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Staff Writer: Connor Sullivan
Email: csullivan14@umassd.edu
Nikki Haley and Dean Philips dropped out of the presidential race last Wednesday, March 6th, leaving Joe Biden and Donald Trump as the sole contenders for the presidency.
Super Tuesday is when multiple states hold their primary elections to determine which candidate their delegates will select for the presidential nomination. Haley and Philips dropped out due to poor results.
The day Super Tuesday falls varies between primary seasons, and there can be multiple Super Tuesdays in a single season. This season, Super Tuesday landed on March 5th and saw Democratic and Republican elections in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. Additionally, Alaska held its Republican caucus, while Iowa and American Soma held their Democratic caucuses.
The results from Super Tuesday saw landslide victories for Biden and Trump, who respectively won 1402 and 793 delegates. Both candidates are now just shy of the threshold needed to win their respective party’s nomination – over 50% of their delegates.
The other members of the race were left with dire results. Republican candidate Nikki Haley only managed to win one state election, Vermont’s Republican primary. She was awarded the state’s nine delegates, leaving her with 91, eclipsed by Trump’s 1,066.
Haley ended her presidential campaign the next day, March 6th.
She announced from her campaign headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina:
“I am filled with gratitude for the outpouring of support we’ve received from all across our great country,” said Haley, “but the time has now come to suspend my campaign.”
Haley reiterated several of her campaign goals, which she intends to continue working towards throughout her political career. These issues include addressing the national debt, decreasing the size of the federal government, and supporting U.S. intervention in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. She also reiterated the bipartisan sentiments that made many see her as the moderate opposition to Trump’s campaign.
“While we stand strong for the cause of freedom, we must bind together as Americans,” said Haley, “We must turn away from the darkness of hatred and division.”
Haley did not endorse Trump during her suspension announcement, unlike previous candidates Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy. Instead, she wished him luck with winning over voters.
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and I hope he does that,” said Haley.
Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Dean Philips saw even worse results on Super Tuesday, failing to steal even a single state from Biden. By the end of the day, Biden was left with 1,623 of the democrat’s delegates, while Philips had zero.
Philips announced suspending his campaign the next day on The Chad Hartman Show. During this announcement, he restated what motivated him to compete against Biden for the nomination.
“I thought he should pass the torch because I thought it was time for generational change, and evidence was growing that Donald Trump would be pursuing the presidency again and that Joe Biden would not be well positioned to defeat him,” said Philips.
He conceded, “Clearly and convincingly, Democratic primary voters have opined that I’m not that guy.”
Philips also used the opportunity to endorse Biden, saying, “I invite, I encourage and will do everything humanly possible to ensure Joe Biden’s reelection this November.”
All of this has left voters with the choice most were expecting: either Biden or Trump will be voted as the president of the United States in November. Both candidates face challenges in the upcoming election.
For Biden, his approval rating has taken a noticeable decline in recent polls, especially among younger voters who oppose his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Over 100,000 of these voters turned out on Super Tuesday to vote “Uncommitted” as a form of protest.
Some predict that Trump will struggle to appeal to independent voters. While their policies heavily overlapped, Haley polled much better among centrist and left-leaning voters who don’t support Trump.
According to their exit polls, CNN reports, “In North Carolina, a swing state with a rapidly growing population of college-educated voters, 81% of those who backed Haley on Tuesday said they would not vote for Trump in November.”
NPR’s Senior Political Editor, Domenico Montanaro, shared this sentiment, “Even though Haley exited the race on Wednesday, significant majorities of her voters are continuing to tell exit pollsters that they will not support Trump in a general election.”
With over seven months until the general election, the results still seem up in the air.