Former President Donald Trump is surging ahead of his sole remaining competitor, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, in Tuesday’s GOP primaries, putting him within striking distance of clinching the Republican nomination.
This combination of pictures shows US President Joe Biden from the South Lawn of the White House in ... [+]
The Associated Press projected Trump the winner in Texas at around 9 p.m. ET, as he led Haley by 56 points with just over 40% of votes counted—a major prize for the former president in the nation’s second-largest state.
The AP called the Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee GOP primaries for Trump shortly after the polls closed, giving Trump key wins in three other large Super Tuesday states and dashing Haley’s hopes of an upset in Virginia.
Trump was also projected the winner in Massachusetts, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Maine, even though Haley earned a late endorsement from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
The Vermont GOP primary remains too early to call, with Trump and Haley locked in a tightly contested race for the tiny New England state’s Republican delegates.
Polls will close by 9 p.m. in Minnesota, with California and Utah closing for the GOP race at 11 p.m. and Alaska closing at 12 a.m.
Biden is expected to easily sweep Tuesday’s primaries. The Associated Press has projected Biden victories in Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Massachusetts, Maine, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, Vermont, Tennessee, Colorado and Iowa.
Super Tuesday, traditionally a pivotal day for candidates competing in a contested primary, is not expected to deliver any surprises this year as Biden and Trump have no viable challengers and have been considered their parties’ expected nominees for months. Mathematically, neither candidate can reach the delegate threshold needed to clinch the nomination tonight, but they’re expected to come extremely close. Biden entered Super Tuesday with 206 of the 1,968 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination after winning the first four contests, while Trump had 273 of the 1,215 needed to win after victories in nine of 10 contests, compared to 43 delegates won by his sole remaining competitor in the race, Haley. More than 850 delegates are at stake in tonight’s Republican primaries and 1,420 are up for grabs in the Democratic primaries.
Whether Haley will stay in the race past Super Tuesday. There are signs she will and signs she won’t. She has no campaign events scheduled after Tuesday, but her campaign said Monday it had already raised $1 million in the first few days of March, after raising $12 million in February, enough cash to keep her longshot candidacy going beyond Tuesday.
Voters in California will decide which two candidates, in a crowded primary field, will advance to the general election to fill the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and former Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, a Republican, are leading in the latest Los Angeles Times poll, followed by Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee—both members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. A Democrat is expected to handily win the seat in the general election, as California is a solidly blue state.