front of supporters gathered at Mar-a-Lago late in the evening. “This is the most important day. Analysts say there has never been anything like this, there has never been anything this conclusive. It was an incredible evening, an incredible day,” he added before attacking Joe Biden on several subjects, including inflation and immigration.
“Our cities are being overrun by migrant crime,” he said, before adding that his potential rival was “the worst president in American history.”
He did not mention the name of Nikki Haley during his speech delivered in a subdued voice. Her rival made no comments during the evening. She will obviously have to decide in the coming days whether to continue her campaign or end it.
For Biden, Trump focuses on “his revenge”
In a written statement, Joe Biden attacked Donald Trump, accusing him of wanting to “take the United States backwards”.
PHOTO ANDREW HARNIK, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joe Biden at the White House Tuesday
“Tonight’s results present the American people with a clear choice: Will we continue to move forward or will we allow Donald Trump to take us backward into the chaos, division and darkness that characterized his mandate? “, declared the president.
And added: “If Donald Trump returns to the White House, all this progress will be threatened. He is driven by grievance and greed, he is focused on his own revenge, not the American people. He is determined to destroy our democracy, tear away basic freedoms like the ability for women to make their own health care decisions, and hand out another round of billions of dollars in tax cuts to the rich – and he will do or say anything to rise to power. »
Joe Biden easily triumphed over his two opponents, Minnesota Democratic Representative Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson. He faced greater opposition in states that allowed voters to cast “uncommitted” or “no preference” votes.
In Minnesota, for example, nearly 45,000 voters, or 19 percent, chose “uncommitted” after 86 percent of the votes were counted. In Michigan, the scene of a Democratic primary on February 27, Democratic activists and elected officials from the Arab-American community encouraged voters to vote “uncommitted” to express their dissatisfaction with the president’s position. regarding the war in the Gaza Strip. More than 100,000 voters, or 13%, followed this instruction.
In-Game Delegates
The Democratic primaries involved 1,420 delegates, or approximately 36% of the total. Joe Biden will become his party’s “presumptive nominee” when he can claim 1,968 delegates. He could achieve this on March 19 when voters in five states – Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio – take their turn in Democratic primaries.
Joe Biden started this super Tuesday with 246 delegates against none for his two rivals.
The Republican primaries involved 854 delegates, or more than 35% of the total number. It takes 1,215 delegates to win the Grand Old Party’s nomination. Donald Trump could reach this threshold and become his party’s “presumptive nominee” as early as March 12 when four states – Georgia, Mississippi, Hawaii and Washington – will hold polls.
Donald Trump started the day with 273 delegates compared to 43 for Nikki Haley.
Delegates from both parties will meet at their respective party conventions next summer to nominate their presumptive presidential candidate and running mate.
Trump and justice
His defeat in Vermont will not have been the only downside for Donald Trump. According to exit polls conducted for CNN, 32% of participants in the North Carolina Republican primary and 40% of participants in the Virginia Republican primary believe that the former president would not be fit to return to the House. -White if he was found guilty of a crime.
There were a number of independents or Democrats among these voters, who could participate in the Republican primary in Virginia or in that of North Carolina. The question is how many voters will really abandon Donald Trump in November because of his troubles with the law.
The former president’s first criminal trial is scheduled to begin March 25 in New York. Donald Trump is accused of having falsified company documents to hide a payment of $150,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2020 presidential election.
Duel in North Carolina
Voters were invited to vote on several other races on this Super Tuesday. In North Carolina, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson won the Republican primary for the state’s gubernatorial election. Described by Donald Trump as “Martin Luther King on steroids”, this ultraconservative African-American will have to survive inflammatory comments about women, Muslims, Jews and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
He will face North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who won the Democratic primary. The two politicians will engage in a fight that will have national repercussions to succeed the current Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, who cannot seek a third term.
This fight could have an impact on the presidential election in North Carolina, where Barack Obama was the last Democratic candidate to triumph, in 2008.