As Nikki Haley announced the end to her presidential campaign and effectively ceded the 2024 Republican nomination to Donald Trump, the fight to win over her supporters began.
The former South Carolina governor and Trump’s UN ambassador did not endorse her former boss during her speech on Wednesday, instead saying that it was up to him to “earn” the support of her voters. Whether Haley will endorse him is now a central campaign question for Trump.
Both Joe Biden and Trump quickly released statements calling on Haley voters to join their team – although using very different language. While Biden praised Haley for “speaking the truth” about Trump, Trump said he had “trounced” her in the Super Tuesday contests. Following her speech announcing her exit from the race, Trump’s campaign in a fundraising email falsely claimed that Haley had endorsed his candidacy.
Despite enduring a long string of losses, exit polls showed Haley’s strength among suburban women and independents – key constituencies in a general election that she warned Trump was continuing to alienate. A sizable share of her supporters – and Republican voters more broadly – say they would not vote for a candidate convicted of a crime.
Nearly 570,000 voters in the key battleground states of Nevada, North Carolina and Michigan voted for Haley, Reuters reported, a small but potentially significant group in races that have been decided by tiny margins in recent elections.
A group that had targeted independents and Democrats to vote for Haley over Trump in Republican primaries is now pushing those voters to back Biden in November.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden are set for a rematch in the November election, after Nikki Haley announced the end of her presidential campaign after being soundly defeated in coast-to-coast Super Tuesday contests. Haley declined to immediately endorse the former president as nearly all of his other Republican rivals did, instead challenging Trump to earn the support of her voters.
Joe Biden praised the “courage” he said Haley displayed in seeking the Republican nomination despite knowing it was likely to provoke the wrath of Trump and his most loyal supporters. By contrast, Donald Trump attacked her in a social media post, accusing his rival of drawing support from “Radical Left Democrats” and downplaying her sole win in Vermont.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, endorsed Donald Trump for president despite years of acrimony between the pair including Trump calling McConnell a “piece of shit” and using racist invective in attacks against his wife.
Dean Phillips, the Minnesota congressman running against Biden in the Democratic primary dropped out of the race, ending a long-shot bid to stop the US president from winning the nomination.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump largely cruised to easy victories on Super Tuesday. Biden won every contest except American Samoa, while Trump won everything except Vermont, where Haley scored a close surprise victory.
Biden faced his biggest challenge so far from an ongoing protest vote against his stance on the Israel-Gaza war. The “uncommitted” campaign is moving nationally to push Biden on the issue, calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest people, said he will not donate money to either Biden or Trump. His statement came after reports that Musk met with Trump in Florida over the weekend.
TheUS supreme court has scheduled argument hearings surrounding Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution in his involvement in the 2020 presidential overturn efforts.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has defended his decision to endorse Donald Trump for president despite years of acrimony, including Trump calling McConnell a “piece of shit” and attacking his wife in racist terms.
Asked by a reporter how he reconciles his endorsement with the fact that he said Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the January 6 insurrection, McConnell replied:
February 25th, 2021, shortly after the attack on the Capitol, I was asked a similar question, and I said I would support the nominee for president even if it were the former president.
Donald Trump has called for debates with Joe Biden on issues that are “vital to America, and the American people”.
In a post on his TruthSocial platform, Trump said:
It is important, for the Good of our Country, that Joe Biden and I Debate Issues that are so vital to America, and the American People. Therefore, I am calling for Debates, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!
As Nikki Haley announced the end to her presidential campaign and effectively ceded the 2024 Republican nomination to Donald Trump, the fight to win over her supporters began.
The former South Carolina governor and Trump’s UN ambassador did not endorse her former boss during her speech on Wednesday, instead saying that it was up to him to “earn” the support of her voters. Whether Haley will endorse him is now a central campaign question for Trump.
Both Joe Biden and Trump quickly released statements calling on Haley voters to join their team – although using very different language. While Biden praised Haley for “speaking the truth” about Trump, Trump said he had “trounced” her in the Super Tuesday contests. Following her speech announcing her exit from the race, Trump’s campaign in a fundraising email falsely claimed that Haley had endorsed his candidacy.
Despite enduring a long string of losses, exit polls showed Haley’s strength among suburban women and independents – key constituencies in a general election that she warned Trump was continuing to alienate. A sizable share of her supporters – and Republican voters more broadly – say they would not vote for a candidate convicted of a crime.
Nearly 570,000 voters in the key battleground states of Nevada, North Carolina and Michigan voted for Haley, Reuters reported, a small but potentially significant group in races that have been decided by tiny margins in recent elections.
A group that had targeted independents and Democrats to vote for Haley over Trump in Republican primaries is now pushing those voters to back Biden in November.
A group of House Democrats have warned Joe Biden that an anticipated Israeli invasion of Rafah could violate the US’s conditions on sending military aid to Israel.
More than three dozen House Democrats have sent a letter to the White House writing that a Rafah invasion “would likely contravene” principles outlined in a memo Biden signed last month that US military aid be used in accordance with international law, Axios reported. The letter reads:
While we continue to urge Israel to avoid an expanded operation in Rafah, we share your obvious concern about the absence of a credible plan for the safety and support of the more than one million civilians sheltering in Rafah.
The Biden administration has faced growing calls from Democrats to push Israel to ease the devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with some saying they may try to stop military assistance if conditions for civilians do not improve, Reuters reported.
The supreme court has scheduled argument hearings surrounding Donald Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution in his involvement in the 2020 presidential overturn efforts.
The supreme court has scheduled the hearing for 25 April, the last day of hearings for this court term.
Last Wednesday, the supreme court agreed to hear the former president’s claims that he cannot be prosecuted for his efforts in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The supreme court’s decision to hear his claims comes after a federal appeals court in February categorically rejected Trump’s claim that he is immune from criminal prosecution.
The supreme court’s decision to hear Trump’s claims marks the court’s direct entry into the 2024 presidential election, and will potentially determine whether Trump will go to trial prior to election day on 5 November.
CodePink, a feminist and anti-war advocacy organization, is urging voters to plan a “sit in” in Nancy Pelosi’s office on the eve of International Women’s Day to “expose her faux feminism”.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the group, along with Mothers and Daughters Against Genocide, said that they are targeting the former House speaker because “she has the power and position to lead on women’s rights and be a true champion for reproductive justice; however, she instead chooses to support and fund the genocide in Gaza.”
They went on to add:
The group will be there to point out her blatant feminist hypocrisy and her silence and complicity regarding the US-supported genocide in Gaza. The group’s demands for the women of Congress to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to US funding and military assistance to Israel, and to restore funding the UNRWA for the continuation of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Earlier this year, Pelosi, who has repeatedly expressed support for Israel, faced backlash after she condemned pro-ceasefire supporters by accusing them of having ties to Russia and spreading “Mr Putin’s message”.
Since 7 October, Israel has killed over 30,000 Palestinians, the majority being women and children. Numerous UN agencies have warned of the increasing dangers faced by Palestinian women amid the humanitarian crisis, including malnutrition, lack of food security, and gender-based violence, among other risks.
Grassroots organizations’ attempts to push for an “uncommitted” vote in Minnesota have manifested in the allocation of 11 national delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Minnesota’s Democratic Farmer Labor Party (DFL) announced that Joe Biden won 64 of the 75 delegates that were at stake in the DFL presidential primary while uncommitted won 11 delegates.
Since last October, grassroots organizations across the country have been urging voters to vote “uncommitted” in protest against Biden’s support for Israel.
Last month, over 100,000 voters in Michigan voted “uncommitted”, marking 13.2% of the state’s Democratic primary.
The increasing pushes for “uncommitted” votes come amid a horrifying humanitarian crisis in Gaza where Israeli forces have killed over 30,000 Palestinians since last October while forcibly displacing approximately 2 million survivors.
Moreover, with the Biden administration repeatedly bypassing Congress to approve the sale of weapons to Israel, many young, Arab American and Muslim voters across the country have become disenchanted with the Democratic president and his “inept” outreach.
Liz Cheney, former Republican congresswoman and fierce Donald Trump critic, is urging supporters to join The Great Task, a Super Pac she is sponsoring which is “focused on reverence for the rule of law [and] respect for our constitution”.
In a tweet on Wednesday following Nikki Haley’s announcement of her 2024 presidential race dropout, Cheney wrote:
The GOP has chosen. They will nominate a man who attempted to overturn an election and seize power. We have eight months to save our republic and ensure Donald Trump is never anywhere near the Oval Office again. Join me in the fight for our nation’s freedom.
With Haley’s dropout and Trump’s numerous victories on Super Tuesday, the rematch between Trump and Joe Biden in the upcoming general election is now set.
In California, several key races remain undecided.
Prop 1, a statewide ballot measure that California’s governor Gavin Newsom pushed as a way to tackle the mental health and homelessness crises, has a very slight lead with about 50% of votes counted. The measure, which would reallocate some of the state’s mental health funds toward housing and treatment centers for severe mental illness and substance abuse disorders, has been slammed by disability advocates because it could facilitate involuntary institutionalization. Local governments have also opposed the measure because it would effectively defund community-based preventive treatment programs.
In Los Angeles county, a highly contested district attorney race remains up in the air. The current progressive DA, George Gascón, was leading – followed closely by a slew of opponents looking to undo his reforms. They including Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and deputy district attorney Jonathan Hatami. The top two vote getters will advance to the November election.
LA’s city council races will also be interesting to watch. Kevin De León, an incumbent who along with two other council members was secretly recorded making racist and disparaging remarks about constituents and colleagues, was leading ahead of seven opponents. After the scandal broke in 2022, even Joe Biden had called for León and two others to step down from the city council.
Several key House races remain unclear. In California’s 22nd district, in the state’s Central Valley, incumbent Republican David Valdado has the lead followed by Democrat Rudy Salas. But Republican Chris Mathys is in third place. The top two vote-getters will advance – and Democrats are worried that state senator Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat trailing in fourth, would split voters, leading to two Republicans advancing to the general.
In southern California’s 47th district, Republican Scott Baugh and Democratic state senator Dave Min were leading in early returns to fill the seat being vacated by Katie Porter (who lost her bid for the US senate).
And in the coastal 49th district, incumbent Democrat Mike Levin has advanced to the November ballot, but it’s unclear who he’ll face. This is a district that Republicans are hoping to flip, and Republican Matt Gunderson, an auto dealer, appeared to be leading among the challengers.
Dean Phillips has suspended his campaign for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, ending his long-shot primary challenge against Joe Biden.
Phillips, in a radio interview on Wednesday, said:
I’m going to suspend my campaign and I will be, right now, endorsing President Biden because the choices are so clear.
In a social media post, the Minnesota congressman said it was “clear that Joe Biden is OUR candidate”, adding:
I ask you join me in mobilizing, energizing, and doing everything you can to help keep a man of decency and integrity in the White House. That’s Joe Biden.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Nikki Haley ended her presidential campaign after being soundly defeated in coast-to-coast Super Tuesday contests, in effect ceding the 2024 Republican nomination to Donald Trump. Haley declined to immediately endorse the former president as nearly all of his other Republican rivals did, instead she challenged Trump to earn the support of her voters.
Joe Biden praised the “courage” he said Haley displayed in seeking the Republican nomination despite knowing it was likely to provoke the wrath of Trump and his most loyal supporters. By contrast, Donald Trump attacked her in a social media post, accusing his rival of drawing support from “Radical Left Democrats” and downplaying her sole win in Vermont.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, endorsed Donald Trump for president despite years of acrimony between the pair including Trump calling McConnell a “piece of shit” and using racist invective in attacks against his wife.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump largely cruised to easy victories on Super Tuesday. Biden won every contest except American Samoa, while Trump won everything except Vermont, where Haley scored a close surprise victory.
Biden faced his biggest challenge so far from an ongoing protest vote against his stance on the Israel-Gaza war. The uncommitted campaign is moving nationally to push Biden on the issue, calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest people, said he will not donate money to either Biden or Trump. His statement came after reports that Musk met with Trump in Florida over the weekend. Musk’s announcement does not rule out his support for either Trump or Biden in ways other than a direct donation, as he could donate to a Super Pac or group that benefits either candidate.
Adam Schiff, the centrist Democratic congressman and longtime Trump antagonist, was declared the first-place winner to fill the California seat held by the late US senator Dianne Feinstein. He will face off with Republican Steve Garvey, a former professional baseball player, in November. It means that for the first time in more than three decades, California won’t have a woman in the Senate.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican congresswoman, Trump ally and potential vice-presidential pick told a British interviewer to “Fuck off”, when asked about her frequent repetition of conspiracy theories.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
