U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump moved closer to a rematch of the 2020 presidential election on Tuesday, as each won nearly all of the party nominating contests held in a group of states spread across the country.
Biden has won in 15 of the states that held Democratic Party primaries or caucuses, including those in Virginia, Texas, Minnesota and Colorado. One contest has not been called yet. Trump has 13 victories so far Tuesday.
With little opposition facing him in the Democratic race, which is typical for presidential incumbents, Biden looked ahead to the November election and warned that another term for Trump would mean a term defined by “chaos, division, and darkness.”
“Today, millions of voters across the country made their voices heard — showing that they are ready to fight back against Donald Trump’s extreme plan to take us backwards,” Biden said in a statement.
Trump, speaking to his supporters in Florida, said the country has taken “a great beating” during the past three years as he faulted Biden’s handling of the economy and immigration.
The former leader, who lost his reelection bid to Biden in 2020, celebrated his round of wins Tuesday and touted the November election as “the single most important day in the history of our country.”
“They call it Super Tuesday for a reason,” Trump said. “This is a big one.”
Trump’s victories Tuesday included contests in California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina and Texas.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, the last major opposition to Trump in the Republican race, won Tuesday in the state of Vermont.
The win for Haley was her second during the nominating cycle, after capturing Sunday’s primary in Washington.
After a round of losses in January and February, Haley had pledged to stay in the race at least through Super Tuesday, arguing to her supporters that another Trump presidential term would be damaging to the nation.
“Today, in state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump,” Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement late Tuesday. “That is not the unity our party needs for success.”
More states will hold their nominating contests in the coming weeks, with Biden and Trump seeking to secure enough delegates to clinch their party nominations ahead of the conventions where each party will formally select their candidates for the November ballot.
The Republican Party holds its convention in July, with the Democratic Party following in August.
Looming in the background is Trump’s legal situation, as he faces an unprecedented four criminal indictments encompassing 91 charges and a trial in one case starting in three weeks.
National polling shows Trump with a narrow edge over Biden eight months to the day ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Biden will also be in the spotlight Thursday night when he gives his annual State of the Union address before Congress and a national television audience.
He is expected to tout the U.S. economic advance during his three-plus years in office, although polls show many Americans do not think he has managed the economy very well and often complain about higher prices for groceries.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters