Super Tuesday, the biggest primary night of the 2024 cycle, delivered few hiccups as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump easily dominated the 16 states and one U.S. territory that held primaries.
But there were some surprises. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley delivered an upset victory in Vermont, where she narrowly defeated Trump in the GOP primary. On the Democratic front, Biden lost the American Samoa Democratic caucuses to little-known Jason Palmer, his sole and surprising loss of the night. Palmer, a Baltimore investor, won four delegates.
Down-ballot races in California and Texas set the stage for matchups in November as Democrats seek to defend their control of the Senate.
Here are the top winners and losers from the biggest primary day of the 2024 cycle.
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Winners
Former President Donald Trump
Although Trump has not reached the 1,215 delegates needed to become the presumptive GOP nominee, he is well on track to reach that threshold by the earliest on March 12 or the latest on March 19.
The former president dashed Haley’s chances of a good night on Tuesday when his first win came from Virginia, a state that was one of her best chances for an early win.
He continued to steamroll Haley through the night with wins in Alabama, Maine, Colorado, North Carolina, Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Arkansas, and California. Results are still expected for Alaska.
He leads Haley in delegates 751-62.
Even before Trump’s victories, he took direct jabs at Haley in an interview with Mark Levin. “At the beginning, she was very nice, very respectful,” the former president said. “And then she’s gone crazy.”
“She’s become really angry,” he continued. “And I think it’s that she’s just getting nowhere.”
Adam Schiff
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a firm anti-Trump politician, is one step closer to replacing the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein after he emerged out of the Golden State’s “jungle primary” and advanced to the general election. Schiff defeated fellow California Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.
He’ll face Republican political newcomer and baseball star Steve Garvey, whom he helped elevate, in November and likely become the state’s next senator in deep-blue California.
By helping to advance Garvey to the general election, Schiff will avoid a brutal showdown with progressive and popular Porter.
Colin Allred
Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), a congressman from northeast Dallas, defeated state Sen. Roland Gutierrez in the Texas Democratic senatorial primary and avoided a runoff primary. He will face incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a potentially vulnerable politician, in November.
Allred flipped his seat in 2018 when he defeated former Rep. Pete Sessions and is hoping to repeat the feat in his battle against Cruz.
But he faces long odds. The Cook Political Report rates the general election over the Texas Senate race as likely Republican.
Plus, Republicans still have the advantage against Democrats in retaking control of the Senate. They need only a net gain of two seats to regain control.
Losers
Nikki Haley
The former ambassador lost every Super Tuesday GOP primary, except for the close win she eked out of Vermont. Yet that won’t be enough to save her presidential campaign.
Unlike Trump, Haley made no remarks Tuesday night as results rolled in. And she has not declared what her plans post-Super Tuesday will be. Her campaign has no public events as of Tuesday night or for the rest of this week. But it did put out a statement late Tuesday calling for unity in the GOP.
“Unity is not achieved by simply claiming ‘we’re united.’ Today, in state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump. That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing those voters’ concerns will make the Republican Party and America better,” said Haley spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas.
Haley has still refused to say whether she will suspend her campaign after the abysmal Super Tuesday performance.
Katie Porter
Porter failed to advance to the general election after Schiff and Garvey nudged her out of the California senatorial race.
The progressive House member trailed Schiff and Garvey in polling, lagged in fundraising behind Schiff, and was unable to convince enough voters to support her Senate bid.
The loss now ensures that California will lack a female senator for the first time in more than three decades. It will mark the end of Porter’s and Lee’s careers in Congress.
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Jerry Carl
Rep. Jerry Carl (R-AL) lost the Republican primary for Alabama’s 1st Congressional District to Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL). The loss means Carl’s time in Congress will end after this year.
The two politicians were forced to run against each other after federal courts ruled that Alabama’s seven districts, of which only one was majority black, violated the Voting Rights Act. A second majority-black district was ordered, making it more favorable for Democrats to pick up.
Moore represented the 2nd District, but the new congressional maps shifted areas of the 2nd District to create the second majority-black district in Alabama. He chose to instead face off against Carl.
Both men served in the House after winning their seats in 2020.
Both the Democratic and Republican primary for the 2nd District are headed to a runoff after no candidate reached the 50% threshold.
Bonus winner and loser: Joe Biden
Biden dominated all Democratic rivals on Tuesday night, including Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and author Marianne Williamson. He is all but certain to win the Democratic nomination as he braces for a rematch with Trump.
But Biden still has to handle the increasing “Abandon Biden” campaign stemming from his hesitancy to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
In Michigan, more than 101,000 Democrats voted for “uncommitted” over Biden in a show of their fury at the president. He faced the same problem on Super Tuesday when voters in Super Tuesday states opted for an “uncommitted” or “no preference” vote.
With 97% of the vote in, the Tar Heel State saw 12.7% of Democrats voting for “no preference” Tuesday night. Minnesota, home to a large share of Muslim Americans, saw 19.1% choose the “uncommitted” option with 89% of the ballots counted.
Colorado was another state where progressives attempted a campaign to convince voters not to choose Biden. Nearly 8% voted for the “noncommitted delegate” with 80% of the vote accounted for.
Beyond the uncommitted vote, Biden suffered one upset.
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Palmer, a virtual unknown, blocked Biden from a clean sweep of Democratic primaries when he won the American Samoa Democratic caucuses. The win injected some energy into a night of victories for the president.
“I found out that I had won because my phone started blowing up with friends and campaign staffers texting me,” Palmer said in an interview with the Associated Press.
