Donald Trump comes close to ‘Super Tuesday’ sweep
Washington, United States --- Donald Trump won the first 13 primary elections in the “Super Tuesday” states, including Texas and California, but lost out on a clean sweep after Nikki Haley’s surprise upset in Vermont.
The former president, bidding for a sensational White House comeback after being unseated by Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, hopes to take home an almost-decisive haul of delegates on Tuesday in his march to the Republican Party nomination.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia were all called by US networks for Trump, who expressed thanks on his Truth Social site as counts continued in the other Super Tuesday states across the country.
His longshot challenger, former UN ambassador Haley, narrowly won the northeast state of Vermont. She has so far refused to drop out of the race.
In the Democratic nomination contest, as expected, Biden won all of the 14 states to be called by US networks, though he was projected to lose to little-known challenger Jason Palmer in the small Pacific Ocean territory of American Samoa.
Polling averages from RealClearPolitics show Trump two points ahead of Biden in a one-on-one match-up in the November election.
Trump celebrated an “amazing night” as he closed in on the Republican presidential nomination with easy wins in the Super Tuesday primaries, setting up an all-but-certain rematch with President Joe Biden in November.
Fifteen states and a US territory staged nominating contests on the biggest day of the 2024 race so far, with both candidates coveting a second term in the White House.
Texas and California were among the major victories for Trump over Nikki Haley as he picked up support in every demographic, taking conservative southern states and more liberal battlegrounds such as Virginia, one of his longshot challenger’s best chances.
He was denied a clean sweep, with Haley edging a tight contest in the northeastern state of Vermont, but the former president told supporters they had witnessed “an amazing night and an amazing day.”
“They call it ‘Super Tuesday’for a reason,” Trump told a cheering crowd at his Mar-a-Lago beach club in Florida.
“This is a big one. They tell me, the pundits and otherwise, that there has never been one like this, never been anything so conclusive.”
This year’s Super Tuesday was sapped of much of its suspense as Biden and Trump had effectively secured their parties’ nominations before a ballot was cast Tuesday.
Haley, a former UN ambassador, has failed to throw any significant obstacles in Trump’s path to the nomination since finishing a distant third in the opening contest in Iowa in January. -