Super Tuesday 2024 Live Updates: Nikki Haley drops out of Republican presidential race

Robert F Kennedy Jr

The bestselling author and environmental lawyer announced on Oct. 9 that he was ending his Democratic presidential bid and instead launching an independent run. A nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, he initially launched a long-shot bid to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination on April 19 in Boston. Kennedy has emerged as one of the leading voices of the anti-vaccine movement, with public health experts and even members of his own family describing his work as misleading and dangerous.

Jill Stein

The environmental activist, whose 2016 third-party presidential bid was blamed by Democrats for helping Trump win the White House, says she is making another run for the nation's highest office. Stein announced Nov. 9 that she will again run under the Green Party banner. "I'm running for president to offer that choice for the people outside of the failed two-party system,” she said. She ran against Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 as a Green Party candidate and received about 1% of the vote.

Cornel West

The progressive activist and scholar announced Oct. 5 that he was ending his bid for the presidency under the Green Party banner and was instead running as an independent. West wrote on X that he was running as an independent to “end the iron grip of the ruling class and ensure true democracy!” He added, "We need to break the grip of the duopoly and give power to the people.”

The Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips  is the first elected Democrat to challenge Biden for the nomination. After months of calling for a primary challenger, Phillips entered the race himself on Oct. 27 with a speech outside New Hampshire’s statehouse. While Phillips has been effusive in his praise for Biden, the 54-year-old also says Democrats need younger voices to avoid a nightmare scenario where Trump wins another election next fall.

Phillips is one of the wealthiest members of Congress and heir to his stepfather’s Phillips Distilling Company empire, which holds major vodka and schnapps brands. He once served as that company’s president but also ran the gelato maker Talenti. His grandmother was the late Pauline Phillips, better known as the advice columnist “Dear Abby.”

Joe Biden, the oldest president in American history, would be 86 at the end of a second term, and his age has prompted some of his critics to question whether he can serve effectively. A notable number of Democratic voters indicated they would prefer he not run, though he is expected to easily win the Democratic nomination.

Biden, who has vowed to “restore the soul of America,” plans to run on his record. He spent his first two years as president combating the coronavirus pandemic and pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package and legislation to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate measures. He easily won the party's earliest contests, in South Carolina and Nevada.

The former president Donald Trump announced his third campaign for the White House on Nov. 15, 2022, at his Mar-a-Lago resort, forcing the party to decide whether to embrace a candidate whose refusal to accept defeat in 2020 sparked the U.S. Capitol attack and still dominates his speeches.

The GOP front-runner remains hugely popular in the Republican Party, despite making history as the first president to be impeached twice and inciting the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Referring to himself as America's “most pro-life president," Trump nominated three conservative judges to the Supreme Court, paving the way for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly 50 years. Sweeping criminal justice reforms he signed into law in 2019 eased mandatory minimum sentences and gave judges more discretion in sentencing.

In March, Trump became the first former U.S. president to be criminally charged, facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a hush-money scheme. Since then, he has been charged with 57 more felonies in three other criminal cases, accused of mishandling and unlawfully retaining classified documents and trying to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Republicans: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, radio show host Larry Elder, businessman Perry Johnson, former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd of Texas and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

Democrats: Self-help author Marianne Williamson.

Super Tuesday is so vast that there were primaries for more than one-quarter of all seats in the House of Representatives — 115 of 438. But only eight of those seats are likely to be competitive in November.

That astonishing statistic comes from Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Institute for Justice in New York. That means that most House candidates who won primaries Tuesday are guaranteed seats in Congress, just for securing the votes of the most motivated members of their parties.

That’s one of the greatest causes of polarization in the United States. The number of competitive seats in the House has been shrinking steadily for decades. It reflects both partisan gerrymandering and also citizens sorting themselves into increasingly partisan enclaves.

Texas is an example of gerrymandering’s role. In 2018 and 2020 it was home to several competitive House races as Democrats began to gain ground in the long-red state. So Republicans who controlled the statehouse simply redrew the lines to protect Republicans, lumping large groups of Democrats together. That meant the Democrats had safe seats but fewer than they normally would have because they couldn’t threaten any GOP incumbents.

Regardless of the cause, it means that much of the battle for the House actually ended Tuesday night. (AP)

Here is the list of Democrat candidates leading/winning from each of the states:

Joe Biden is winning/leading from all 15 states.

Here is the list of Republican candidates leading/winning from each of the states:

Alaska - Donald Trump

Alabama - Donald Trump

Arkansas - Donald Trump

California - Donald Trump

Colorado - Donald Trump

Massachusetts - Donald Trump

Maine - Donald Trump

Minnesota - Donald Trump

North Carolina - Donald Trump

Oklahoma - Donald Trump

Tennessee - Donald Trump

Texas - Donald Trump

Utah - Donald Trump

Virginia - Donald Trump

Vermont - Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley plans to suspend her Republican presidential primary bid in a speech on Wednesday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Donald Trump is sailing into battle against President Joe Biden powered by anger over the two policy issues that have driven his comeback campaign so far: immigration and the economy.

Trump came close to sweeping the board in the 16 "Super Tuesday" Republican primary races, putting him on the verge of clinching the party's nomination and allowing him to train his full fire on Biden ahead of the November election. Trump has tapped into a current of dissatisfaction about the state of the country that he has amplified at every opportunity. It is one that could tip the scales in the rematch with Biden, who beat him in 2020.

Republican voters who went to the polls on Tuesday exhibited a deep pessimism about the economy that extends beyond Trump's loyal base of supporters to many moderate and swing voters that could help determine the election, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research.

Voters also said they are increasingly alarmed by the situation at the U.S. border with Mexico, with many calling it their top voting issue even while living hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

President Joe Biden was sweeping every Democratic contest on Super Tuesday — except for American Samoa. He fell short there to a previously unknown candidate named Jason Palmer. Out of 91 ballots cast in the territory's caucus, Palmer won 51 and Biden won 40, according to the local party.

“I found out that I had won because my phone started blowing up with friends and campaign staffers texting me," Palmer said in an interview late Tuesday.Palmer, 52, said he never visited the territory before the caucus. “I have been campaigning remotely, doing Zoom town halls, talking to people, listening to them about their concerns and what matters to them," he said.

The outcome, however, will hardly derail Biden’s march toward his party’s nomination.

Former US President Donald Trump spoke to his supporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after sweeping victories in Super Tuesday states across the US.

Donald Trump wins the Republican presidential caucuses in Alaska, reports The Associated Press

Republican Nikki Haley suffered a string of significant losses on Tuesday that prompted allies to believe that the end of her 2024 presidential campaign may be near.

She did not appear in public as officials counted ballots coast to coast late into the night. Privately, Haley's team expected Republican rival Donald Trump to win almost every one of the so-called “Super Tuesday” contests despite their best efforts to stop him.

Haley, who as of midnight had logged her only victory of the day in Vermont, spent the night huddled with staff watching returns near her South Carolina home. (AP)

Vermont was once a stronghold of old-guard Republicanism, exclusively electing GOP candidates to statewide office for more than a century. But the state that handed Haley her only win on Super Tuesday long ago ceded that reputation.

Now Vermont, which last swung for a Republican in a presidential contest in 1988, is perhaps better known for progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, the jam band Phish and a crunchy strain of back-to-earth lifestyle.

So, while Vermont handed Haley her first statewide victory, the state itself is decidedly not in step with Trump and the modern Republican Party.

Nikki Haley’s national campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement Tuesday that the Republican candidate was honored to be the first GOP woman to win two presidential primary contests.

“Today, in state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump,' Perez-Cubas said. 'That is not the unity our party needs for success.”

Despite her win in Vermont on Tuesday and her primary win in Washington, DC on Sunday, Trump was notching more victories. (AP)

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump dominated the nominating contests taking place coast-to-coast on Super Tuesday, the biggest day of primaries in the 2024 presidential election cycle.

Fifteen states held Republican contests, including the two most populous, California and Texas. More than a third of delegates — 865 of 2,429 — were up for grabs; at least 1,215 delegates are needed to win the nomination.

About a third of Democratic delegates will also be awarded in primaries across the country on Tuesday, but President Joe Biden does not face a serious challenge for his party's nomination.

Here is a look at what is happening on the ground in the Republican fight between Trump and his last remaining rival for the nomination, Nikki Haley, including the latest projections from Edison Research. 

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has scored a surprise victory on Super Tuesday, upsetting Donald Trump to win Vermont.

That victory will do little to dent Trump’s primary dominance, however. The former president won 11 other states on Super Tuesday. Haley is the last major rival to Trump standing in a once-crowded primary field. She has increasingly stepped up her attacks on the former president, arguing that he will lose in November to President Joe Biden if he clinches the party’s nomination.

On the Democratic side, Biden also ran up the score with wins all around the country against only token primary opposition — all but cementing the long-expected November rematch between him and Trump.  (AP)

At some point soon, Haley is going to have to make a decision about pressing forward. Tuesday's results were not offering much encouragement.

Trump was declared the winner in Virginia and North Carolina almost the moments the polls closed. The former president was on track to win most of the states up for grabs on Super Tuesday and perhaps all of them.

More crucial for Haley, exit polls conducted by Edison Research showed little sign her support was growing, particularly among dyed-in-the wool Republicans. Instead, voters were increasingly lining up behind Trump as the nominee. Even in a state such as Virginia, where Haley drew strong support from independents, moderates, college graduates and young voters, Trump was on course to defeat her by 30 percentage points.

The news was worse for her in North Carolina, where she held two events over the weekend. Trump beat Haley among her core segments: independents (49%-45%) and college-educated voters (51%-45%). Among voters who said they do not consider themselves part of Trump's far-right Make America Great Again movement, Haley barely edged Trump in North Carolina, 50%-45%. She solidly lost those voters in California to Trump, 60% to 36%. And although Haley's supporters typically hail from the suburbs, Trump showed strength in those areas as well.

In the three states sampled by Edison, Haley won only the region of northern Virginia, packed with moderates and government workers. She lost every other region of Virginia, including the Richmond area, and every region of North Carolina, including the Raleigh and Charlotte areas. She wasn't competitive in any part of California sampled. All of the numbers point to a candidate with limited appeal – and whose time may have run out.(Reuters)

Perhaps most worrisome for the Biden campaign on Tuesday were exit polls from California that showed Trump crushing Haley among nonwhite voters.

According to Edison, Trump bested Haley with those voters, most of whom were Hispanic, 72% to 23%. California has been the most diverse state to hold a Republican primary this year with 36% of respondents classifying themselves as “nonwhite.”

Hispanics and other nonwhite voters are at the core of the Democratic constituency. Trump, however, trailed Biden among Hispanics by just 10 percentage points - 27% to 37% - in a January Reuters/Ipsos poll, with the rest of voters undecided or planning to vote for someone else or not all.

Biden beat Trump among Hispanics by about 20 percentage points in the 2020 election.

Other recent opinion polls have shown Trump gaining strength among nonwhite voters, particularly from the working class. In the California poll, 24% of voters said they lacked a college degree.

Haley has based much of her candidacy on her appeal to moderates and independents, but both those segments went for Trump in large numbers in California, according to Edison.

Haley did manage to win the majority of moderates in North Carolina and Virginia, states that allow voters who are not registered Republicans to vote in the Republican primary. (Reuters)

It's 9 pm on Tuesday, EST. 

Nikki Haley, who had hoped that this Super Tuesday would emerge as the much-needed fillip for her campaign, will not be holding any public events on Tuesday night, said an Associated Press report. And she has no future campaign rallies listed on her website.

Haley's campaign says she’s spending election night in the Charleston, South Carolina, area and watching results come in with her staff. Says the campaign: “The mood is jubilant.”

California has Super Tuesday’s most hotly anticipated — and confusing — primary contests.

Most states have separate voting for Democrats and Republicans, but California uses a “top two system.” That means the two candidates with the most votes advance to the November general election, regardless of party.

It's a big factor hanging over California's US Senate race in the wake of the death of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in September: whether a Republican finishes in the top two on Tuesday, or if the general election will feature a faceoff between two Democrats. The leading candidates are Republican Steve Garvey, a former baseball star, and Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. It’s possible the Democrats split votes and Garvey ends up leading the primary. (AP)

Immigration and the economy are leading concerns for voters in both parties, Edison exit polls in California, North Carolina and Virginia showed.

A majority of Republican voters in those states said they backed deporting illegal immigrants. Trump, who frequently denigrates migrants, has promised to mount the largest deportation effort in U.S. history if elected. (Reuters)

US President Joe Biden’s easy Michigan primary win last week was spoiled slightly by an “uncommitted” campaign organised by activists who disapprove of the president’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Allies of the “uncommitted” vote are pushing similar protest votes elsewhere, including Minnesota. The state has a significant population of Muslims, including in its Somali American community.

In Massachusetts, 29-year-old Aliza Hoover explained her “no preference” vote as a principled opposition to Biden's approach to Israel but said it does not necessarily reflect how she will vote in November. “I think a vote of no preference right now is a statement to make yourself a single-issue voter, and at the moment the fact that my tax dollars are funding a genocide does make me a single-issue voter,” Hoover said. (AP)

Donald Trump and Joe Biden moved closer to a 2024 presidential election rematch as they continued to rack up victories in many of the 15 US states that went to polls Super Tuesday. They both won in Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Biden also won Vermont and Iowa. Nikki Haley, Trump's only competitor for the Republican party presidential nomination, trailed him in all states.

The race for Alabama's 2nd Congressional District, which was redrawn by a federal court to boost the voting power of Black voters, has sparked congested and competitive primary contests.

Democrats see an opportunity to flip the Deep South congressional seat in November. Republicans aim to keep hold of the seat, as control of the U.S. House of Representatives is on the line. A total of 18 candidates — 11 Democrats and seven Republicans — are running in the new district.

The revamped 2nd Congressional District, which stretches from Mobile through Montgomery to the Georgia border, is being viewed as a once-in-a generation opportunity for Democrats in a state where Republicans dominate.

The contest is one of two heated congressional primaries in the state on Super Tuesday. In the 1st Congressional District, two Republican congressmen — Rep. Jerry Carl and Rep. Barry Moore — are facing off in a primary showdown that will end with one of them leaving office next year.

On Tuesday, several states are forecasted to witness rain or snow.

While Northern California, Utah and Colorado are still reeling from snowstorms, two coastal storms will bring at least rain to the South and Northeast. A Gulf Coast storm system will bring showers in Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama.

New York Times also reported that Eastern Virginia is likely to experience showers from Arlington to Virginia Beach. A steadier rain is probable in Massachusetts, Vermont and southern Maine.

In a closing message ahead of Super Tuesday, Nikki Haley focussed on Donald Trump's controversial statements, including those on Russia, immigrants nad his political opponents.

Watch:

Incumbent President Joe Biden is grappling with poor approval ratings amid a cost of living crisis and concerns around his age.

Biden is trailing behind Donald Trump in most polls in key swing states, while the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll put both candidates at 36% support at the national level.

While the US has escaped an anticipated recession, inflation soared in 2022.

According to a New York Times survey published on Saturday, almost two-thirds of people who voted for Biden in 2020 say he is too old to lead the country effectively. Biden is 81 and Trump is 77.

A recent special counsel's report on the investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents suggested that the president suffered from memory lapses, to which Biden responded: "My memory is fine."

There are 865 Republican delegates up for Super Tuesday. The Republican candidate needs 1,215 delegates out of  2,429 to win the nomination.

Meanwhile, Democrats are vying for 1,420 delegates. The Democratic candidate needs 1,968 delegates needed to win, out of 3,934 total delegates.

U.S. Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley, the lone remaining challenger to frontrunner Donald Trump, is continuing to wage a lonely uphill battle against the former president, despite losing the first five nominating contests.

Here are some facts about Haley's life and political career:

• Haley, 52, is the daughter of two immigrants from India who ran a clothing store in rural South Carolina, and she has spoken occasionally about the discrimination her family faced.
• Haley graduated from Clemson University in 1994 with a degree in accounting and helped expand her parents' clothing business. She took on leadership roles in several business organizations before winning a seat in the South Carolina state legislature in 2004. She is married and has two children.
• Elected South Carolina's governor in 2010, Haley became the first woman to hold that post in the Deep South state and the second person of Indian descent to serve as a state governor in the United States. She received national attention in 2015 when she signed a bill into law removing the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol following the murder of nine black churchgoers by white supremacist Dylann Roof.

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia

March 5, 2024, is ‘Super Tuesday’, when supporters of the Democratic and Republican candidates in 15 states will vote for their preferred party candidate in the presidential race.

The results of a Super Tuesday have, over the years, been seen as strongly indicating the candidate who will be eventually chosen as the party nominee. But no surprises are likely this year. From the Democratic Party, US President Joe Biden is seeking re-election and he does not have significant challengers. From the Republican party, a crowded field that initially included the likes of Florida governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has now thinned to Trump and Haley.

Here is all you need to know

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are poised to move much closer to winning their party's nominations during the biggest day of the primary campaign, setting up a historic rematch that many voters would rather not endure.Super Tuesday elections are being held in 16 states and one territory — from Alaska and California to Vermont and Virginia. Hundreds of delegates are at stake, the biggest haul for either party on any single day.

the premier races center on Biden and Trump. And in a dramatic departure from past Super Tuesdays, both the Democratic and Republican contests are effectively sealed this year. The two men have easily repelled challengers in the opening rounds of the campaign and are in full command of their bids — despite polls making it clear that voters don’t want this year’s general election to be identical to the 2020 race. A new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds a majority of Americans don't think either Biden or Trump has the necessary mental acuity for the job.

While much of the focus is on the presidential race, there are also important down-ballot contests.

No surprises are likely this year. From the Democratic Party, US President Joe Biden is seeking re-election and he does not have significant challengers.

From the Republican party, a crowded field that initially included the likes of Florida governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has now thinned to Trump and Haley. Winning the Washington primary on Sunday (March 3), Haley became the first Republican woman to have won a primary in the long history of US elections.

But that is the only victory she has lodged so far, in the face of significant support for Trump among Republican voters. As the AP reported, “As Tuesday’s contests near, Biden and Trump appear on their way to securing their parties’ nominations even though just eight states will have awarded delegates through presidential primaries or party caucuses by then.” (Read more)

CBS News Director of Elections and Surveys Anthony Salvanto breaks down some polls on President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

For candidates, winning a primary or caucus means winning the support of the several “delegates” that are assigned to each state. Delegates are the parties’ members or local supporters of a candidate.

At this stage, delegates matter because it is they who later vote to select the party nominee at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions held in the summer. During the conventions, the two parties announce their official candidate for the Presidential polls following a vote among their delegates. The delegates essentially confirm the candidate who has been winning the most primaries and caucuses so far in the process. (Read more)

Fighting for survival in the Republican presidential race, Nikki Haley is casting rival Donald Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden as “Grumpy Old Men” who are way past their primes in a new strategic effort that looks to tap into voters’ apathy toward a 2020 rematch.

Haley’s campaign said on Wednesday it was rolling out digital ads and mailers that would raise doubts about both Trump and Biden’s mental acuity, criticize them for not campaigning more vigorously and cast them as profligate spenders.

Haley, who is 52 and a former ambassador to the United Nations, has made age and mental fitness for the presidency an issue in the race like few politicians in the modern era. Saying it is time for a new generation of leadership in Washington, she has called for competency tests for politicians older than 75 and is an advocate for term limits for lawmakers. (Read more)

March 5, 2024, will be a ‘Super Tuesday’ in the ongoing cycle of the US Presidential elections, scheduled for November. On this day, supporters of the Democratic and Republican candidates in 15 states will vote for their preferred party candidate in the presidential race.

The Associated Press described it as “the biggest day on the election calendar”, while other commentators noted that its significance is somewhat dulled this year. Here is what happens on the day, why it matters for the rest of the elections, and what to expect this year. (Read more)

Indian-origin American Presidential candidate Nikki Haley today took to her social media to share photos with her supporters. "We are fired up and ready to save this country. Let’s go!" she wrote in the caption.

Donald Trump’s big primary victory on Saturday over Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina was the result of a ruthless and methodical campaign to eliminate her as a threat, according to aides and people close to both campaigns.

Despite having already secured a string of primary victories, it was crucial for Trump to win South Carolina, a key early Republican primary state that often predicts the party’s nominee. Unlike in 2016, Trump was facing a rival who had won two terms as governor of the state and is still locally popular.

A total of 15 states and one territory will vote for their presidential nominee this year. They are:

1. Alabama
2. Alaska (Republicans only)
3. Arkansas
4. California
5. Colorado
6. Iowa (Democrats only)
7. Maine
8. Massachusetts
9. Minnesota
10. North Carolina
11. Oklahoma
12. Tennessee
13. Texas
14. Utah
15. Vermont
16. Virginia

It falls on Tuesday, March 5 this year.

As a norm, it is held in March every election year, but in 2008 and 2004, it was held in February.

In 2020, Super Tuesday was held on March 3 and saw the participation of 14 states. Among Democrats, Joe Biden won in 10 states, securing 726 delegates while his competitor Bernie Sanders won in 4 states and claimed 505 delegates. Meanwhile, then incumbent Donald Trump beat his challenger Bill Weld almost unanimously.

The term refers to the day in the early stages of the US Presidential election cycle when, instead of a single primary or caucus, a substantial group of states or territories go to polls.

First coined in the 1980s, the term now has a firm place in America’s political vocabulary. The number of states and delegates involved changes each cycle. This year, the Republican conventions will award 874 of 2,429 Republican delegates to the winners. Festive offer

The elections are not just for presidential nominees — they also include contests for Senate, House of Representatives and state legislature seats.