Biden and Trump Rack Up Wins on Super Tuesday

WASHINGTON (AP/Hamodia) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both won resounding victories as states across the country held Super Tuesday elections, moving them closer to a historic rematch. The results could ramp up pressure on Nikki Haley, Trump’s last major rival, to leave the race.

Super Tuesday features elections in 16 states and one territory — from Alaska and California to Vermont and Virginia. Hundreds of delegates are at stake, the biggest haul of the race for either party.

Biden and Trump started off the night by winning Virginia. Biden also won North Carolina, Vermont and Iowa, where Democrats previously held a presidential preference contest but didn’t release their results until Tuesday.

Trump handily carried the states with the highest delegates, Texas and California. In Texas, Trump received 78% of the vote; Haley received just under 16%, according to NBC. In California, Trump won 74%, and Haley received 21%. Trump won by similar margins in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina and Minnesota. In some states, Trump’s win was slightly less in Virginia, Massachusetts and Colorado, where he won by 30, 21 and 29 points respectively.

As of this time, the only state where Haley emerged victorious was Vermont, where she won with 50% to Trump’s 46%. To date, Haley has won only one other primary race; a low-turnout election in Washington D.C., where she won 62% of the vote, while Trump received 33%.

While much of the focus is on the presidential race, there are also important down-ballot contests. California voters will choose candidates who will compete to fill the Senate seat long held by Dianne Feinstein. The governor’s race will take shape in North Carolina, a state that both parties are fiercely contesting ahead of November. And in Los Angeles, a progressive prosecutor is attempting to fend off an intense reelection challenge in a contest that could serve as a barometer of the politics of crime.

The spotlight, however, remains on the 81-year-old Biden and the 77-year-old Trump, who continue to dominate their parties despite both facing questions about their age and neither commanding broad popularity across the general electorate.

The earliest either can become his party’s presumptive nominee is March 12 for Trump and March 19 for Biden. But, in a departure from most previous Super Tuesdays, both nominations are effectively settled, with Biden and Trump both looking ahead to a reprise of the 2020 general election.

“We have to beat Biden — he is the worst president in history,” Trump said Tuesday in a broadcast interview on FOX.

Biden countered with a pair of radio interviews aimed at shoring up his support among Black voters, who helped anchor his 2020 coalition.

“If we lose this election, you’re going to be back with Donald Trump,” Biden said on a morning radio show. “The way he talks about, the way he acted, the way he has dealt with the African American community, I think, has been shameful.”

The final days before Tuesday demonstrated the unique nature of this year’s campaign. Rather than barnstorming the states holding primaries, Biden and Trump held rival events last week along the U.S.-Mexico border, each seeking to gain an advantage in the increasingly fraught immigration debate.

After the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 on Monday to restore Trump to primary ballots following attempts to ban him for his role in helping spark the Capitol riot, Trump pointed to the 91 criminal counts against him to accuse Biden of weaponizing the courts.

“Fight your fight yourself,” Trump said. “Don’t use prosecutors and judges to go after your opponent.”

Biden delivers the State of the Union address Thursday, then will campaign in the key swing states of Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Biden has his own problems, including low approval ratings and polls suggesting that many Americans, even a majority of Democrats, don’t want to see the 81-year-old running again. The president’s easy Michigan primary win last week was spoiled slightly by an “uncommitted” campaign organized by activists who disapprove of the president’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Allies of the “uncommitted” vote are pushing similar protest votes elsewhere, including Minnesota. The state has a significant population of Muslims, including in its Somali American community.

Biden also is the oldest president ever and Republicans key on any verbal slip he makes. His aides insist that skeptical voters will come around once it is clear that either Trump or Biden will be elected again in November.