WASHINGTON, United States: Donald Trump sought to cement his position as the Republican presidential nominee in the Super Tuesday primary, officially kicking off his campaign against President Joe Biden and attempting a surprise return to the White House.
Fifteen states and one US territory held nominating contests and fielded large numbers of delegates. In a typical election year, a candidate often emerges from a crowded field on this day.
This time, President Trump’s only remaining challenger, Nikki Haley, is barely hanging on, giving the scandal-plagued former president a chance to bury her for good.
Haley is a “lost cause,” physicist Andrew Pugel told the media at a polling station in Huntington Beach, California. “Today’s her last day,” he said and added it would be smart of Trump to make her his running mate and “unite the country.”
Trump’s expected surge in approval ratings came a day after the Supreme Court rejected a bid by a handful of states to bar him from voting over his attack on the 2020 election, when he refused to concede defeat to Biden and sparked a mob assault on the US Capitol.
A rematch between Trump and Biden in November seems almost certain.
Mr. Biden, 81, also votes in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, but his re-nomination remains a formality, with only little-known outsiders challenging him.
On Thursday, Democrats in Congress will address the nation during the State of the Union address, a prime opportunity to unveil their campaign platform and attack President Trump, 77.
The states in contention for Tuesday, including the battleground states of California and Texas, provide 70 percent of the delegates a candidate needs for a possible nomination.
He will not be formally nominated until he is confirmed at the party’s convention later this summer.
While Tuesday’s turnout is expected to be low, pop star Taylor Swift urged people to vote in an Instagram message. He has not endorsed any candidates, but Democrats expect him to publicly endorse Biden in November.
Trump, who denies any wrongdoing, faces prison time for several federal and state felonies, mostly for attempting to cheat or steal the 2020 election.
The former president has spent nine days in court this year alone, complaining that prosecutors are preventing him from campaigning, although he has made court appearances part of his fundraising campaign.
