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.
Latest headlines:
Utah Democrats decide
ABC News projects that Biden will win the Utah Democratic primary. With about 47 percent of the expected vote counted, Biden has 88 percent in the Beehive State.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Moore leads Carl in all-incumbent clash in Alabama's 1st District
Time for our first update of what's happening in the Republican primary in Alabama's 1st District. There, court-ordered redistricting precipitated an incumbent-versus-incumbent contest between Reps. Barry Moore and Jerry Carl. With nearly half of the expected vote now reporting, Moore leads Carl 57.5 percent to 42.5 percent. Moore's edge might come as a surprise considering Carl outraised Moore and had more outside spending help. Moreover, Carl currently represents more of the new 1st District under the old district lines. But Carl still could catch Moore thanks to his home base of Mobile County, where only 9 percent of the expected vote has reported, with Carl up 74 percent to 26 percent.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538
Jason Palmer’s PR team
I’m sure I’m not the only reporter who’s been receiving emails from Anderson Group Public Affairs, a PR firm flacking for Jason Palmer for several months now. I guess I should have been paying more attention before just sending them to my trash! Also, I think he’s the only candidate working with a PR firm that also sends emails with the subject line “Interview Entrepreneur Behind Billion Dollar Sex Toy Company.”
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
If you’re furiously Googling Jason Palmer right now …
You’re not alone. He’s currently trending on Twi—I mean X, and his campaign website appears to have crashed.
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538
What are Trump's and Haley's must-win states tonight?
Based on each state's politics and demographics, 538's G. Elliott Morris has calculated how many delegates both Trump and Haley need to win in each state today to be on pace for the nomination. Here are those numbers:
In total, Trump's magic number tonight is 497 delegates, while Haley's is 543. Elliott's model thinks Trump needs to sweep Arkansas, California, Tennessee and Texas while also taking about half of the delegates available in Alaska, Colorado and North Carolina. Meanwhile, if she wants to have a shot at winning the nomination, Haley must win all the delegates in Alabama, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont and Virginia — a tall order on a night where winning even one state isn't a certainty.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538