US elections 2024: Biden and Trump are likely to win the nominations on Tuesday
US elections | Photo: Shutterstock
Joe Biden and Donald Trump hope to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations on Tuesday with dominant victories in a series of state primaries, as the battle for the White House in 2024 enters a new phase.
Neither Biden, a Democrat, nor Trump, a Republican, faces significant opposition in the primaries in Georgia, Washington state, Mississippi and Hawaii. The only question is whether they will get the necessary delegates in each state to reach the 50% national threshold and become their parties’ presumptive nominees.
Whether it happens Tuesday night or in the coming days, the 2024 presidential battle is on the cusp of a crystallizing moment that will cement a general election rematch between Biden and Trump. And that rematch, the first with two U.S. presidents since 1956, will almost certainly deepen the country’s searing political and cultural divisions in the eight-month rut ahead.
On the eve of Tuesday’s primaries, Trump acknowledged that Biden would be the Democratic nominee, even as he unleashed a new attack on the president’s age.
“I assume he’s going to be the nominee,” Trump said of Biden on CNBC. I am his only opponent, except life, life itself.
Biden also focused much of his attention on Trump, who described the Democratic president as a serious threat to democracy during a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Monday evening. He also signaled a more robust presence on the campaign trail.
I look forward to doing more and more of these events,” Biden said. Later he joked about his age. I know I don’t look like it, but I’ve been there for a while.
Georgia leads the list of four states holding primaries on Tuesday.
The state was a crucial battleground in the last presidential election, so close that Trump is facing charges there over his quest to collect 11,780 votes and overturn Biden’s victory.
But as both candidates try to project strength in the key swing states, Biden and Trump struggle with glaring shortcomings.
Trump faces 91 felonies in four criminal cases involving his handling of classified documents and his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. He also faces increasingly sharp questions about his policies and relationships with some of the world’s most dangerous dictators. Trump met privately on Friday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, who has rolled back democracy in his country.
Biden, 81, is trying to convince a skeptical electorate that he is still physically and mentally capable of thriving in the most important job in the world.
He also faces divisions within his party’s progressive base, which is angry over his failure to do more to stop Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Last month, a related protest against an uncommitted vote in Michigan drew more than 100,000 votes and effectively secured two Democratic delegates.
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, scattered lawn signs in Seattle urged primary participants to also vote “unattached,” with some signs reading: “More than 30,000 dead.” Vote for a ceasefire by Tuesday 12/3.”
It is much the same in Georgia, where local politicians and religious leaders are pressuring Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The most precious tool we have to hold this president accountable for his harmful policies is our vote, said Rami Al-Kabra, a Palestinian Muslim-American and deputy mayor of Bothell, a city about 13 miles (21 kilometers) northeast of Seattle, ahead of Tuesday’s vote. .
Biden arrives Tuesday with 102 delegates short of the 1,968 needed to formally become the presumptive Democratic nominee. There are 254 Democratic delegates at stake on Tuesday in the states of Georgia, Mississippi and Washington, in addition to party-hosted contests for the Northern Mariana Islands and Democrats Abroad that conclude that day.
With no major opponents, Biden is on track to achieve that goal.
Trump is now on his way to reaching his magic number.
On Sunday, Trump fell 137 delegates short of the 1,215 needed to win the Republican nomination at the party’s national convention this summer. There are 161 Republican delegates at stake Tuesday in Georgia, Mississippi, Washington state and Hawaii.
With a strong performance on Tuesday, Trump can defeat all delegates in the states of Georgia, Mississippi and Washington. Hawaii allocates delegates proportionately, so other candidates can win some even with a small share of the vote.
Unsure whether he will succeed, Trump’s campaign has not planned a big victory party like last week, when hundreds of people stormed his Mar-a-Lago club for a Super Tuesday party with drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: March 12, 2024 | 10:18 am IST