National
After the March 5 Super Tuesday primaries, former South Carolina Governor and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (R-SC) and Congressman Dean Phillips (D, MN-03) each suspended their presidential campaigns, leaving former President Donald Trump (R-FL) and President Joe Biden (D-DE) with virtually no opposition for the rest of the contests.
Neither faced significant challenges from their primary opponents. Haley was only able to clinch a narrow primary win in Vermont and a decisive win in the District of Columbia, while Biden was narrowly defeated by little-known candidate Jason Palmer (D-MD) in the American Samoa Caucuses last week.
The first presidential rematch since 1956 seems more likely as both frontrunners captured the necessary amount of delegates to earn their respective parties’ nominations with a round of primaries on Tuesday, March 12.
Trump handily won the Georgia Republican Primary with 85% of the vote and captured all fifty-six delegates. Although Haley dropped out after most of the early voting window had passed, she still only took 5% of the Election Day ballots and just 13% of the vote overall. Trump’s thinnest margins were in Atlanta’s Fulton County, where he beat Haley 59%-38%, and DeKalb County, 56%-40%. Trump swept all other 156 counties with no less than 75% of the vote in each. Results from Quitman County have not been posted, but Trump is expected to carry the county handily.
In Mississippi, Trump won the primary with 92.5% of the vote and won all forty delegates. Haley received just 5.4% of the vote here. Only five counties have not reported results as of press time, but Trump won all seventy-seven reporting counties with no less than 70% of the vote in each.
Trump also won the Washington Primary with 74% of the vote with 76% of precincts reporting and won all thirty-five delegates. Haley received 22%. Three counties have not yet reported results but Trump won all thirty-six reporting counties with no less than 72% of the vote in each, except for Seattle’s King County, where he won with 61%.
Trump also won the American Samoa Caucuses, capturing all 110 votes that were cast and all nine delegates available. With the results in, Trump has officially obtained enough delegates to become the presumptive GOP nominee. As of press time, he had 1,228 delegates, more than the 1,215 required. His third straight nomination is one of the quickest and most unanimous in American political history. Trump has won twenty-eight contests to Haley’s two. Haley has only received ninety-four delegates.
On the Democratic side, Biden also clinched his nomination with 2,015 delegates, more than the 1,968 required.
Tuesday night saw him win the Georgia Primary with 95% of the vote and capture all 108 delegates. He swept all 159 counties and surpassed 80% of the vote in each.
Biden also won the Washington Primary with 86.7% of the vote, with the “Uncommitted” ballot option taking second place with 7.5%. He swept all thirty-eight reported counties and eclipsed 80% in each.
The “Uncommitted” option is part of a Democratic rebuke of Biden’s policies regarding the war in Israel, with the cause started by a group called “Listen to Michigan” ahead of Michigan’s primary. The cause hoped to garner at least 10,000 votes in Michigan; it captured 100,000. The ballot option has also been successful in Minnesota. The two Upper Midwestern states represent some of the largest Arab-American populations in the country.
The cause hopes to send enough delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer to possibly curtail Biden’s renomination. The cause calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East and accuses Israel of waging genocide against Palestine.
Biden also won last Wednesday’s Hawaii Caucuses with 66% of the vote, capturing fifteen delegates. The “Uncommitted” option took 29.1% and won seven delegates.
Results from the Northern Mariana Islands Democratic Caucuses handed Biden a 94% win over Jason Palmer, allowing him to capture all six available delegates. Palmer’s Super Tuesday win in American Samoa made Biden the first incumbent president to lose a primary or caucus event since Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Finally, in Mississippi, Biden is the winner by default as he was the only candidate on the ballot. He received all thirty-five delegates.
The contest now continues to the Northern Mariana Islands on March 15 and Guam on March 16, both for the GOP. March 19 will see both parties hold primaries in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio. Democrats canceled the Florida Primary and delegates are expected to go to Biden at the convention. Republicans will still vote in Florida next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, efforts to mitigate the effects of the border crisis continue as the parties clash on ideological fault lines.
Congressman August Pfluger (R, TX-11) has filed a bill to prevent noncitizens from serving as election administrators, mostly in response to Hong Kong immigrant Kelly Wong, a noncitizen, who was appointed to serve on the San Francisco Elections Commission.
“Foreign agents have no place overseeing our sacred democratic process,” Pfluger told FOX News Digital. “My legislation aims to ensure that only American citizens have the honor and responsibility of serving as election administrators. No foreign influence should taint the integrity of our voting system.”
San Francisco Election Commission President Robin Stone told FOX that she supports Wong’s appointment.
“I support the Board of Supervisors’ authority and decision to appoint Kelly Wong to the Elections Commission,” said Stone. “What’s more, as public officers of the City, we respect the law and will of San Francisco voters, who removed the citizenship requirement for commissioners in 2020.”
Earlier this month, Senate Republicans attempted a measure to stop noncitizens, including illegal immigrants, from being counted on the Census for the purpose of Congressional District reapportionment, a process that affects Electoral College math. The move was not supported by any Democrats.
Further complicating House politics is the sudden resignation of Congressman Ken Buck (R, CO-04). Buck has represented Colorado’s Fourth District in 2015 and has been one of the staunchest fiscal conservatives in the House. He had already announced his intentions to not seek re-election in 2024, but has announced his quick exit for next week, citing that the “dysfunction” in Congress is the “worst” he’s seen in his near-ten years in the House.
Buck will depart the House next week, giving Republicans a bare-minimum majority of 218 seats. Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) announced a special election for June 25 to fill the seat.
Finally, in Huntington Beach, California, 58% of voters approved a measure that would ban nongovernmental flags from being flown from outside city buildings. The measure bans flags and banners like the pride flag, the breast cancer awareness flag, and religious flags from being displayed on city property.
“It sets a tone,” said Huntington Beach City Council Member Rhonda Bolton. “If people think it’s OK or it becomes normalized to display bigotry towards a particular group, then folks are going to crawl out of their rock and do bad stuff.”
Conservatives took the majority on the City Council in 2022. Conservative Gracey Van Der Mark, the first Latina to serve as Mayor of Huntington Beach, became mayor in December 2023.
A unanimous vote by the City Council will now be required to fly nongovernmental flags from city buildings.
State
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (R, NY-24) and Congressman Nick Langworthy (R, NY-23) penned a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul (D) expressing concerns over the Migrant Relocation Assistance Program (MRAP).
The letter requests Hochul to explain how MRAP ensures safety of residents while transferring immigrants from New York City to counties throughout the state. They also requested that Hochul explain whether immigrants participating in the program undergo criminal background checks and if their asylum claims are properly vetted.
Tenney and Langworthy say that the “overwhelming majority” of asylum claims are invalid.
Local
Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) has announced over $150 million in funding for Suffolk County pursuant to his vote to keep the federal government funded. The direct federal funding is earmarked for projects and programs in Suffolk.
“I am proud to have secured millions to support the people of Suffolk County and serious policy wins to support our nation’s security,” said LaLota. “Brookhaven National Lab, the Long Island Sound Program, National Estuary Program, Sea Grant Program, Sag Harbor, Shelter Island, and Huntington are just a few programs and places I fought to ensure were funded to benefit our communities.”
LaLota has also sponsored H.R. 7372, the Bipartisan Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, which would require the president to secure the Southern border, rather than just giving “more authority to do so.” It would also provide defense-only appropriations “in support of the fight against Putin and Hamas, while bolstering Taiwan’s defense against a Chinese Communist Party invasion.”
