Super Tuesday primaries 2024: Trump and Biden dominate, Haley drops out

538 tracked how Trump and Haley did, plus key U.S. House and Senate races.

March 5 was Super Tuesday — the biggest election day of the year until the one in November! With former President Donald Trump projected to win 14 of the day's 15 GOP presidential nominating contests, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced Wednesday morning that she is suspending her campaign.

It was also the first downballot primary day of 2024, with important contests for Senate, House and governor in states like Alabama, California, North Carolina and Texas.

538 reporters, analysts and contributors broke down the election results as they came in with live updates, analysis and commentary. Read our full live blog below.


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Texas GOP primary voters thought today’s presidential race could be close

With 24 percent of the expected vote reporting, Trump is leading in Texas by 53 percentage points. Despite Trump's 65-point lead in the polls, likely GOP primary voters in Texas thought the race would be close in pre-election polling. In a February survey from the University of Texas at Tyler, just 17 percent of likely GOP primary voters in the state thought Trump would win by a large margin, while 21 percent thought that Trump would win in a close election. Another 6 percent said they thought Trump would win, but weren't sure of what the margin would be. Most of the rest, 46 percent, said they weren't sure who would win, and just 3 percent thought Haley would win.

—Mary Radcliffe, 538


Trump is projected to win Tennessee

ABC News projects that Trump will win the Tennessee Republican primary, his fourth win of the evening (and the night is young). Demographically, Tennessee was one of the best states for Trump, and it hasn't let him down tonight: He's currently leading 81 percent to 16 percent.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538


What Trump's edge in Virginia looks like

Trump looks well on his way to a clear victory in Virginia. With 46 percent of the expected vote reporting, he leads Haley 66 percent to 32 percent.

If we look at a map of Virginia's counties and independent cities, we can see how Haley failed to break through. To be competitive, Haley needed to perform well in the state's three major metro areas: Northern Virginia outside of the nation's capital, around the state capital of Richmond and in Hampton Roads, the southeast corner of the state. Yet she's mostly striking out so far.

So far, she only leads in the inner D.C. suburbs (including the state's largest county, Fairfax) and in the city of Richmond proper. She will probably gain as Fairfax reports more, but critically, Trump leads in Loudoun and Prince William counties, the other two big population centers in Northern Virginia. Trump is also ahead around Richmond and leads everywhere in Hampton Roads. And his strength in the rural areas is very strong, much as was the case in the 2016 GOP primary here. Haley holds leads in the city of Roanoke and in the Albemarle County-Charlottesville City area, but it's far from enough to make the race interesting.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538


Biden is projected to win in Vermont and Oklahoma

ABC News also projects that Biden will win in Vermont and Oklahoma, two of the states I'm watching tonight. Biden is a favorite to win across the country, but there is still a Democratic primary tonight.

—Monica Potts, 538


Democratic women to watch

As I mentioned earlier, 2018 was a watershed year for political ambition among Democratic women. Not only did Democratic women run in record numbers in 2018, they also outperformed Democratic men in their primaries. And in November of that cycle, female candidates were responsible for more than 60 percent of the congressional seats that flipped from red to blue. That year was a nail in the "women aren't electable" coffin.

There are a few Democratic women running tonight who are vying to do just that once again.

In southern California's 40th District, which spans parts of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, engineer Allyson Muñiz Damikolas is hoping to face Republican incumbent Young Kim in November. Kim herself was one of the few Republican women who won in 2020 when she flipped California's 39th District by less than 5,000 votes Due to redistricting, Kim ran in the 40th District in 2022, where she won by a much larger margin. Still, this region of California is in flux demographically and politically, so it makes sense as a target for Democrats. EMILY's List is backing Muñiz Damikolas, but to advance to November, she'll need to get past fellow Democrat, retired fire Capt. Joe Kerr, first, who has been endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.

Next, in Texas's 15th District, small business owner Michelle Vallejo is favored to advance tonight to a rematch against Republican incumbent Rep. Monica De La Cruz. Vallejo, who has endorsements from EMILY's List and the DCCC, lost by nearly nine percentage points in 2022, but Democratic groups have invested more in the race this time around as a top pickup opportunity. And in California's 3rd District, wildfire specialist Jessica Morse is running to face the Republican incumbent, Rep. Kevin Kiley. Morse is endorsed by EMILY's List, but not the DCCC. She and Kiley are likely to advance out of today's top-two primary, which includes a third-party candidate.

In addition to these, there are several bluer districts with incumbent-less primaries today where Democratic women will be competitive:

- Rep. Colin Allred is running for Senate, opening his seat in Texas's 32nd District. State Rep. Julie Johnson has support from EMILY's List and seems to be one of the top two candidates in a crowded Democratic primary.

- Rep. Tony Cárdenas announced his retirement in his blue San Fernando Valley district (California's 29th). Luz Maria Rivas, who has support from EMILY's List and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, should finish in the top two today.

- Rep. Barbara Lee isn't running for reelection in California's 12th District, instead vying for the Senate. Organizer and civil rights activist Lateefah Simon is a clear front-runner. She has Lee's endorsement, as well as Gov. Newsom's, and backing from EMILY's List.

- Rep. Anna Eshoo announced her retirement after three decades in Congress, opening up California's 16th District. EMILY's List is backing former Stanford dean Julie Lythcott-Haims, but she's caught in a tight race with four other strong candidates who have her beat on the spending front.

- Rep. Katie Porter is also running for Senate instead of reelection in California's 47th District. Lawyer Joanna Weiss, who has an endorsement from EMILY's List, looks to be in a contentious race with state Sen. Dave Min to become the Democratic flagbearer this fall.

Given that Lee, Eshoo and Porter are women and not all of today's female candidates are favored to advance, today's races mainly give Democratic women a chance to maintain the progress they've made in recent cycles.

—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor