Donald Trump is on the precipice of cementing his third Republican nomination in a row with a string of Super Tuesday victories that illustrated the depth of the former president’s support from coast to coast.
Trump carried Republican primaries across the map, including victories in California, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Nikki Haley narrowly avoided a clean sweep of all 15 states thanks only to a slim victory in tiny Vermont.
Trump’s all-but-certain nomination raises the pressure on Haley, who stayed in the race despite a series of humbling defeats. She has made no promises beyond Tuesday and pointedly refused to say whether she would continue her campaign until Georgia’s March 12 primary.
Even if Haley weathers the latest do-or-die moment for her White House bid, she faces the same political headwinds in Georgia as she does across the map. Trump has a hefty polling lead and support of GOP leaders despite his political setbacks in the state.
Still, Georgia’s primary could be notable for another reason: Trump could win enough delegates to lock up the party’s nomination on March 12, when Georgia headlines the small clutch of states that hold their votes.
Unlike previous Super Tuesday votes, there was little drama in the slate of contests. What once promised to be a pivotal moment in the 2024 presidential campaign seemed downright anticlimactic. Already, Trump and President Joe Biden are focusing on their rematch.
Still, Haley hoped to avoid a knockout blow by peeling off some delegates and focusing on winning moderates, Democrats and swing voters. But Trump’s dominant performance stretched his delegate lead, making it all but impossible for Haley to win the nomination short of a dramatic development that upends the race.
Trump’s allies renewed pressure for Haley to quit the campaign ahead of the vote. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who will welcome Trump to a rally in her Rome-based district this weekend, said Haley needs to “hang it up.”
“Or just switch parties, actually,” Greene said in an interview. “My message for her is to go ahead and switch parties.”
Trump, who has ignored Haley at recent events, is also buoyed by legal decisions that have complicated court cases against him.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision to schedule arguments in April over whether he’s immune from prosecution could delay a federal trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election for months. The court also ruled he can’t be disqualified from seeking another term.
And a Fulton County judge will soon rule on motions by Trump and several codefendants to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from the pending election-interference case.
While most polls show voters in Georgia and beyond dread a rematch, Biden and Trump have already pivoted to the general election phase.
The two held dueling events in Texas last week near the U.S. border with Mexico to highlight their plans to deter illegal crossings. It came shortly after the killing of a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus brought new attention to the federal immigration debate.
And both Biden and Trump plan rival events in Georgia on Saturday, showcasing efforts by both to capture the state four years after Biden’s upset victory in Georgia helped seal his presidential victory.
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