Super Tuesday Showdown: Trump and Biden Lead Primaries Amid Surprises

The Super Tuesday primaries in the USA mark the peak of the process for selecting each party's candidates for President of the United States. The vote spanned 17 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia, among others.

The Republican Party held its primaries in Alaska, while the Democrats conducted theirs in the American Samoa archipelago. Additionally, the outcomes of the Democrats' mail-in voting in Iowa, which had been underway for weeks, were announced. Some of the states have already released their results.

Former President Donald Trump secured victories in 12 out of 13 decided Republican Party primaries on "Super Tuesday", and President Joe Biden won 15 out of 16 decided Democratic primaries. As a result, both are almost certain to receive their party's nomination in the November presidential elections.

Trump decisively defeated former US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, in almost all the states voting on Tuesday. However, he unexpectedly lost to her in the small, liberal state of Vermont in New England. This was his second loss in the primaries, following Haley's victory on Sunday in another small, liberal stronghold, the US capital.

The former US president emerged victorious in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. In all these states, he garnered over 60% of the vote share, while in Alabama, it was over 80%. By midnight Greenwich Time on Tuesday, the votes in the Republican primaries in Utah and Alaska were still not counted, but Trump was the clear frontrunner.

President Biden achieved more decisive victories on "Super Tuesday", receiving over 80% of the votes in nearly every race, compared to single-digit support for Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson.

However, Biden too faced one defeat. In the Democratic primaries in American Samoa, a US territory, he was beaten by the relatively unknown businessman Jason Palmer. Ninety-one people participated in the voting, with 50 casting their votes for Palmer and 41 for Biden. Although this result does not carry practical significance for the broader primary campaign, it marked Biden as the first sitting president since Jimmy Carter to lose one of the primary races.

A concern for Biden could also be the result in Minnesota, where he indeed won 69% of the votes, but nearly 20% of the voters chose neither candidate.