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    Fani Willis accepts resignation of deputy Nathan Wade in Trump Georgia case

    The Fulton county district attorney on Friday formally accepted the resignation of her top deputy with whom she had a romantic relationship, ensuring she would continue to prosecute the criminal case against Donald Trump over efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.The move by Fani Willis came shortly after the judge overseeing the case ruled that the relationship had created enough of a distraction that either Willis or the deputy, Nathan Wade, needed to step down.The choice to step down was straightforward and expected, and Wade submitted his resignation to allow Willis to stay on as lead prosecutor against Trump and dozens of allies indicted on charges of violating Georgia’s state racketeering statute.“You led a team that secured a true bill of indictment against nineteen individuals who are accused of violating Georgia law to undermine the 2020 election for the former President of the United States,” Willis wrote in a letter obtained by the Guardian.“Please accept my sincere gratitude on behalf of the citizens of Fulton county, Georgia, for your patriotism, courage, and dedication to justice. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.”The ruling by the Fulton county superior court judge Scott McAfee stopped short of disqualifying Willis, which Trump and his co-defendants had sought over allegations that the relationship was a conflict of interest.The decision avoided catastrophe for Willis. An order removing her and her office from the case would have almost certainly delayed the prosecution significantly during reassignment to another prosecutor in Georgia, who might have opted to toss the charges altogether.Although the judge found the evidence insufficient to disqualify her from bringing the case, he was unsparing in his criticism of the way Willis so casually handled the relationship and the manner of her testimony on the witness stand during a series of hearings on the matter.The Wade-Willis relationship amounted to such a fatal appearance of impropriety that one of the pair needed to resign even if no actual conflict of interest existed, the judge wrote, making clear that the commingling of personal and professional relations was untenable.Shortly after Willis announced that she had accepted Wade’s resignation, Trump went on his Truth Social site and said the development was “BIG STUFF”.“The Fani Willis lover, Mr Nathan Wade Esq, has just resigned in disgrace,” Trump wrote, among other things.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe Trump co-defendant Michael Roman in January moved to disqualify Willis because of her relationship with Wade, which at the time was not publicly known. Willis and Wade admitted to having a relationship but said it did not begin until after Wade had been hired to work on the Trump case in 2022.The case being led by Willis’s office contains only some of the dozens of criminal charges against Trump for subversion of his failed 2020 re-election run, retention of classified documents and hush-money payments. In civil litigation, Trump has been found liable of sexual abuse of writer E Jean Carroll and has been adjudicated as having committed business fraud.Trump nonetheless has secured the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic incumbent Joe Biden for a second presidency in November. More

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    Key takeaways from Georgia judge’s ruling on Fani Willis’s role in Trump case

    The Georgia judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the state on Friday declined to remove Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney, from leading the prosecution, finding there was no conflict of interest stemming from her romantic relationship with her top deputy.But the judge, Scott McAfee, ruled the relationship had the “appearance of impropriety” and gave Willis a choice: either she could step down, or the deputy, special prosecutor Nathan Wade, could do so. Wade resigned just hours later.Nonetheless, the prosecution against Trump will be one that is deeply politically damaged, especially due to the scathing criticism of her by McAfee.Here are the top takeaways from the 23-page ruling:Willis can continue with the prosecutionThe principal result of the judge’s decision is that Willis can stay on the case, along with her other top deputies and line attorneys who have lived and breathed the Trump Rico case for years as they combed through the evidence and presented the evidence to the grand jury.There had been no showing that the Willis-Wade relationship violated the Trump defendants’ rights or hurt them in any way, the judge wrote, and disqualifying Willis was unnecessary when she could simply have Wade step down.The fear with this disqualification motion brought by Trump’s co-defendant Mike Roman was that if Willis was removed, it would also disqualify her entire office and have the case referred to a council of prosecutors which, in theory, could have seen the end of the case.But that is not happening. In many ways, the judge gave Willis a straightforward choice in a balanced opinion. There were two ways to cure the appearance of impropriety – either Willis went or Wade went – and the judge left it up to Willis to decide how to set things straight.No financial gain as alleged by Trump“The evidence demonstrated that the financial gain flowing from her relationship with Wade was not a motivating factor on the part of the district attorney to indict and prosecute this case,” McAfee wrote.That finding was notable because the whole theory of the conflict of interest allegation, as put forward by the Trump defendants, was that Willis was involved in some kickback scheme whereby her relationship with Wade meant she was obtaining an unlawful benefit.And while the judge wrote that Willis’s claim that she and Willis reimbursed each other for personal expenses was unusual and understandably concerning, the evidence did not show it was so incredible that it was inherently unbelievable.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBrutal criticism for Willis“This finding is by no means an indication that the court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the district attorney’s testimony during the evidentiary hearing,” McAfee wrote.Although the judge found the evidence was insufficient to disqualify her from bringing the case, he was unsparing in his deep criticism of the way that Willis so casually handled the relationship and the manner of her testimony on the witness stand.The Wade-Willis relationship still amounted to such a fatal appearance of impropriety that one of the pair needed to resign even if no actual conflict of interest existed, the judge wrote, making clear the commingling of personal and professional relations was untenable.Willis may face a gag order“The court cannot find that this speech crossed the line to the point where the defendants have been denied the opportunity for a fundamentally fair trial, or that it requires the district attorney’s disqualification. But it was still legally improper,” McAfee wrote.Trump’s lawyer, Steve Sadow, had additionally asked the judge to remove Willis because of a speech she gave that complained vaguely about the disqualification motion, decrying the use of the “the race card” – which Sadow argued inflamed racial animus inappropriately.While the judge found Willis’s remarks did not amount to trying the case in public, he condemned the speech and suggested he might be prepared to issue a gag order against the district attorney’s office to prevent further public commentary. More

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    Highlights of the Judge’s Ruling on Fani Willis in the Georgia Trump Case

    A judge overseeing the criminal election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump in Georgia declined on Friday to disqualify the district attorney leading the prosecution, Fani T. Willis, over a romantic relationship she had with the lawyer she hired to manage the case, Nathan J. Wade.But even as the judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, rejected the claim by one of Mr. Trump’s co-defendants, Mike Roman, that the relationship raised an actual conflict of interest by giving Ms. Willis a financial stake in the case, the judge also ruled that it raised “a significant appearance of impropriety.”The judge gave her two choices: either Mr. Wade leaves her prosecution team, or she and her office must step aside from the case.Here are highlights from the 23-page ruling:A combination of factors raises a legitimate question.Alone, each of the two main issues raised by the defense — that Mr. Wade is being paid by the hour, and that two members of the prosecution team were having a relationship — would not be a problem. But combined, they raise an deeper issue, the judge wrote.Financial gain was neither proven nor shown to be a motivating factor.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Judge dismisses six charges against Trump and defendants in Georgia election case

    The Georgia judge overseeing the election-interference case against Donald Trump and 14 defendants dismissed six of the charges in the wide-ranging indictment on Wednesday, saying they were not detailed enough.One of the many crimes Trump and some of the co-defendants in the case were charged with was soliciting officials in Georgia to violate their oath of office. Those charges were dismissed. The other charges in the case against Trump and other defendants remain.More details soon … More

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    Biden and Trump clinch nominations, sealing presidential rematch in 2024 election

    Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump won primary elections in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state on Tuesday, soldidifying a rematch a majority of voters aren’t looking forward to.Both men captured nearly all the votes cast so far in what had become token state primaries, along with the primary for Democrats Abroad and the Republican caucus in Hawaii. Biden also won the Northern Mariana Islands primary Tuesday morning, earning 11 delegates.In Georgia, a nascent effort to register opposition to the Biden administration’s support for the war in Gaza could not be easily expressed with “no preference” protest votes in Georgia, because the ballot does not provide a way to do so. One woman in Roswell, Georgia described voting for Representative Dean Phillips, who dropped out of the Democratic contest last week, as a substitute.“I voted a protest vote against the war in Gaza because I think it is horrible what is happening and I’m ashamed of my country right now,” said Robin Hawking, 56, a software developer from Roswell. She said she is normally a Republican voter. “I’m hoping if enough people vote for not-Biden, he’ll get the message that he’s going to lose this election unless he does a cease fire.”Uchenna Nwosu, a gynecologist, said her decision was a no-brainer.“It’s clear that I couldn’t vote for somebody who repealed women’s rights for abortion, for instance, for healthcare,” she said. “I don’t know why Trump should be in the race. I mean, that alone is a good reason. He doesn’t stand for anything that I stand for. So that’s it.”Trump ran unopposed in Georgia, though other names appeared still appeared on the ballot, attracting a few voters.Scott Carpenter of Roswell voted for former ambassador Nikki Haley because he hated Trump, he said. He voted for Biden in 2020. “I don’t like Trump. I don’t like Biden. I just wanted a different choice,” he said.Travis Foreman, 46, an attorney in Alpharetta, said he thought Trump was good for America and expressed frustration with the Democratic party.“I don’t agree with the party and some of their core beliefs,” Foreman said, adding that he’s voted Democratic and independent during his life. “And it’s hard for me as a preacher’s kid from South Georgia to just agree with some of their core fundamental beliefs that they want me to. A whole gender ideology, movement – I just have a problem with it. I don’t mind what anyone chooses to do with their lives and how they live their lives, but don’t try to force me to accept certain things against my own principles. It just came to me that’s the No 1 issue.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBiden won enough delegates in Georgia almost immediately to win the Democratic nomination, which required 1,968 on the first ballot to win.“Four years ago, I ran for president because I believed we were in a battle for the soul of this nation. Because of the American people, we won that battle, and now I am honored that the broad coalition of voters representing the rich diversity of the Democratic party across the country have put their faith in me once again to lead our party – and our country – in a moment when the threat Trump poses is greater than ever,” he said in a statement.Trump was also on track to secure the required 1,215 delegates needed for the Republican nomination. More

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    Full live results of the 2024 presidential primaries, state by state

    View image in fullscreenGeorgia, Mississippi and Washington chose their presidential candidates on Tuesday in contests that come as both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are already their parties’ presumptive nominees.Hawaii also held its Republican caucuses on Tuesday and Democrats abroad and in the Northern Mariana territory voted as well.Biden has formally gained enough delegates to secure the nomination on 19 March. Meanwhile, Trump must win 140 delegates of 161 up for grabs on Tuesday to officially win the Republican party’s nomination.Trump no longer faces active opposition after former ambassador Nikki Haley’s withdrawal from the race after Super Tuesday. Biden only faces opposition from author Marianne Williamson, who has won no delegates.@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff) 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    Georgia Republican primaryTue 12 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedDonald Trump 84.5% 496,560 votes (56 delegates)Nikki Haley 13.2% 77,774 votes Ryan Binkley 0.1% 378 votes Ron DeSantis 1.3% Chris Christie 0.3% Tim Scott 0.2% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.2% Asa Hutchinson 0.1% David Stuckenberg 0.0% Doug Burgum 0.0% Perry Johnson 0.0% Georgia Democratic primaryTue 12 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedJoe Biden 95.2% 274,967 votes (108 delegates)Marianne Williamson 3.0% 8,644 votes Dean Phillips 1.8% 5,255 votes Hawaii Republican caucusesTue 12 Mar 2024Count in progress: 0% countedNikki Haley 0% 0 votes Ryan Binkley 0% 0 votes Donald Trump 0% 0 votes Chris Christie 0% Ron DeSantis 0% Doug Burgum 0% Vivek Ramaswamy 0% David Stuckenberg 0% Mississippi Democratic primaryTue 12 Mar 2024Count in progress: 0% countedJoe Biden (uncontested) (35 delegates)Mississippi Republican primaryTue 12 Mar 2024Count in progress: 94.78% countedDonald Trump 92.6% 218,648 votes (40 delegates)Nikki Haley 5.3% 12,530 votes Ron DeSantis 1.6% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.4% Washington Democratic primaryTue 12 Mar 2024Count in progress: 79.43% countedJoe Biden 86.7% 559,996 votes (92 delegates) Uncommitted 7.5% 48,619 votes Dean Phillips 3.1% 19,883 votes Marianne Williamson 2.7% 17,309 votes Washington Republican primaryTue 12 Mar 2024Count in progress: 80.45% countedDonald Trump 74.2% 442,048 votes (43 delegates)Nikki Haley 21.7% 129,394 votes Ron DeSantis 2.2% Chris Christie 1.1% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.9% Alaska Republican caucusesTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 87.6% 9,243 votes (29 delegates)Nikki Haley 12.0% 1,266 votes Vivek Ramaswamy 0.4% Alabama Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedDonald Trump 83.2% 497,739 votes (50 delegates)Nikki Haley 13.0% 77,564 votes Ryan Binkley 0.1% 508 votes Uncommitted 1.6% Ron DeSantis 1.4% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.3% Chris Christie 0.2% David Stuckenberg 0.1% Alabama Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedJoe Biden 89.5% 167,165 votes (52 delegates) Uncommitted 6.0% 11,213 votes Dean Phillips 4.5% 8,391 votes Arkansas Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedJoe Biden 88.5% 71,888 votes (31 delegates)Marianne Williamson 4.8% 3,876 votes Dean Phillips 2.9% 2,341 votes Stephen Lyons 1.8% Armando Perez-Serrato 1.1% Frankie Lozada 1.0% Arkansas Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedDonald Trump 76.9% 204,664 votes (39 delegates)Nikki Haley 18.4% 49,035 votes (1 delegates)Ryan Binkley 0.1% 183 votes Asa Hutchinson 2.8% Ron DeSantis 1.2% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.3% Chris Christie 0.2% Doug Burgum 0.1% David Stuckenberg 0.1% California Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 84.65% countedJoe Biden 89.3% 2,794,314 votes (424 delegates)Marianne Williamson 3.9% 121,630 votes Dean Phillips 2.8% 87,220 votes Armando Perez-Serrato 1.2% Gabriel Cornejo 1.2% President Boddie 0.7% Stephen Lyons 0.6% Eban Cambridge 0.3% California Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 85% countedDonald Trump 79.1% 1,742,482 votes (169 delegates)Nikki Haley 17.5% 386,000 votes Ryan Binkley 0.1% 3,267 votes Ron DeSantis 1.4% Chris Christie 0.8% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.4% Rachel Swift 0.2% David Stuckenberg 0.2% Asa Hutchinson 0.1% Colorado Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 93.25% countedJoe Biden 82.6% 473,533 votes (72 delegates)Dean Phillips 3.1% 17,717 votes Marianne Williamson 2.9% 16,487 votes Noncommitted Delegate 8.9% Gabriel Cornejo 0.7% Jason Palmer 0.7% Armando Perez-Serrato 0.4% Frankie Lozada 0.4% Stephen Lyons 0.3% Colorado Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 93.71% countedDonald Trump 63.4% 549,263 votes (24 delegates)Nikki Haley 33.4% 289,386 votes (12 delegates)Ryan Binkley 0.3% 2,192 votes Ron DeSantis 1.5% Chris Christie 0.8% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.6% Asa Hutchinson 0.1% Iowa Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedJoe Biden 90.9% 11,083 votes (40 delegates) Uncommitted 3.9% 480 votes Dean Phillips 3.0% 362 votes Marianne Williamson 2.2% 268 votes Massachusetts Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 60.0% 340,312 votes (40 delegates)Nikki Haley 36.9% 209,113 votes Ryan Binkley 0.1% 611 votes No Preference 1.0% Chris Christie 0.9% Ron DeSantis 0.7% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.3% Asa Hutchinson 0.1% Massachusetts Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedJoe Biden 82.9% 524,626 votes (91 delegates)Dean Phillips 4.6% 29,163 votes Marianne Williamson 3.2% 20,089 votes No Preference 9.3% Maine Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 98.96% countedJoe Biden 92.8% 58,950 votes (24 delegates)Dean Phillips 7.2% 4,561 votes Maine Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 98.88% countedDonald Trump 72.9% 78,493 votes (20 delegates)Nikki Haley 25.3% 27,300 votes Ryan Binkley 0.3% 303 votes Ron DeSantis 1.1% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.4% Minnesota Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedJoe Biden 70.7% 171,277 votes (64 delegates) Uncommitted 18.9% 45,914 votes (11 delegates)Dean Phillips 7.8% 18,960 votes Marianne Williamson 1.4% 3,459 votes Jason Palmer 0.3% Cenk Uygur 0.3% Armando Perez-Serrato 0.2% Gabriel Cornejo 0.1% Frankie Lozada 0.1% Eban Cambridge 0.1% Minnesota Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 69.1% 232,873 votes (27 delegates)Nikki Haley 28.8% 97,184 votes (12 delegates)Ron DeSantis 1.2% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.4% Chris Christie 0.4% North Carolina Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 98.97% countedJoe Biden 87.3% 606,303 votes (113 delegates) No Preference 12.7% North Carolina Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedDonald Trump 73.9% 790,763 votes (62 delegates)Nikki Haley 23.3% 249,654 votes (11 delegates)Ryan Binkley 0.1% 905 votes Ron DeSantis 1.4% No Preference 0.7% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.3% Chris Christie 0.3% Asa Hutchinson 0.1% Oklahoma Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedDonald Trump 81.8% 254,688 votes (43 delegates)Nikki Haley 15.9% 49,373 votes Ryan Binkley 0.1% 303 votes Ron DeSantis 1.3% Chris Christie 0.4% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.3% Asa Hutchinson 0.1% David Stuckenberg 0.1% Oklahoma Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedJoe Biden 73.0% 66,824 votes (36 delegates)Marianne Williamson 9.1% 8,349 votes Dean Phillips 8.9% 8,177 votes Stephen Lyons 4.8% Cenk Uygur 2.2% Armando Perez-Serrato 2.0% Tennessee Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedDonald Trump 77.3% 447,219 votes (58 delegates)Nikki Haley 19.5% 112,963 votes Ryan Binkley 0.1% 722 votes Ron DeSantis 1.4% Uncommitted 0.8% Chris Christie 0.3% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.3% Asa Hutchinson 0.1% David Stuckenberg 0.1% Tennessee Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedJoe Biden 92.2% 122,835 votes (63 delegates) Uncommitted 7.8% 10,461 votes Texas Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedJoe Biden 84.6% 826,423 votes (244 delegates)Marianne Williamson 4.5% 43,499 votes Dean Phillips 2.7% 26,341 votes Armando Perez-Serrato 2.8% Gabriel Cornejo 1.8% Cenk Uygur 1.6% Frankie Lozada 1.2% Star Locke 0.9% Texas Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedDonald Trump 77.9% 1,805,040 votes (150 delegates)Nikki Haley 17.4% 404,116 votes Ryan Binkley 0.1% 2,579 votes Uncommitted 2.0% Ron DeSantis 1.6% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.5% Chris Christie 0.4% Asa Hutchinson 0.1% David Stuckenberg 0.1% Utah Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 71.44% countedJoe Biden 86.9% 58,643 votes (30 delegates)Marianne Williamson 5.2% 3,498 votes Dean Phillips 4.5% 3,010 votes Gabriel Cornejo 2.2% Frankie Lozada 1.3% Utah Republican caucusesTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 95.33% countedDonald Trump 56.4% 48,350 votes (40 delegates)Nikki Haley 42.7% 36,621 votes Ryan Binkley 1.0% 826 votes Virginia Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedDonald Trump 63.0% 440,314 votes (42 delegates)Nikki Haley 35.0% 244,527 votes (6 delegates)Ryan Binkley 0.1% 854 votes Ron DeSantis 1.1% Chris Christie 0.5% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.4% Virginia Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedJoe Biden 88.5% 316,944 votes (99 delegates)Marianne Williamson 8.0% 28,590 votes Dean Phillips 3.5% 12,576 votes Vermont Republican primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedNikki Haley 50.2% 36,226 votes (9 delegates)Donald Trump 45.9% 33,140 votes Ryan Binkley 0.4% 277 votes Chris Christie 1.4% Ron DeSantis 1.3% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.8% Vermont Democratic primaryTue 5 Mar 2024Count in progress: 99% countedJoe Biden 89.5% 56,906 votes (16 delegates)Marianne Williamson 4.5% 2,883 votes Dean Phillips 3.0% 1,933 votes Mark Greenstein 1.2% Cenk Uygur 1.1% Jason Palmer 0.6% North Dakota Republican caucusesMon 4 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 84.6% 1,632 votes (29 delegates)Nikki Haley 14.1% 273 votes Ryan Binkley 0.5% 9 votes David Stuckenberg 0.8% District of Columbia Republican primarySun 3 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedNikki Haley 62.8% 1,274 votes (19 delegates)Donald Trump 33.3% 676 votes Ryan Binkley 0.0% 1 votes Ron DeSantis 1.9% Chris Christie 0.9% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.7% David Stuckenberg 0.4% Idaho Republican caucusesSat 2 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 84.9% 33,603 votes (32 delegates)Nikki Haley 13.2% 5,221 votes Ryan Binkley 0.1% 40 votes Ron DeSantis 1.3% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.2% Chris Christie 0.2% Missouri Republican caucusesSat 2 Mar 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 100.0% 924 votes (51 delegates)Nikki Haley 0.0% 0 votes David Stuckenberg 0.0% Michigan Democratic primaryTue 27 Feb 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedJoe Biden 81.1% 623,415 votes (115 delegates) Uncommitted 13.2% 101,436 votes (2 delegates)Marianne Williamson 3.0% 22,805 votes Dean Phillips 2.7% 20,600 votes Michigan Republican primaryTue 27 Feb 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 68.1% 758,892 votes (12 delegates)Nikki Haley 26.6% 296,328 votes (4 delegates)Ryan Binkley 0.2% 2,348 votes Uncommitted 3.0% Ron DeSantis 1.2% Chris Christie 0.4% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.3% Asa Hutchinson 0.1% South Carolina Republican primarySat 24 Feb 2024Count in progress: 98.8% countedDonald Trump 59.8% 451,905 votes (47 delegates)Nikki Haley 39.5% 298,674 votes (3 delegates)Ryan Binkley 0.1% 527 votes Ron DeSantis 0.4% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.1% Chris Christie 0.1% David Stuckenberg 0.0% Nevada Republican caucusesThu 8 Feb 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 99.1% 59,984 votes (26 delegates)Ryan Binkley 0.9% 540 votes Nevada Democratic primaryTue 6 Feb 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedJoe Biden 89.3% 119,758 votes (36 delegates)Marianne Williamson 3.1% 4,101 votes None of These Candidates 5.6% Gabriel Cornejo 0.6% Jason Palmer 0.4% Frankie Lozada 0.2% Armando Perez-Serrato 0.2% John Haywood 0.2% Stephen Lyons 0.1% Superpayaseria Crystalroc 0.1% Donald Picard 0.1% Brent Foutz 0.1% Stephen Leon 0.1% Mark Prascak 0.0% Nevada Republican primaryTue 6 Feb 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedNikki Haley 30.6% 24,583 votes None of These Candidates 63.3% Mike Pence 3.9% Tim Scott 1.3% John Castro 0.3% Hirsh Singh 0.2% Donald Kjornes 0.2% Heath Fulkerson 0.1% South Carolina Democratic primarySat 3 Feb 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedJoe Biden 96.2% 126,336 votes (55 delegates)Marianne Williamson 2.1% 2,726 votes Dean Phillips 1.7% 2,240 votes New Hampshire Democratic primaryTue 23 Jan 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedJoe Biden write-in 63.9% 79,455 votes Dean Phillips 19.6% 24,335 votes Marianne Williamson 4.0% 5,006 votes Other write-in 8.3% Derek Nadeau 1.3% Vermin Supreme 0.7% John Vail 0.5% Donald Picard 0.3% Paperboy Prince 0.3% Paul LaCava 0.1% Jason Palmer 0.1% President Boddie 0.1% Mark Greenstein 0.1% Terrisa Bukovinac 0.1% Gabriel Cornejo 0.1% Stephen Lyons 0.1% Frankie Lozada 0.1% Tom Koos 0.1% Armando Perez-Serrato 0.1% Star Locke 0.0% Raymond Moroz 0.0% Eban Cambridge 0.0% Unprocessed write-in 0.0% Richard Rist 0.0% New Hampshire Republican primaryTue 23 Jan 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 54.3% 176,004 votes (12 delegates)Nikki Haley 43.2% 140,096 votes (9 delegates)Ryan Binkley 0.1% 315 votes Ron DeSantis 0.7% Chris Christie 0.5% Total Write-Ins 0.4% Vivek Ramaswamy 0.3% Mike Pence 0.1% Mary Maxwell 0.1% Tim Scott 0.1% Doug Burgum 0.1% Asa Hutchinson 0.0% Rachel Swift 0.0% Scott Ayers 0.0% Darius Mitchell 0.0% Glenn McPeters 0.0% Peter Jedick 0.0% Perry Johnson 0.0% David Stuckenberg 0.0% Donald Kjornes 0.0% Scott Merrell 0.0% John Castro 0.0% Robert Carney 0.0% Hirsh Singh 0.0% Samuel Sloan 0.0% Iowa Republican caucusesMon 15 Jan 2024Count in progress: All precincts reportedDonald Trump 51.0% 56,260 votes (20 delegates)Ron DeSantis 21.2% 23,420 votes (9 delegates)Nikki Haley 19.1% 21,085 votes (8 delegates)Ryan Binkley 0.7% 774 votes Vivek Ramaswamy 7.7% Asa Hutchinson 0.2% Other 0.1% Chris Christie 0.0% More

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    Biden hits out at Trump in Georgia rally: ‘He’s been sucking up to dictators all over the world’

    The question isn’t whether Democrats in Georgia will vote for President Joe Biden, either on Tuesday or in November. It’s how many.Biden swung through Georgia on Saturday to collect the endorsements of political action committees representing Asian, Black and Latino voters, another stop on the march to the Democratic nomination.Biden opened with a swing at Donald Trump, using Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene as the bat, noting how he had kicked off his campaign here in her company, along with that of dictatorial Hungarian prime minister Victor Orbán.“He called him a fantastic leader. Seriously,” Biden said. “He’s been sucking up to dictators all over the world.”Biden’s only meaningful competition in Georgia for the nomination is ennui and “no preference”. But Biden is likely to clinch the nomination not in Georgia, which holds its primary on Tuesday, but in states voting on 19 March. Nonetheless, the pivot to the general election has already begun.“He’s building on the momentum from the Thursday speech, which was a grand slam home run,” said David Brand, a Democratic operative and Atlanta political figure. “Republicans are in a pure panic. They can’t attack him on issues. So, they’re now making up lunacy about him being, you know, on Red Bull or something. That’s their best attack line: because he drinks a Red Bull. That puts him in line with every law school student in the country.”Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill and both of Georgia’s Democratic senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, held the rally at the trendy Pullman Yards facility on Atlanta’s east side before a crowd of about 500 people. The assembly was composed mostly of party insiders and Democratic elected officials. The location of the rally was closely held before the event, ostensibly to avoid disruptions by protesters. One man was escorted from the room as he shouted pro-Palestinian slogans.The president’s address continued themes raised in the State of the Union address, calling for reinstating Roe v Wade as the law of the land on abortion, increasing taxes on billionaires and a call for civic values.“We see a future where we define democracy and defend it, not diminish it,” Biden said. “We must remain the beacon of the world.”Biden said nothing about the war in Gaza, nor did he raise the question about funding for Ukraine’s resistance to Russia.His supporters and endorsers regularly juxtaposed the consequences of a Trump win in 2024, trying to evoke the political intensity that led to surprise wins in Georgia in 2020 and 2022.Ossoff regularly name-checked DeKalb County, the location of Pullman Yards and the locus for the political changes that swept him, Warnock and Biden into power. “The stakes could not be higher,” Ossoff said. “The future of voting rights, and civil rights and women’s rights is on the line.”Three political action committees offered their endorsement to Biden on Saturday: Collective PAC, which backs Black candidates; the Latino Victory Fund; and the AAPI Victory Fund, a political action committee for empowering Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.“They must be re-elected. Failure is not an option,” said Shekar Narasimhan, chairman and founder of the AAPI Victory Fund. “We will do everything in our power to make this happen.” More

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    Republicans in Georgia put candidates through purity tests. Now they’re facing fines

    Taxes. Vaccinations. Chickens.Republican party leaders in Catoosa county, in the north-west corner of Georgia, ran prospective GOP candidates through a battery of ideological questions, permitting some to run in the party primary while denying others.Local political purity tests have been discussed by both Republican and Democratic party officials for years, but this is the first time a county’s political body has actually attempted the feat.Perhaps that’s because of the punishing backlash now facing the six executive committee members of the Catoosa county Republican party after a lawsuit from disqualified candidates: fines of $1,000 an hour, times four for the number of Republican candidates the county’s GOP body refused to put on the ballot, times six for each of the executive committee members. That’s $24,000 an hour for the whole group until they comply with a judge’s order to put the candidates on the ballot.“The criteria they’re using is how we vote in the commission meetings,” said Vanita Hullander, a Catoosa county commissioner initially barred by the county’s GOP leaders from running for re-election as a Republican in the 14 May primary. “They’re very manipulative, and they’ve been trying to take control of the commission for a long time.”Hullander is a lifelong conservative Republican, she said. But after the county party’s executive committee questioned her about votes on local tax increases, vaccination requirements and a contentious local ordinance governing where and how residents may keep chickens on their property, it declared it would not allow her on the Republican ballot line. The group also barred three others.Others, like Jimmy Gray, a candidate for commissioner, were not barred. Notably, Gray’s stepmother, Regina Gray, is chairwoman of the Graysville precinct of the county’s party.The disqualifications would have left only one person running for the chairperson’s seat: Nick Ware, a perennial candidate with hard libertarian views.“This is my opinion: a number of people on the committee … they’re really libertarians,” said Chuck Harris, a Catoosa county commissioner who is not up for re-election this cycle. He first learned of the leanings of the county’s Republican chair, Joanna Hildreth, when Hildreth was working with a candidate who needed signatures to make a libertarian run against Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Hildreth asked the candidate, whom Harris didn’t name, to bad-mouth him to voters as she gathered those signatures.“This was a month after I signed a loyalty oath in front of Hildreth for the party,” he said. “They’ll be coming for me next.”The prospect of barring candidates for insufficient political fidelity has been raised by both parties at one point or another in Georgia and elsewhere. For example, North Carolina’s Democratic party is contending today with the state representative Tricia Cotham, who ran in an open Charlotte-area seat as a Democrat and then immediately switched parties to give Republicans a veto-proof supermajority.But a county-level process runs a risk of ideological capture by political extremists who do not reflect the politics of most voters.GOP county committee seats in Georgia are won in caucuses typically attended by no more than a few hundred voters in any given county every election cycle. (The Catoosa county Republican party happens to be holding its next county convention on 23 March.) Executive committee seats are then won by a vote of committee members. Republicans have about a five-to-one electoral advantage in Catoosa county. About 32,000 voters cast ballots in the county in 2020.Hildreth, the county’s Republican chair, is also secretary of the Georgia Republican Assembly (GRA), a political action committee dominated by libertarians who have regularly been shut out of GOP party governance positions. The GRA’s chair is Alex Johnson, who has lost multiple races for Georgia GOP leadership positions. Johnson previously proposed a state party rule allowing party delegates to block candidates for statewide office on the basis of their fidelity to “Republican values”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionJohnson’s law partner, Catherine Bernard, is also Georgia’s national director for the National Federation of Republican Assemblies. The two of them are representing Catoosa county Republican party executive committee members in their defense against the lawsuit from the disqualified candidates.Bernard did not return a call seeking comment. Hildreth asked for questions to be submitted by email, but has not yet replied.In court Thursday, Hildreth was asked whether she would allow the candidates to be qualified to run for office, as ordered by the court. She said she would not and would instead appeal. Later that day the four candidates denied by the executive committee went to the party headquarters in the company of two Catoosa county sheriff’s deputies to sign qualification papers. Party members refused them entry.The Catoosa county Republican party committee released a statement late on Friday.“Draining the Swamp starts locally,” the statement reads, in part. “The Catoosa County Republican Party is fully run by Republican volunteers elected in a process open to Catoosa County voters. These grassroots citizens meet candidates, observe voting records, and work to ensure Republicans are elected to office. Catoosa County GOP is committed to ensuring that Catoosa County Republican candidates reflect the values of Catoosa County Republican voters.”The order from the superior court judge Don Thompson of the Lookout Mountain judicial circuit noted that state law does not allow subjective criteria to be used to bar a candidate from a party’s ballot line. In court, Thompson said he had chosen not to jail the executive board members because he believed they had been led astray by bad advice, and suggested that they retain new counsel.The clock on the fines started ticking at about 3.15pm on Thursday, and ended at noon Friday, after a judge ordered the county’s elections office to certify their qualification on the ballot directly. Collectively, the committee members have amassed fines just under $500,000.“The rest of the state should be scared and nervous if a small, self-appointed group of people gets to decide who to vote for on a party-type election,” Harris said. “The primary is really the election, because if you don’t have a strong Democrat or independent challenger, you basically win your election at the primary.” More