Trump seeks knockout as 'Super Tuesday' states choose nominees
Send a link to a friend
[March 05, 2024]
By Joseph Ax and Gram Slattery
FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - Donald Trump will aim to deliver a
knockout blow on "Super Tuesday" to his lone challenger for the
Republican presidential nomination, Nikki Haley, as 15 states hold
Republican contests on the biggest voting day of the primary season.
The former president, who has dominated the Republican campaign from the
start despite his litany of criminal charges, has swept all but one of
the early nominating contests, winnowing a sprawling Republican field of
candidates down to two in the process.
While Trump cannot win enough delegates on Tuesday to formally clinch
the nomination, another dominant performance would essentially end any
remaining sliver of suspense. All told, Tuesday's contests will award
more than one-third of Republican delegates - and more than 70% of the
number needed to secure the nomination.
A third consecutive nomination for Trump would set up a rematch with
Democratic President Joe Biden in November's election. Biden is expected
to win Tuesday's Democratic contests easily, though activists opposed to
Biden's Israel policy are calling on Muslim Americans and progressives
to vote "uncommitted" in Minnesota in protest.
Haley, a former U.N. ambassador under Trump, has faced mounting
questions about how long she will continue her long-shot campaign,
particularly after losing her home state of South Carolina 10 days ago.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Mar/05/images/ads/current/castlemanor_sda_FINANCIAL_2017.png)
She had pledged to press on until the Super Tuesday contests but has not
made any promises beyond that, and her campaign has not scheduled any
public events on Tuesday or beyond.
Trump was leading Haley in every Super Tuesday state where public
polling data was available, according to poll tracking website 538. In
California and Texas, which together account for more than 300
delegates, Trump was ahead by an average of more than 50 percentage
points.
But Haley allies see a narrow window of opportunity to eke out a win in
states such as Virginia, Massachusetts and Vermont, which have more of
the wealthy, college-educated voters who tend to support her candidacy.
Those three states are also among several on Super Tuesday that do not
require primary voters be registered Republicans. Independent and
moderate voters have favored Haley over Trump in early voting states,
according to exit polls from Edison Research.
TRUMP'S VULNERABILITIES
Another competition to watch could be Utah, whose sizable Mormon
population is cool on Trump.
Trump's advisers have said they expect him to eliminate Haley
mathematically no later than March 19; at that point, two-thirds of the
states will have voted. Trump is scheduled to begin his first criminal
trial six days later in New York, where he is charged with falsifying
business records to conceal hush money payments to a porn star.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/030524PIX/news_p30.jpg)
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald
Trump gestures during a campaign rally on March 2 in Richmond,
Virginia, U.S. March 2, 2024. REUTERS/Jay Paul
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Mar/05/images/ads/current/graue_lda_chevysilverado4069_030424.jpg)
Haley scored her first victory on Sunday in Washington, D.C.,
becoming the first woman ever to win a Republican presidential
primary. Trump won North Dakota's vote on Monday after sweeping
contests in Michigan, Idaho and Missouri on Saturday.
While Haley has failed to slow Trump's momentum, her challenge has
highlighted some of his potential vulnerabilities in a general
election. She has repeatedly noted that she reached 40% in some
state contests, arguing that her performance shows independents and
moderate Republicans harbor unease about a second Trump term.
Terri Johnson, 57, a Haley supporter, said Haley had a better chance
of defeating Biden in November.
"I feel like she would bring the Never Trumpers in and the
Republicans would win in November," she said at a Haley rally in
Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday.
Nicholas Thompson, a 43-year-old Trump supporter, dismissed Haley as
a "RINO" - a Republican in Name Only.
"Trump doesn't want to start any new wars, and he'll secure the
border," Thompson said on Monday, as he showed his father and
stepmother around the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles.
Tuesday's elections were taking place a day after the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that states cannot remove Trump from their ballots based
on a U.S. constitutional amendment barring insurrectionists from
holding office.
The decision, while a victory for Trump, was also a reminder of his
efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which culminated in an attack
on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of his supporters.
Trump faces both federal and state charges for election
interference, though it is not clear whether either case will reach
trial before November's election. He has also been indicted on
federal charges for retaining classified documents after leaving
office.
He has pleaded not guilty in every case and claimed without evidence
that they are part of a Democratic conspiracy to prevent him from
returning to power.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York and Gram Slattery in Fort Worth,
Texas; Additional reporting by Alexandra Ulmer in Los Angeles;
Editing by Ross Colvin and Stephen Coates)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Mar/05/images/ads/current/ldn_booksda_CHASSKAREN_010924.png) |