US President Joe Biden and his most-likely main challenger, former President Donald Trump, dominated their respective primaries across the country on Tuesday, according to projections by multiple news agencies.
The voting – held in several states on March 5 and dubbed ‘Super Tuesday’ – is crucial in determining who the Democrats and Republicans will formally nominate as their candidates for the presidential election in November.
According to Reuters, Trump comfortably won the GOP votes in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. His last-remaining Republican rival – former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley – currently maintains a narrow lead over Trump in Vermont, CNN reported.
Trump celebrated his victory on Tuesday evening, vowing to unify the country. “We have a great Republican party with tremendous talent and we want to have unity and we’re going to have unity and it’s going to happen very quickly,” he said in a speech in Palm Beach, Florida.
Biden, meanwhile, won the Democrat vote in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia, Reuters said, citing a projection from Edison Research.
The voting took place a day after the US Supreme Court struck down a decision by Colorado’s top court to bar Trump from the presidential ballot in November. The ruling effectively derailed the campaign waged by Democrat activists to disqualify Trump because of his controversial role in the riot at the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Trump has long argued that attempts to prevent him from seeking a second term were a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
Campaigning has intensified in recent weeks, with Trump and Biden attacking each other’s record and character. The incumbent president and his aides have described Trump as a “threat to democracy.” The Republican, meanwhile, has questioned Biden’s mental fitness and has claimed that the continuation of his administration would usher in “the collapse” of America.