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Donald Trump, the previous US president, advanced towards becoming the Republican nominee by winning in North Carolina, Virginia, and several other Super Tuesday contests. In addition, Nikki Haley also secured a victory in Vermont.
The former president, who has been impeached twice and indicted four times, easily won the states of Texas, Virginia, Colorado, Arkansas, and North Carolina, defeating the former governor of South Carolina. The results of other states, such as California, are still pending.
On Super Tuesday, Republican-held primary elections were held in 15 states, which included Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. Additionally, caucuses took place in Alaska and Utah. This day is usually seen as the midpoint in the primary contests, and candidates who perform well on Super Tuesday tend to ultimately secure their party’s nomination.
During his speech celebrating his win, Mr. Trump boasted about his resounding victory.
“They refer to it as ‘Super Tuesday’ for a specific purpose,” stated Mr. Trump. “This is a significant event. According to the pundits and others, there has never been one like it before. It is said to be the most definitive one yet.”
Ms. Haley achieved her second primary win in Vermont, a predominantly white New England state known for high levels of college education, after also winning the District of Columbia primary this past weekend.
On Super Tuesday, a total of 865 delegates will be available, with the largest numbers coming from Texas (161) and California (122). The Republican Party’s nominee must secure 1,215 delegates. Several states, including California, have not yet been declared, as their polls will close at 8 pm PST and votes from mail-in ballots will continue to be counted in the following days.
Mr Trump has achieved success in recent elections, according to some polls indicating he would win against President Joe Biden. A survey by the New York Times and Siena College, released over the weekend, displayed Mr Trump’s clear lead over Mr Biden. Additionally, Mr Trump also outperforms Vice President Kamala Harris in the same poll.
Furthermore, not only did Mr. Trump achieve personal successes, but the influence of his presidency was also evident in down-ballot races. In the state of North Carolina, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, a conservative Republican and vocal supporter of the Make America Great Again movement, secured the Republican nomination for governor in a state where Mr. Trump emerged victorious.
Donald Trump has achieved success recently while Mitch McConnell, the current leader of the Republican party in the Senate, stated that he will no longer serve as the head of the Republican conference in the Senate. Both potential replacements, Senate Minority Whip John Thune and Texas Senator John Cornyn, have expressed their support for Trump.
However, Mr. Trump’s results in states he wins still show his lack of appeal to suburban and college-educated voters. For example, in Virginia, he was successful in most areas except for the Alexandria suburbs of Washington, DC and the nearby Fairfax County, as well as Albemarle County, home to Charlottesville and the University of Virginia. In Vermont, a predominantly white and highly-educated state in New England with a Republican governor despite its liberal image, Ms. Haley closely followed Mr. Trump with just over half of the reported votes.
In the Democratic camp, Mr Biden maintained his winning streak in primary states, but suffered a loss to lesser-known entrepreneur Jason Palmer in American Samoa. In his statement on Tuesday night, Mr Biden directly criticized Mr Trump, the opponent he defeated in the 2020 presidential race, stating that Mr Trump poses a danger to democracy.
“He is driven by grievance and grift, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people,” Mr Bide said in a statement. “He is determined to destroy our democracy, rip away fundamental freedoms like the ability for women to make their own health care decisions, and pass another round of billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy — and he’ll do or say anything to put himself in power.”
Mr Trump’s victories come as he has had a streak of good luck in recent weeks. On Monday, the US Supreme Court ruled that Mr Trump could stay on the ballot, which reversed Colorado’s supreme court’s decision that removed him from the primary ballot after it said his actions on January 6 amounted to him violating the insurrection clause of the 14th amendment of the US Constitution.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court has recently decided to take on a case involving the previous president’s actions on January 6, in order to determine if they are protected by presidential immunity. This decision was made following the indictment of Mr Trump by a grand jury last year, as a result of an investigation conducted by Special Counsel Jack Smith, for his involvement in attempting to undermine the 2020 presidential election results.
The source is the independent.co.uk.
