Biden & Trump Dominate Super Tuesday Races, Haley Quits The Race

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both dominated their party’s primaries on a relatively drama-free Super Tuesday. Each candidate is just a few hundred delegates shy of locking in their respective party’s nominations, with Biden facing no real challengers, and Trump facing a token challenge from former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

On Wednesday morning, Haley made it official by withdrawing from the race after her poor showing.

Biden won all the contests except American Samoa, and Trump took first in all the GOP races except for Vermont where Haley eked out a win.

Americans seem to be set for a rematch of the 2020 election that nobody seems to want.

The problems for each candidate, which have emerged throughout early voting, again reared their heads on the busiest primary day of the year, where 15 states and America Samoa cast votes.

Trump again lost an outsized number of moderate Republicans, including suburbanites and college-educated voters to Haley. Haley has consistently wrangled 30 to 40 percent of G.O.P. voters from Trump throughout the primaries with many saying that they will not be switching their votes to Trump now that Haley is out of the race, according to exit polls.

In Haley’s concession statement, she did not explicitly endorse Trump. “It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party who did not support him, and I hope he does that,” she said.

Haley decided to end her campaign after not reaching the goals she set for herself by Super Tuesday. She will exit the race after having won only two primaries, Vermont and Washington D.C, garnering a total of 89 delegates.

Trump offered no congratulations or well-wishes to his opponent upon her exit from the race. He instead took to Truth Social to chastise Haley and her campaign. In his post, he said, “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.”

He continued casting doubts on the origin of Haley’s fundraising and support. “Much of her money came from radical left Democrats, as did many of her voters, almost 50% according to polls,” Trump said, without citing what polls he was referencing.

By the end of his post, he threw a bone to Haley voters stating that he would “like to invite all the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation.”

Biden also issued a statement on Haley’s departure from the race. In it, he praised Haley’s attempt to take on Trump and appealed to her voters.

“It takes a lot of courage to run for President – that’s especially true in today’s Republican Party, where so few dare to speak the truth about Donald Trump. Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump,” Biden said.

In his appeal to Haley’s voters, he said, “Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear; There is a place for them in my campaign. I know there is a lot we don’t agree on. But on the fundamental issues of preserving American Democracy . . . I hope and believe we can find common ground.”

Olivia Peres-Cubas, Haley’s spokesperson, posted the two statements side by side on Twitter, captioned, “A tale of two statements…

 

Although Biden dominated the Democratic primaries, partly due to lack of competition, a campaign to protest his handling of the crisis in the Middle East has made it clear he has issues within his own base.

The campaign “Listen to Michigan” urged voters in Michigan to vote uncommitted during their February primary. The group urged the president to shift his policy of funding defending Israel in its war against Hamas.

The campaign has now gone nationwide. On Super Tuesday, seven states offered a space for uncommitted on the ballot. Minnesota led the way with nearly 20% of voters selecting the option. Since the success of the uncommitted vote in Michigan, Vice President Kamala Harris has called for a temporary cease-fire, and Biden has authorized air drops of aid to Gaza.

Asma Nizami, an organizer for Vote Uncommitted Minnesota, thinks the recent moves from the Biden administration may have just been for political points, but that it shows their movement is working. “I don’t think the vice president would have made such a sweeping statement if Super Tuesday wasn’t happening and we have been seeing the same thing with President Biden. Because it’s going national and because there are other states that are part of this, the administration can’t sweep it aside,” he said.