Biden and Trump Secure Major Primary Victories Across Multiple States as 2024 Election Nears

New York — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won Democratic and Republican primaries in several states on Tuesday, including some of the final contests on the 2024 primary calendar.

Trump, who was on the ballot for the first time since his historic conviction for felony charges, won primaries in New Mexico, where voters could choose between two challengers who have since stepped out, and Montana and New Jersey, where he was unopposed.

Biden won the Democratic primaries in New Mexico, South Dakota, New Jersey, Montana, and Washington, DC.

Trump and Biden, the only big contenders still running, were anticipated to handily win all of Tuesday’s elections. However, with many Americans indicating in polls that they do not want a rerun of the 2020 election, Tuesday’s results were closely scrutinized for voter concerns about their options as November’s election approached.

Trump’s dominance in the GOP primary season has also been overshadowed by support from a small number of GOP voters for former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who left out in March. Tuesday’s competitions were the first since Haley announced two weeks ago that she would vote for Trump in November.

Several thousand voters voted for Haley in New Mexico, where she was still on the ballot, although she was trailing behind with less than 10% of the vote late Tuesday.

Biden has faced his own protest vote in recent elections, as Democratic supporters dissatisfied with his handling of Israel’s battle with Hamas sought to voice their displeasure. There are coordinated campaigns in numerous states on Tuesday to vote for “uncommitted” in Democratic races. In many counties in New Jersey’s primary, “uncommitted” appeared above the text, “Justice for Palestine, Permanent Ceasefire Now!”

More than 35,000 voters in New Jersey had voted “uncommitted” as of late Tuesday.

After Tuesday, Democrats have two more caucuses on June 8 in Guam and the United States Virgin Islands to complete their 2024 primary calendar.

Republicans in D.C. staged a party-run primary in March. South Dakota canceled its Republican presidential primary because Trump was unopposed.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, people in those states voted in primaries for federal, state, and municipal positions.

Tim Sheehy, a retired Navy SEAL, received the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in Montana. Sheehy, who has the support of Trump and national Republican leaders, will face Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in what is likely to be one of the most contested fights for control of the chamber.

In New Jersey, Rep. Andy Kim won the Democratic primary for the seat occupied by scandal-plagued Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez, who is currently on trial in New York for federal corruption. Menendez chose not to run in the primary. On Monday, he filed paperwork to run as an independent in the general election.

On the Republican side, businessman Curtis Bashaw defeated Trump’s nominee, Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner.

Herb Conaway defeated four Democrats in a primary for the state’s 3rd District, which Kim now represents and is projected to remain Democratic in November.

Menendez’s son, first-term Representative Rob Menendez, defeated Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla in the New Jersey 8th District primary.

In New Mexico, where Democrats hold all three U.S. House seats, only one primary was held in the 1st Congressional District. Republicans Louie Sanchez and Steve Jones faced off against incumbent Melanie Stansbury in Albuquerque’s Democratic-leaning district.

In D.C., residents were voting in a primary for the city’s nonvoting delegate to the United States House. In Iowa, which kicked off the presidential competitions in January with its first-in-the-nation caucuses, voters chose nominees in primary elections for municipal races and U.S. House seats, including one that might have a significant impact on House control.

Democrats in the Des Moines-area 3rd Congressional District selected Lanon Baccam as their contender to face first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, who defeated an incumbent Democrat in 2022.