Biden and Trump sweep Super Tuesday primaries; pressure on Haley to end her campaign

Washington: 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 US, paving the way for a rematch between them in November and putting pressure on Indian-American candidate Nikki Haley to quit the race despite her surprise win in Vermont.

After Super Tuesday’s election results, Trump, 77, has established a commanding lead in the delegate count over his only Republican opponent, Haley, 52.

Trump secured impressive victories in Texas, California and 11 other states, although Haley denied him a full sweep by winning Vermont.

Though the 15 states that voted on Tuesday didn’t have enough delegates for Trump to clinch the party’s nomination, he moved much closer to it.

More than a third of all the Republican delegates were at stake on Super Tuesday, the biggest haul of any date on the 2024 primary calendar.

To win the presidential nomination of the Republican party, either of the two candidates needs 1,215 delegates, who are elected during the primaries. After Super Tuesday, Trump had 244 delegates in his kitty, while Haley had just 86.

Seeking re-election, Biden, 81, swept almost all the Democratic primary states.

Biden was handed his first defeat so far in the Democratic primary by Jason Palmer in American Samoa. While Palmer won in the tiny US territory – where fewer than 100 people participate in the caucus – it will not slow Biden’s commanding march to the Democratic nomination.

“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.

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.

Speaking from Palm Beach, Florida, Trump claimed that "we have a very divided country," and vowed to unify it soon.

“This was an amazing night and an amazing day, it’s been an incredible period of time in our country’s history,” Trump said at his election night watch party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

"We have a very divided country. We have a country [where] a political person uses weaponisation against his political opponents," he said.

He compared the state of the US political system to "third-world countries".

"Never happened here. It happens in other countries, but they're third-world countries. And in some ways, we're a third-world country." Talking up some of his achievements from his time in office, notably the half-built border wall between the US and Mexico, Trump claimed he delivered "the safest borders in the history of our country" and went on to rail against what he described as "migrant crime", without citing any evidence.

"And so the world is laughing at us, the world is taking advantage of us," he said.

He goes on to describe his aims to make the US "energy independent and energy dominant".

"All the … tragedy, you will not have to think of it. All of the problems we have today, we would not have had any of them," he said.

"You would only have success and that is what ultimately going to unify this country and unify this party," he added.

Trump again recited a familiar list of grievances, insisting that the nation was descending toward chaos under Biden’s leadership and raising doubts about election integrity.

Earlier, Biden touted the work his administration has accomplished in its first term in office while issuing a stark warning that a second Trump term would mean a return to "chaos, division, and darkness." "Four years ago, I ran because of the existential threat Donald Trump posed to the America we all believe in," Biden wrote in a statement, highlighting progress under his administration on jobs, inflation, prescription drug prices, and gun control.

He then warned that if Trump returns to the White House, the progress his administration has made will be at risk.

"(Trump) is driven by grievance and grift, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people," Biden noted.

Haley, the former South Carolina governor, said she has not made a final decision as to whether or not she would endorse her ex-boss Trump if she ends her presidential bid, but her campaign is receiving a lot of feedback on the subject, sources familiar with recent discussions told CNN.

People who are close to Haley have different opinions. Some believe that it would be good for her to back Trump because she would be viewed as a team player. Others ardently oppose her endorsing him because that would give Haley the freedom to be critical of Trump and build her own movement. They have shared those opinions with Haley and her campaign in recent days and weeks, sources said, CNN said.

Haley herself has recently said she is not focused on endorsing anyone because she is focused on winning herself.

Trump, however, in an interview on Tuesday bashed Haley, saying she was angry because her campaign is “just getting nowhere." Haley’s campaign said on Tuesday that it was "honoured" by her win in Vermont's Republican presidential primary.

"We’re honoured to have received the support of millions of Americans across the country today, including in Vermont where Nikki became the first Republican woman to win two presidential primary contests," Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement. "Unity is not achieved by simply claiming ‘we’re united.'" Haley's campaign said there remains a “large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns” about the former president.

“That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing those voters’ concerns will make the Republican Party and America better,” Perez-Cubas said.

CNN reported earlier that Trump’s team was aware he won’t cross the delegate threshold tonight to become the presumptive Republican nominee, but the hope is that he secures enough delegates to ensure he does meet that milestone as early as next Tuesday, March 12.

Trump’s campaign is also hoping that a definitive win in Super Tuesday will effectively force Haley to drop out of the race.

These results almost guarantee that the sitting president, a Democrat, and his Republican predecessor will face off on November 5- in a rematch of the 2020 election.

“President Biden and former President Donald J Trump romped through the opening contests of Super Tuesday, piling up wins in states including Texas, the second-largest delegate prize of the night, as they moved inexorably toward their parties’ nominations and a rematch for the White House in November,” The New York Times reported.