Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at an election night watch party at Mar-a-Lago on March 5, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 5, 2024 / 22:47 pm (CNA).
Former President Donald Trump easily defeated his sole remaining rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, in at least 11 of the states voting on Super Tuesday, March 5.
As of 10 p.m. ET, Trump held double-digit leads over Haley in 11 of the 12 states in which polls had closed: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
Haley prevailed in only one of the Super Tuesday states, Vermont, where she edged out Trump by 50% to 46% with 90% of the vote in that state reporting.
Three other states also held primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday: Utah, California, and Alaska. Returns from those states are expected later in the evening.
To date, Trump has won at least 21 Republican primary contests, while Haley has only won one — Washington, D.C. If Trump continues his consistently overwhelming electoral successes in the Republican primaries, he is projected to win enough delegates to officially secure the Republican Party's nomination within the next one to two weeks.
More than one-third of the Republican delegates were up for grabs on Super Tuesday, which makes it traditionally the single most decisive day in the contest for the Republican Party presidential nomination.
Haley has recently faced pressure from Republican lawmakers, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, to drop out of the race amid her mounting string of losses. The former ambassador did not speak after her losses on Tuesday but is expected to discuss the future of her campaign on Wednesday.
Trump eyes pro-life vote, Catholic vote in general election
With Trump on a trajectory to secure the Republican presidential nomination, a 2024 rematch of the 2020 election is taking shape. Incumbent Democratic president Joe Biden has not faced a competitive challenge since the start of the Democratic presidential primary season.
"I think that the conversation for the general election has already started," said Jack Posobiec, a conservative commentator who is set to speak at a Catholic Prayer for Trump event at Mar-a-Lago on March 19, in an interview with CNA.
The 2024 election will be the first presidential election since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court's 2022 ruling allowed states and the federal government to impose restrictions on abortion.
Biden has campaigned hard in favor of abortion and has urged Congress to pass a law to codify the abortion standards that were set in Roe. Trump has been less specific about his intended policies on abortion, but he has said he would sign something that pro-life voters will like and has acknowledged that the federal government has a role in protecting life.
Posobiec told CNA that Trump has "already begun the conversation about federal legislation on abortion," referencing the former president's open discussion about a 15-week limit. He said that a second Trump administration is "certainly putting pro-lifers in a much better position" and criticized Biden as being "Catholic in name only."
"[Trump] is the guy who appointed the judges who overturned Roe v. Wade," Posobiec added. "He is the most pro-life president in American history."
Although Biden is the country's second Catholic president, Trump has accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against political opponents, Christians, and specifically Catholics.
The former president has specifically referenced the arrests of pro-life activists who were convicted of violating Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and the Richmond FBI memo that investigated a supposed link between traditionalist Catholics and white nationalist violent extremism.
Posobiec criticized what he called a "persecution of Catholics," saying he "can't even think of one reason why Catholics would support the Biden administration."
Posobiec also sharply criticized Biden's embrace of gender ideology as well as the administration's consistent failure to prosecute individuals who have vandalized pro-life pregnancy centers and churches.
Four more states will hold either primaries or caucuses for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday, March 12. Another five will hold their contests the following Tuesday, March 19.
The Republican National Convention, which will formally nominate the party's nominee, will take place July 15–18.
