The Super Tuesday primaries are the largest voting day of the year outside of the November general election. Voters in 16 states will choose who they want to run for president. Some states are also deciding who should run for governor or senator or district attorneys. Party primaries, caucuses or presidential preference votes are being held in Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.
Here’s the latest:
Quick Read
- Super Tuesday is the largest voting day outside the November general election, with 16 states and American Samoa participating.
- Voters will select presidential candidates, as well as nominees for governor, senator, and district attorneys in some states.
- This year marks a departure from Iowa’s traditional caucus system, moving to a mail-in process due to changes in the Democratic primary calendar.
- In Harris County, Texas, officials report smooth voting operations, addressing issues from previous elections.
- In Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a voter expresses support for Republican Nikki Haley, citing her resiliency and stance on education.
- Kim Ogg, Houston’s top prosecutor and a primary candidate, encounters a voting hiccup but resolves it and casts her ballot.
- President Joe Biden spends time preparing for the State of the Union address at Camp David with aides and advisers.
- Taylor Swift encourages her followers to vote in the primaries, emphasizing the importance of representation.
- Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former Trump press secretary, expresses confidence in Trump’s nomination and potential victory in the general election.
- The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to restore Trump to primary ballots is seen as a rejection of using courts for political purposes.
The Associated Press has the story:
Super Tuesday updates: No longer first in line, Iowa Democrats quietly mail in ballots
Newslooks- DES MOINES, Iowa —(AP)
For Democrats in Iowa, this year’s Super Tuesday is a break from five decades of tradition in how the state gets its say in helping determine the presidential nominee.
For 2024, the state party had to reapproach its caucuses. They’re the one-night spectacle in which community members publicly signal their support for a candidate.
This year, Iowa Democrats have quietly filled in the bubble for President Joe Biden or one of his long-shot competitors and slipped the forms into the mailbox. More than 19,000 ballots were requested, according to the party, and roughly 13,000 had been received as of Tuesday morning.
National Democrats reshuffled the primary calendar to prioritize more diverse states than Iowa. The change pushed Iowa from its leadoff position and back to Super Tuesday.
ONLY MINOR WRINKLES IN THE HOUSTON AREA
HOUSTON — Elections in recent years in Texas’ most populous county have drawn attention because of problems ranging from paper ballot shortages to malfunctioning machines to long lines.
But Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, whose office is now in charge of elections, says that so far on Super Tuesday, things generally have gone smoothly in the area, with problems in just a few places.
Those problems have been dealt with, Hudspeth said, and she’s now taking her “first deep breath for the day knowing that voters are voting, our polls are working, and we’ve been able to address everything.”
HALEY BACKER LIKES CANDIDATE’S ‘RESILIENCY’
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — “It’s time for a woman.”
That’s what Pam Hulstrand, 65, said as she cast her presidential primary ballot for Republican Nikki Haley in Eden Prairie, a Twin Cities suburb.
Haley, she said, is a new leader with experience and confidence.
But Hulstrand also said she’s prepared to vote for Republican front-runner Donald Trump in November if it comes to that. She said she voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but won’t do so again.
Hulstrand is holding out hope that Haley will win the nomination.
“The fact that she’s not giving up says a lot about her resiliency,” Hulstrand said.
Hulstrand, a minister, said she likes Haley’s stances on issues such as what’s taught in schools.
SAY WHAT? A CANDIDATE IS TOLD SHE ALREADY VOTED
HOUSTON — When the Houston area’s top prosecutor went to vote Tuesday, she was told she already had done so.
It took a bit of work, but the hiccup was soon resolved, and Kim Ogg was able to vote in the primary, in which she is seeking a third term.
Ogg says she was told that when her partner cast a ballot during early voting last week, it was mistakenly cast in Ogg’s name.
A county clerk says the mistake was fixed and Ogg got the go-ahead to vote.
BIDEN PREPS FOR THE STATE OF THE UNION
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden spent much of the run-up to Super Tuesday preparing for that OTHER big political event of the week: his annual State of the Union address.
Biden has been holed up at Camp David, the presidential retreat outside Washington, with some of his closest aides and outside advisers, according to a person familiar with the preparations. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the president’s private preparations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Among those with him: White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, senior adviser Anita Dunn, speechwriting director Vinay Reddy, counselor Steve Ricchetti, and Mike Donilon, a veteran Biden aide who recently moved from the White House to the campaign. Also on hand was the presidential historian Jon Meacham, a Biden favorite.
Others are participating virtually, according to the person familiar with the preparations.
The president returns to the White House later Tuesday. The address is scheduled for Thursday.
TAYLOR TELLS SWIFTIES TO GET OUT AND VOTE
NEW YORK — Taylor Swift has not announced an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race. But the influential pop superstar is encouraging people to get out and vote.
In a post Tuesday on Instagram, Swift reminded her vast army of followers that the presidential primary is being held in Tennessee, where Swift lives, and elsewhere.
She wrote, “I wanted to remind you guys to vote the people who most represent YOU into power. If you haven’t already, make a plan to vote today.”
Swift endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020 and backed Democratic candidates in Tennessee in 2018 after breaking her longstanding refusal to discuss her political views.
HUCKABEE SANDERS PLACES BETS ON TRUMP
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she’s confident her former boss Donald Trump will win the Republican Party’s nomination and take back the White House in the November general election.
Sanders served as White House press secretary for the former president. She cast her ballot at a Little Rock community center Tuesday morning with her husband, Bryan Sanders.
She told reporters after casting her ballot, “This is a head-to-head matchup at this point between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and he’s the clear favorite, has all the momentum, and I feel really good about him winning again in November.”
Sanders also says she wasn’t surprised by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Monday restoring Trump to primary ballots.
She said the fact that it was a 9-0 decision is “very telling” and added that “it should be a signal to stop trying to use our courts for political purposes.”
