ATLANTA, United States: President Joe Biden and Donald Trump eyed decisive leads in their separate presidential nominating races in Tuesday’s primary election that included Georgia, the US swing state where Trump, a Republican, is facing trial over an alleged conspiracy to steal the last election.
The pair are headed for a repeat of their 2020 showdown in November, as the Democratic president did not face a serious primary challenge while his Republican rival and predecessor cut off his remaining competition in last week’s “Super Tuesday” vote.
Georgia — along with contests in Hawaii, Washington and Mississippi — offered a combined 161 delegates, and an unopposed Trump needs 137 of them to put the race mathematically out of reach.
Georgia has long been reliably Republican, but has become more competitive and is now seen as crucial to any candidate’s White House ambitions.
Trump is campaigning for sweeping reform of what he calls Biden’s “horror show” immigration policy, despite successfully pushing Republicans to block the toughest border security package negotiated in Congress in decades.
The issue has become a focal point in Georgia due to the recent murder of nursing student Laken Riley, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant.
The contests have renewed scrutiny of Trump’s bid to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia — a state he lost to Biden by less than 12,000 votes — as he prepares to run for the White House for a third time.
The pressure led to one of four charges he faces and set the stage for a year of unprecedented drama as the 77-year-old tries to juggle several court appearances and another election campaign.
