Biden, Trump notch victories in Mass. races
They move closer to Nov. rematch; Haley wins Vt. primary
President Biden and former president Donald Trump handily won their respective presidential primary contests in Massachusetts Tuesday, part of a commanding showing for each nationwide that cemented their paths to the November general election and moved the country ever closer to a rematch many voters look upon with dread.
With more than a dozen states voting in presidential primary contests, and more than one-third of all delegates at stake, Super Tuesday offered a late, long-shot opportunity for candidates such as Nikki Haley to reshape the race. But in Massachusetts and elsewhere, Biden and Trump dominated their respective contests, and voters trudged through the damp and gray toward increasingly predictable conclusions. The Associated Press called the races for Biden and Trump before 9 p.m., proving Super Tuesday predictions true here as they were in much of the rest of the country.
And given Trump’s sizable lead over Haley, she will not receive any GOP delegates in Massachusetts, state GOP officials said, citing party rules.
Supporters of both leading candidates celebrated their Super Tuesday gains, thanking voters across the country for propelling Biden and Trump closer to the White House.
“We expected it. But I think it speaks to the trend that’s happening all over the nation. We’re seeing all the other states come in for him as well,” said former Bristol County sheriff Thomas Hodgson, Trump’s Massachusetts campaign chairman, at a victory party for the former president in Quincy.
”We’re taking America back, community by community,” Hodgson added.
Massachusetts voters’ tempered enthusiasm for their choices, combined with minimal suspense about this week’s results, were on clear display Tuesday as residents cast their ballots across the state. Unofficial returns Tuesday night showed what state officials had forecast: notably lower turnout this year than in the last two presidential primaries here, when crowded and more heavily contested races drove people to the ballot box. And in interviews at their polling places, many voters expressed disillusionment with how the general election is shaping up.
Trump and Biden are both “horrible choices,” said Lori Glover, 57, who cast her vote for Haley at the Holy Name Parish in West Roxbury.
Glover said there isn’t one specific issue she feels passionate about — she just “wants a sane person in office.”
Of her vote for Haley, she noted: “I don’t know if there’s a chance or if it’s worth it at all, but I hope it is.”
In Reading, 48year-old Republican James Dudley called this election “a sad state of affairs.” Dudley, who is no fan of Trump, said he opted for the “no preference” option on his GOP ballot, and likely will again in November.
“It kind of sucks,” Dudley said. “I wish I had something more poetic for you.”
Reliably blue Massachusetts is unlikely to draw much interest in this fall’s general election. But Tuesday’s primary results here nonetheless illuminated the trends that will animate the race come November, as progressive Democrats and moderate Republicans each
showed dissatisfaction with their party’s likely nominees.
On the GOP side, Massachusetts — and the other New England states casting ballots Tuesday — was a friendlier forum for Haley, whose best outcomes so far have come in open-primary states where independent voters can cast ballots in the GOP primary. As part of a swing through New England last weekend, Haley told voters in Needham to “keep the faith.” And her best showing of the night came in Vermont, where she defeated Trump to earn her second victory of the primary cycle.
But even if New England was more fertile ground for the GOP underdog, Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, did not earn any of Massachusetts’ 40 Republican delegates, state party officials said Tuesday night. Under party rules, if a candidate exceeds 50 percent of the vote in the GOP primary, he or she carries all of the state’s delegates. Unofficial returns late Tuesday showed Trump earning well over 50 percent of the GOP primary vote share, leading Haley by roughly 30 percentage points.
Even as they cast ballots for her Tuesday, Haley supporters in Massachusetts were clear-eyed about how unlikely it is that she will make it to the general election.
Carlo Bacci, an unenrolled voter and a member of Reading’s select board, said he voted for Haley on Tuesday, but is torn over how he’d vote between Biden and Trump should they be the choices in the general election.
“Who’s going to do the least amount of damage in four years? That’s going to be the sentiment,” Bacci said. “I know that Trump’s bad for the country. I think Biden’s worse.”
At the polls Tuesday, Trump supporters said they were motivated by concerns about immigration at the country’s southern border, which polls show is the top issue for GOP voters across the country, even in states far from the US-Mexico border.
“I have nothing against any citizens coming here legally,” said Bill Vaccari, a 51-year-old Reading Republican who cast immigration as a problem of Democrats’ making. “They’re just too many, and it’s unfair the burden it’s putting on the cities.”
At the Trump victory party in Quincy, supporters in Trump hats, jackets, and pins celebrated with patriotic table arrangements, a buffet, and a Trumpthemed photo backdrop as returns came in Tuesday.
“I am delighted,” said Cappy Capozzoli, 85, who stood in the back of the room while GOP leaders gave speeches to supporters. “He’s the only guy who is going to save this country.”
For Democrats, meanwhile, Tuesday’s results offered a gauge of the base’s enthusiasm for Biden, who has faced criticism from many on the left for his ongoing support for Israel in the conflict in Gaza. At a march last weekend in Cambridge, demonstrators calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war encouraged voters to select the “no preference” option on the Democratic ballot here to show they oppose Biden’s handling of the conflict.
Biden won a decisive victory here over author Marianne Williamson and Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, who were also on the Democratic ballot. As results continued to come in Tuesday, “no preference” was winning an even bigger slice of the vote than either Williamson or Phillips, in an indication of dissatisfaction with the president among liberal voters here.
In a statement, Biden didn’t acknowledge the discontent from the left, but focused on his broad Super Tuesday victories and looked ahead to November’s general election. ”Tonight’s results leave the American people with a clear choice: Are we going to keep moving forward or will we allow Donald Trump to drag us backwards into the chaos, division, and darkness that defined his term in office?” he said.
The displeasure with Biden was on full display earlier Tuesday in Jamaica Plain, one of Boston’s most progressive corners, where a number of Democrats voted “no preference” on Tuesday.
“It’s important to send a message to Joe Biden and the Democrats that we need a permanent cease-fire,” said Brooks Winner, 35.
For other Democrats, casting a ballot for Biden on Tuesday was an easy choice. Ellen Burns, of North Andover, framed the likely general election between Biden and Trump as a choice between a “good man and a bad man.”
Burns said she frets about the potential fallout should Trump lose.
“If he doesn’t get in, I’m afraid there’ll be a civil war,” she said.
And if Trump does win? Burns, 69, paused. “I’m afraid of a lot.”
Samantha J. Gross of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Alexa Coultoff and Maddie Khaw contributed to this report. Emma Platoff can be reached at emma.platoff@globe.com. Follow her @emmaplatoff. Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.