Biden, Trump triumphant in more primaries
TEMPE, Arizona — As Joe Biden and Donald Trump moved closer to a November rematch, primary voters around the country on Tuesday urged their favored candidates to keep up the fight and worried about what might happen if their side loses this fall.
There was little suspense about Tuesday’s results as both candidates are already their parties’ presumptive nominees. Trump easily won Republican primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Biden did the same except in Florida, where Democrats had canceled their primary and opted to award all 224 of their delegates to Biden.
Instead, the primaries and key down-ballot races became a reflection of the national political mood. With many US citizens unenthusiastic about 2024’s choice for the White House, both Biden and Trump campaigns are working to fire up their bases by tearing into each other and warning of the perils of the opponent.
Those who did turn out to vote on Tuesday wanted to prove otherwise.
Pat Shackleford, an 84-year-old caregiver in Mesa, Arizona, said she voted for Trump in Arizona’s primary to send the former president a message.
“I wanted to encourage him that the fight has been worthwhile, that more of us are behind him than maybe the media tells you,” Shackleford said.
Jamie and Cassandra Neal, sisters who both live in Phoenix, said they were unenthusiastic Biden supporters until they saw the vigor the president brought to his State of the Union speech. It fired them up for the coming election.
“Beforehand it was like, ‘Well, he’s the only decent one there,’” said Cassandra Neal, 42. “After his address, it was like, ‘OK, let’s do it!’”
Jamie Neal, 45, said Biden had been “way too nice” before and needed to match Trump, whom she described as “vicious”.
“I hate to say it, sometimes you need to equal the lowness to get the person out,” she said. “Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.”
Trump on Saturday rallied in Ohio, which has for several years been reliably Republican after once being a national bellwether in presidential elections. Trump won the state by about 8 percentage points in 2016 and 2020. But there are signs the state could be more competitive in 2024. Last year, Ohio voted overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights in its constitution and voted to legalize marijuana.
Priority states
Biden, meanwhile, visited Nevada and Arizona on Tuesday, two states that were among the closest in 2020 and remain top priorities for both campaigns.
Trump and Republicans have hammered Biden on the influx of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border in recent years, seeking to capitalize on the issue well beyond border states.
Biden has ratcheted up a counteroffensive in recent weeks after Senate Republicans killed a migration compromise they had negotiated with the White House, withholding their support only after Trump said he opposed the deal. Biden has used the circumstances to argue that Trump and Republicans have no interest in solving the issue but instead want to inflame voters in an election year.
Trump has coupled his campaign with his legal challenges, including dozens of criminal counts and civil cases in which he faces more than $500 million in fines.
His first criminal trial was scheduled to start Monday in New York on allegations he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments. But a judge delayed the trial for 30 days after the recent disclosure of new evidence that Trump’s lawyers said they needed time to review.
In a January poll conducted by Ipsos, two-thirds of respondents indicated they were “tired of seeing the same candidates in presidential elections and want someone new”. The survey also revealed that only a quarter of US citizens are “satisfied” with the two-party system.