Donald Trump officially becomes the Republican nominee setting up a 2020 rematch with Joe Biden: Primaries in the Northern Marianas Islands, Georgia, Mississippi and Washington get candidates over the line
Former President Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president and has collected enough delegates to win the Republican nomination by winning the primaries in Washington state.
Trump’s victory comes just hours after President Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee.
That means 2024 is officially the long-awaited rematch of Trump versus Biden in 2020, with the official nominating conventions taking place this summer.
Democrats in the Northern Mariana Islands went to the polls on Tuesday, giving Biden an early victory.
The results in Georgia – a quick victory for Biden and Trump in their respective primaries – put Biden over the 1,968 delegates needed to become his party’s official nominee.
Former President Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president and has amassed enough delegates by winning Washington state’s primaries to clinch the Republican nomination at this summer’s convention
President Joe Biden has clinched the Democratic nomination, becoming his party’s presumptive nominee earlier Tuesday evening after results were counted in Georgia.
Mississippi was also quickly drafted for both Biden and Trump, but Trump needed a few more delegates from Washington state before CNN projected him as officially the presumptive Republican nominee.
Trump needed 1,215 delegates.
Republicans in Hawaii were also in attendance Tuesday.
Last week, Trump dominated the so-called Super Tuesday races and defeated his last rival, former UN Amb. Nikki Haley.
Haley dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday, but did not endorse Trump on her way out.
Still, a significant number of Republican voters in Georgia came out Tuesday in support of Haley.
With about 92 percent of the votes counted, about 13.3 percent had chosen Haley.
Biden was practically in control of the ticket on Super Tuesday, said with one exception: He lost the American Samoa caucus to Baltimore-based entrepreneur Jason Palmer, who wasn’t even considered a mainstream Democratic hopeful before his victory.
Since then, Palmer has said he will continue his challenge, while Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who also participated in the Democratic primaries against Biden, dropped out on Wednesday.
Longshot Democratic hopeful Jason Palmer speaks last Tuesday after surprising the world by winning the American Samoa caucus and putting his name on the map
Voters line up to cast their ballots Tuesday during Mississippi’s Democratic and Republican primaries for president
Self-help guru Marianne Williamson dropped out of the race in February, but relaunched her campaign earlier this month and remains on the Democratic ballot
Self-help guru and best-selling author Marianne Williamson, who dropped out of the race in February after a poor showing in Nevada, restarted her presidential campaign earlier this month after outperforming Phillips in Michigan.
She continues to campaign for the Democratic nomination.
Williamson sent a note to supporters in which CNN predicted that Biden would become the Democratic nominee.
“Given the political realities, President Biden will likely have the nomination sewn up very soon in terms of the number of delegates. But it does not matter. We’re having the conversation without which Democrats won’t win in 2024. And that is why we must continue,” Williamson wrote.
Both Trump and Biden campaigned in Georgia this weekend ahead of the primaries, but also to set the table for a general election battle in the state.
Biden defeated Trump in Georgia in 2020 — a shocking outcome in a state that was traditionally red.
The Biden-Harris campaign sent a statement Tuesday highlighting Biden’s nomination win.
“Four years ago, I ran for president because I believed we were in a battle for the soul of this country,” the president said. “Thanks to the American people, we won that fight, and now I am honored that the broad coalition of voters representing the rich diversity of the Democratic Party across the country have once again placed their trust in me to help our party – and our country – to lead. – at a time when the threat Trump poses is greater than ever.”
Biden said the country is facing a “sobering reality” as Trump again closes in on the Republican nomination.
“Freedom and democracy are at risk here at home in a way not seen since the Civil War,” the president said.
“Donald Trump is waging a campaign of spite, revenge and retaliation that threatens the very idea of America. He idolizes dictators and promises to become one himself on day one. He is trying to bury the truth of January 6 by promising to pardon the insurrectionists who stuck a dagger into the throat of American democracy,” Biden warned.
The president also pointed to comments Trump made in an interview with CNBC Monday where he suggested that cuts to Medicare and Social Security were on the table.
“He’s rooting to crash the economy, deliver tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and make plans to ban abortion nationwide,” Biden said.
Voters, the president said, “have a choice to make about the future of this country.”
“Are we going to stand up and defend our democracy or are we going to let others tear it down?” Will we restore the right to choose and protect our freedoms or will we allow them to be taken away by extremists?’ Biden asked. “Will we finally make the rich pay their fair share of taxes – or will we allow corporate greed to run rampant on the backs of the middle class?”
“I believe the American people will choose to move us into the future,” Biden said. “In every crisis, America has always come out the other side stronger and more united.”
“November will be no different – and I believe we will do it together,” the president added.