President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump romped through Super Tuesday, amassing huge delegate hauls in California, Texas and beyond as they moved inexorably towards their parties’ nominations and a rematch for the White House in November.
Trump’s primary rival, Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, secured Vermont, according to The Associated Press, depriving Trump of a clean sweep. Even with that lone defeat, Trump took a giant step towards the nomination on Tuesday night, winning a dozen states by just after 11pm US Eastern time.
Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida, home, the former President made no mention of Haley, instead calling for “unity”.
“We want to have unity,” he declared, “And we’re going to have unity, and it’s going to happen very quickly.”
Later on Wednesday, Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign but stopped short of endorsing Trump, who is all set to be the Republican party’s presumptive nominee in the November elections.
“The time has now come to suspend my campaign,” she said on Wednesday in South Carolina. “I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard. I have done that. I have no regrets,” she added. “Although I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in.”
On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden swept all 15 states that held Democratic contests, as well as the Iowa caucuses. His one stumble came in American Samoa, a tiny American territory in the Pacific Ocean, where he tied a little-known businessman, Jason Palmer, for the territory’s delegates, with three each, according to The Associated Press.
Biden also looked towards the general election, declaring in a statement: “My message to the country is this: Every generation of Americans will face a moment when it has to defend democracy. Stand up for our personal freedom. Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights. To every Democrat, Republican and Independent who believes in a free and fair America: This is our moment. This is our fight. Together, we will win.”
Super Tuesday quickly proved it would be a major disappointment for Haley. After winning the Republican primary in Washington on Sunday, she was hoping the northern Virginia suburbs would mirror the city across the Potomac river and deliver the state of Virginia to her. They did not. After that, one state after another slipped from her grasp.
The contests on Tuesday night will all but determine the presidential candidates for the November election and shape Congress and statehouses for next year and beyond.
Despite his dominance, Biden, who is scheduled to give the State of the Union address on Thursday, faced a protest vote in Minnesota, where pro-Palestinian advocates were hoping votes for “uncommitted” would embarrass the President and raise pressure on him to shift his pro-Israel policies as the war in the Gaza Strip grinds on.
With more than 95 per cent of ballots counted early on Wednesday, “uncommitted” had earned 19 per cent support, enough to send delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
“He’s going too easy on Netanyahu,” said Mark Suchy, 76, of Minneapolis, who had voted “uncommitted” on Tuesday. “He needs to cut the military funding.”
Democrats have worried that such feelings could depress turnout among the party’s voters in November, but Suchy called himself a “strong Biden supporter” and said he planned to vote for Biden on Election Day.
Haley described her team as “a bunch of happy warriors today”. She had tried to paint Trump as an ageing, mentally unsound agent of chaos, unable to respect veterans or service members and unwilling to be faithful to the Constitution.
New York Times News Service and PTI