Super Tuesday recap: Trump, Biden solidify path to nominations; Haley takes a win

Republican Steve Garvey will be the second candidate to advance to the general election for California’s Senate seat, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ.

Garvey will face Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in the election in November after the two came out ahead of other candidates including Reps. Katie Porter (D) and Barbara Lee (D). The candidate competed in a blanket primary in which all were on the same ballot and the two highest-performing candidates advanced to the general election.

Garvey had battled with Porter for second place in the polls but the former baseball star was ultimately able to pull out a spot in the general election.

Garvey advancing will likely give Schiff an easier race in the deeply blue California than if he had to face a fellow Democrat for the seat.

—Jared Gans

The Nikki Haley campaign said Tuesday that it was “honored” by the support received in the Super Tuesday states. Haley has so far only won the Super Tuesday GOP nominating contest on in Vermont.

“We’re honored to have received the support of millions of Americans across the country today, including in Vermont where Nikki became the first Republican woman to win two presidential primary contests,” Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement.

The statement offered no indication of whether Haley would drop out of the GOP primary or support Trump as the eventual nominee, but her remarks suggested the former U.N. ambassador wasn’t ready to coalesce around Trump.

“Unity is not achieved by simply claiming ‘we’re united.’ Today, in state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump,” Perez-Cubas wrote. “That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing those voters’ concerns will make the Republican Party and America better.”

— Caroline Vakil

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is projected to qualify for the California Senate runoff in November, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Schiff had largely registered in first place in most California Senate polls, though the state has seen lower voter turnout, which has skewed the electorate older and whiter.

Republican Steve Garvey and Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) are vying to make it into the runoff as well; California has a jungle primary system where all of the candidates competing for an office run under one ballot regardless of party, and the top two vote-getters advance to the November election.

Schiff and Porter have looked to elevate different Republican candidates in the race as a way to either put Porter into a better or worse position to make it into the runoff.

— Caroline Vakil

Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) is projected to win the Democratic primary in the Texas Senate race and face off against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in November, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Allred won with 59 percent of the vote while his main challenger, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D), received 17 percent, according to the 61 percent of the vote that had been counted so far.

Cruz’s seat is considered “likely Republican,” according to the nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report.

— Caroline Vakil

Former President Trump won California’s Republican primary, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ, notching a win in the Super Tuesday state with the biggest trove of delegates. 

Trump went into the state with a 50-plus point lead over rival Nikki Haley, according to averages from Decision Desk HQ/The Hill, and the win is yet another blow to the former president’s lone GOP challenger. 

California is reliably blue, and it isn’t expected to be in contention in the general election in November — but it boasts 169 delegates on the GOP side in the primary, lending Trump a boost as he races toward the Republican nomination. 

— Julia Mueller

Vice President Harris said that the Super Tuesday results were “an energizing moment for our campaign,” signaling that the Biden-Harris ticket won the Democratic primary in her home state of California.

Harris previewed that two days after Super Tuesday, President Biden will give the State of the Union address, which will then mark a new phase for the campaign.

“This week’s events will serve as a springboard for the next critical phase of the campaign,” she said. “The president and I know reelection must be earned, and we will continue to put in the work to reach every possible voter. Winning the fight to protect our fundamental freedoms will require nothing less.”

— Alex Gangitano

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said the Super Tuesday results, which former President Trump largely swept on the Republican side, highlight that Democrats are joining the fight for democracy.

“Tonight, voters from all across the country made their voices heard and joined Democrats in the battle to defend our democracy and protect our fundamental freedoms,” DNC Chair Jamie Harrison said. “Time and again, the American people choose unity over hate, democracy over authoritarianism, and hope over fear — and they are ready to do it again this November.”

Harrison added that November will present a choice between Democrats and “MAGA extremism led by Donald Trump,” arguing that the former president is running a campaign on “revenge and retribution.”

— Alex Gangitano

The vote for the “uncommitted” option in the Minnesota Democratic primary is currently above 20 percent based on the most recent Decision Desk HQ tally.

Biden has faced some pushback within his own party for his administration’s position on the Israel-Hamas war, and some activists have organized an effort for Democrats to vote uncommitted in several states as a protest vote.

Organizers actively rallied voters to choose uncommitted in the Michigan primary last week, but the option only received about 13 percent of the vote.

The option appears to be performing better in Minnesota, where Biden currently has about two-thirds of the vote. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) also currently has about 8.5 percent of the vote.

— Jared Gans

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) praised former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Super Tuesday, saying he’d like to see her have a role in a future Republican administration if she abandons her presidential bid.

McCarthy addressed the chances that Haley would drop out of the race against former President Trump while discussing the likely outcomes of Tuesday’s races on Fox News.

“Her campaign is probably going to come to a close,” McCarthy told Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. “But it’s not the close for Nikki Haley. She did a tremendous campaign.”

Read more of McCarthy’s comments here.

— Sarah Polus

Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley is projected to Vermont’s Republican primary, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Haley’s win in the Green Mountain State is considered an upset against GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. It’s the first state Haley has won in the Republican nominating contest; prior to Tuesday she had also won the Washington, D.C. GOP contest.

Vermont awards 17 delegates on the GOP side.

— Caroline Vakil

Former President Trump made no mention of Nikki Haley in his remarks after a slew of Super Tuesday wins, but he predicted the GOP would unify quickly around him.

“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,” Trump said. “And I have been saying lately, success will bring unity to our country.”

Trump’s speech was at times meandering, as he complained the press had lost the confidence of the public and said global leaders were “laughing” at the United States. At another point he referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus.”

— Brett Samuels

Former president Trump said the mainstream media “is getting beaten up pretty badly” and claimed there is not a free press in the United States.

“They used to be the policemen, the press,” Trump said during a speech from Mar-a-Lago.

Biden said in a statement Tuesday that the message voters sent on Super Tuesday was that “they are ready to fight back against Donald Trump’s extreme plan to take us backwards.”

The president, after sweeping the Democratic primaries, warned that the progress he’s made during his administration would be at risk under former President Trump and that this election is about defending democracy.

“[Trump] is driven by grievance and grift, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people,” Biden said. “He is determined to destroy our democracy, rip away fundamental freedoms like the ability for women to make their own health care decisions, and pass another round of billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy — and he’ll do or say anything to put himself in power.”

— Alex Gangitano

Trump took to the stage at his Mar-a-Lago estate shortly after 10:15 p.m. to address supporters.

“They call it Super Tuesday for a reason,” Trump said. “This is a big one. And they tell me, the pundits and otherwise, that there’s never been one like this. There’s never been anything this conclusive.”

Trump hit President Biden as “the worst president in the history of our country,” bashing the current administration on border security and inflation.

— Brett Samuels

President Biden is projected to win the Democratic primary in Utah, according to Decision Desk HQ.

The GOP primary has not yet been called for former President Trump. Utah awards 30 delegates on the Democratic side while Republicans will award 40.

Trump handily won the state against Biden by more than 20 points in 2020.

— Caroline Vakil

Trump has swept the board so far in the Republican contests on Tuesday, but the race between him and Haley is a nail-bitter in Vermont.

Trump leads Haley by just more than 3 percentage points, or about 1,100 votes, according to Decision Desk HQ’s latest tally. The former president also has just less than a majority of the votes counted so far.

Haley has not come close to winning any other state tonight, but she has stayed in a position to potentially upset Trump in the Green Mountain State.

— Jared Gans

Former President Trump is scheduled to address supporters at Mar-a-Lago at 10:15 p.m.

Trump has swept the Super Tuesday states thus far. His lone rival, Nikki Haley, is not expected to deliver remarks.

— Brett Samuels

Former President Trump is projected to win the GOP primary in Minnesota, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).

Minnesota awards 39 delegates on the GOP side, while doling out 75 on the Democratic side. DDHQ has already projected that President Biden has won in the Democratic primary.

Minnesota is among a handful of states where Democrats have been looking to stage a protest vote of “uncommitted” as a way to register their frustration with the Biden administration over its handling of the Israel-Hamas war. But that protest vote is not expected to be galvanize the same amount of votes it gained in Michigan.

Minnesota went for Biden by 7 points in 2020.

— Caroline Vakil

President Biden is projected to lose the Democratic caucuses in American Samoa. Decision Desk HQ made the call according to results provided by the U.S. territory’s Democratic Party.

Democrat Jason Palmer, an entrepreneur running a long-shot bid against the incumbent, was projected to win the primary.

Read more here.

— Julia Mueller

Backers of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are offering some warning signs to former President Trump ahead of the November election.

Exit polling from CBS News found a majority of Haley voters — 78 percent — saying they would not vote for the nominee in November no matter who it is, compared with 21 percent who said they would.

Meanwhile, exit polling from CNN found that 66 percent of Haley voters said they would not vote Republican in November regardless of the nominee, compared with 9 percent who said the opposite. Eighty-nine percent of Trump backers said they would vote Republican in November regardless of the nominee, while 28 percent said they would not.

— Caroline Vakil

Former President Trump is projected to win the Massachusetts GOP primary, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).

Massachusetts is awarding 40 delegates on the GOP side. DDHQ has already called the Massachusetts Democratic primary for President Biden.

Biden won the state by more than 33 points in 2020.

— Caroline Vakil

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he is confident Haley will support former President Trump if she drops out of the GOP race for president.

“I’m pretty confident that she’ll be a team player … when she realizes this is not her moment and there’s a lot at stake,” Graham said on CNN.

National Democrats moved to raise money off former President Trump’s string of Super Tuesday wins as he heads toward a likely general election rematch with President Biden.

“Donald Trump swept Super Tuesday states across the country tonight, all but guaranteeing he will be the Republican nominee,” read a fundraising email from the Democratic National Committee, pitching Trump as a threat to Democratic institutions, fair elections and “fundamental rights.” “We cannot let Trump win in November.”

Trump has bested Republican rival Nikki Haley in all the Super Tuesday GOP primary races called so far, while Biden has dominated the Democratic contests.

The pair have long appeared headed toward a rematch of their 2020 showdown, and the Super Tuesday races are set to give them each a boost toward their respective party nominations.

— Julia Mueller

Senior Trump adviser Jason Miller said Tuesday the former president is “quite a ways away” from making an announcement on a running mate.

“I have some folks who I like. But I would say this in all seriousness, I think the list is actually growing and getting longer, because as President Trump is interacting with all the folks who could be potential VP picks, there are so many impressive prospects that are out there,” Miller told NBC News Now.

“I think we’re quite a ways away, though, from seeing anything,” he added.

Trump has listed a slew of potential running mates, including Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and others.

— Brett Samuels

The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) got to work quickly attacking North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson after he won the state’s GOP nomination for governor.

“IT’S OFFICIAL: Mark Robinson — a dangerous conspiracy theorist — is now the Republican nominee for North Carolina governor. He wants to completely ban abortion with no exceptions and bring back NC’s notorious bathroom ban. We have to defeat him,” the DGA wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The group released a 60-second ad highlighting Robinson’s past comments calling abortion a “scourge.”

Robinson, the current lieutenant governor, is set to face off against state Attorney General Josh Stein (D) in November.

Stein has the support of outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper (D), while Robinson has endorsements from former President Trump and Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.).

Trump at a rally on Saturday called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

— Brett Samuels

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) weighed in as early returns showed him trailing President Biden, Marianne Williamson and ballots for “uncommitted” or “no preference” in Super Tuesday states.

“Congratulations to Joe Biden, Uncommitted, Marianne Williamson, and Nikki Haley for demonstrating more appeal to Democratic Party loyalists than me,” Phillips wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Phillips, who is running a primary campaign against Biden, finished in second in New Hampshire and third in South Carolina. He was not on the ballot in Nevada.

— Brett Samuels

CNN anchor and political pundit John King said Nikki Haley got the two-person GOP primary “she wanted” and “Republican voters are saying no.”

Haley, who had only won a single GOP primary heading into Super Tuesday, lost several states this week and was trailing in most of the remaining state primaries to former President Trump.

Haley had vowed to stay in the race until at least this week.

Former President Trump has won the Republican primaries in Texas and Colorado, according to Decision Desk HQ, beating out rival Nikki Haley and extending his Super Tuesday winning streak.

Trump’s win in Colorado comes just days after the Supreme Court weighed in on the state’s move to disqualify Trump from the Republican primary ballot under the 14th Amendment. The justices ruled unanimously on Monday that the state doesn’t have the authority to disqualify federal candidates. Read more here.

In Texas, there are 161 delegates available on the GOP side, and Trump’s win is set to give him a boost in his climb to the 1,215 he needs to score the Republican nod. Read more here.

— Julia Mueller

President Biden is projected to win the Democratic primaries in Texas, Colorado and Minnesota, according to Decision Desk HQ. Democrats are awarding 391 delegates covering the three states.

Colorado and Minnesota went for Biden in 2020 by more than 13 points and 7 points, respectively. Texas went for former President Trump in 2020 by more than 5 points.

— Caroline Vakil

Nikki Haley is watching Super Tuesday returns in Charleston, according to her campaign, as rival Donald Trump continues to rake in primary wins.

The Haley team is feeling “jubilant” and the former South Carolina governor is watching the results come in with her staff, “who are happy warriors tonight,” according to her campaign.

Trump has bested Haley in all the Super Tuesday contests called so far, though the race appears more competitive at this point in Vermont. DDHQ has projected seven states — Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Maine, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas — for Trump.

— Julia Mueller