Tuesday’s primaries include a key Senate race in Ohio and clues for the Biden-Trump rematch
NEW YORK — Five states will hold presidential primaries on Tuesday as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump continue to maintain support across the country after becoming their parties’ presumptive nominees.
Trump is expected to easily win the Republican Party primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Biden is expected to do the same in all those states except Florida, where Democrats canceled their primaries and opted to award all 224 delegates to Biden. That’s not an unusual move for a party with a sitting president in the White House seeking re-election.
Other races outside the presidency could provide insight into the national political mood. The Ohio Republican Senate primary pits Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno against two challengers, Ohio Secretary of State Frank Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.
Chicago voters will decide whether to impose a one-time property tax to pay for new services for the homeless. And California voters will choose a replacement for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned his seat after being ousted from the Republican leadership.
Trump and Biden have been focused on the general election for weeks, lately focusing their campaigns on states that could be competitive in November, rather than just states holding primaries.
Trump rallied Saturday in Ohio, which has been reliably Republican for several years. But there are signs the state could be competitive again by 2024. Last year, Ohio voted overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights in its constitution and to legalize marijuana.
Biden, meanwhile, will visit Nevada and Arizona on Tuesday.
Both men check their official credentials and consider the other a threat to America. Trump, 77, has portrayed the 81-year-old Biden as mentally unfit. The president has described his Republican rival as a threat to democracy following his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and his praise for foreign strongmen.
Over the past year, Trump has combined his campaign with his legal challenges, including dozens of criminal and civil cases requiring him to pay more than $500 million in fines.
His first criminal trial was set to begin Monday in New York on charges that he falsified company records to cover up hush money payments. But a judge postponed the trial for 30 days following the recent disclosure of new evidence that Trump’s lawyers said they needed time to review.