President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have started to secure victories in their respective party's elections, bringing them closer to a potential historic rematch despite lukewarm enthusiasm from many voters. 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 have already won Alabama, Maine, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Colorado. Donald Trump trounced Nikki Haley in Texas, the second-biggest delegate prize of the night, where President Joe Biden also won overwhelmingly. Biden also won the Democratic primaries in Arkansas, Vermont, and Iowa.
"We have to beat Biden – he is the worst president in history," Trump said Tuesday on "Fox & Friends." 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 the "DeDe in the Morning" show hosted by DeDe McGuire. "The way he talks about, the way he acted, the way he has dealt with the African American community, I think, has been shameful."
More than 6,000 voters in a newly formed congressional district drawn to heighten Black voting power in Alabama received postcards with incorrect voting information ahead of Tuesday’s primary, alarming advocates concerned about the potential impact on a race seen as crucial to boosting Black representation and Democrats’ hopes to flip the U.S. House in November.
James Snipes, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Registrars, said 6,593 county voters received postcards listing the incorrect congressional district after the county's election software misidentified some people living in the 2nd Congressional District as living in the 7th. Snipes said voters arriving at the polls were still able to vote for the correct candidates. The county had sent about 2,000 notices to affected voters as of Tuesday evening and will send out an additional 4,000 on Wednesday, he said.
The postcards misidentified the voters' district because of a "software glitch," according to a county official. The official said anyone was still allowed to cast ballots for the right candidates when they went to their precincts. Advocates expressed concern that the error could have discouraged turnout in the first election with new district maps.
While the presidential race captures much attention, there are significant down-ballot contests as well. In California, voters are choosing candidates to vie for the Senate seat long held by Dianne Feinstein. Californians are also voting on a statewide ballot measure that is touted by the governor as a major step to tackle homelessness and would be the first major update to the state’s mental health system in 20 years. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom says Proposition 1 is needed to tackle the state's homelessness crisis by boosting investments in housing and substance use programs, but social providers worry it would threaten programs that are keeping people from becoming homeless in the first place.
In Los Angeles, a progressive prosecutor is attempting to fend off an intense reelection challenge, in a race that could provide insight into the evolving dynamics of crime and politics. Voters in San Francisco are weighing in on a pair of public safety measures on Tuesday's ballot that reflect frustration over crime and drug use in the politically liberal city, including a proposal to compel treatment for adults using illegal drugs who receive cash welfare benefits. The other ballot measure would expand police powers, granting city officers greater leeway to pursue suspects in vehicles, authorize police use of drones and surveillance cameras, and reduce paperwork requirements, including in use-of-force cases.
In North Carolina, the intense gubernatorial race has produced winners from both parties, with the Democratic attorney general and the Republican lieutenant governor emerging victorious on Tuesday. This outcome sets the stage for a costly and high-stakes November contest in a state that both parties view as a crucial battleground. Josh Stein and Mark Robinson, who successfully fended off multiple party challengers, will offer voters a clear contrast in the upcoming fall elections in the ninth-largest state.
Stein is a longtime member of North Carolina’s political scene, a lawyer with the endorsement of term-limited Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, and a long history of consumer advocacy before and during his time as AG. Robinson, meanwhile, is a former factory worker who splashed into conservative circles after a 2018 viral speech to his hometown city council – catapulting him to lieutenant governor in 2020 and the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. He’s North Carolina’s first Black lieutenant governor and would become the state’s first Black governor as well.
If President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are advancing towards securing their parties' nominations, many voters are not enthusiastic about a November rematch from four years ago. In fact, despite their strong positions within their parties, polling data indicates that the broader electorate does not desire a repeat of the 2020 election in this year's general election. According to a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, a majority of Americans doubt that either Biden or Trump possesses the necessary mental acuity for the job.
Trump's victories, however dominating, have revealed vulnerabilities among influential voter blocs, particularly in college towns like Hanover, New Hampshire, home to Dartmouth College, or Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan is located, as well as in areas with significant numbers of independents voters. This trend extends to states like Minnesota, which Trump did not win during his otherwise dominant performance on Super Tuesday in 2016.
Biden faces his own challenges, including dwindling approval ratings and polls suggesting that many Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don't want to see the 81-year-old president run for re-election. Despite his comfortable victory in the Michigan primary win last week, Biden encountered resistance by an "uncommitted" movement organized by activists critical of his handling of Israel's war in Gaza. Moreover, Joe Biden, the oldest president in US history, is under constant scrutiny from Republicans for any verbal missteps. His aides remain confident that skeptical voters will eventually rally behind him once it becomes clear that the choice in November boils down to either Trump or Biden.