Washington/New York, March 6: US President Joe Biden from the Democratic party and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump have swept in their parties’ presidential nomination primaries held in 15 states across the country, paving the way for a rematch between them in November and putting pressure on Indian-American candidate Nikki Haley to quit.
After Super Tuesday’s election results, Trump, 77, is hoping to establish a commanding lead in the delegate count and vanquish his only Republican opponent, Haley. Seeking his re-election, Biden, 81, swept almost all the Democratic primary states. He lost to Jason Palmer in American Samoa.
“Joe Biden isn’t facing any major competition in the primary cycle, and has won all the Democratic contests so far tonight, CNN projects, as he gears up for a likely rematch with Trump in November,” CNN said.
Haley, 52, the former US envoy to the UN failed to make a mark Tuesday even as she showed strong support in the states of Vermont, where she won.
That victory, however, will do little to dent Trump’s primary dominance.
Trump prevailed in most of the the Super Tuesday states: California, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Utah, Minnesota, Colorado, Arkansas and Maine.
Super Tuesday is an important phase of presidential primaries when the early contests are over, and voters from multiple states cast ballots in primaries timed to occur on the same date. Almost all the results were one-sided in favour of Trump except for Vermont, where the winning difference was about one per cent.
Nikki Haley will suspend her campaign
Nikki Haley will suspend her presidential campaign Wednesday after being soundly defeated across the country on Super Tuesday, according to people familiar with her decision, leaving Donald Trump as the last remaining major candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination. Three people with direct knowledge who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly confirmed Haley’s decision ahead of an announcement by her scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, was Trump’s first significant rival when she jumped into the race in February 2023. She spent the final phase of her campaign aggressively warning the GOP against embracing Trump, whom she argued was too consumed by chaos and personal grievance to defeat President Joe Biden in the general election.
Her departure clears Trump to focus solely on his likely rematch in November with Biden. The former president is on track to reach the necessary 1,215 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination later this month. (AP/PTI)
