Trump and Biden prepare for rematch as Haley bows out of GOP race

President Joe Biden will win the Virginia Democratic primary, CNN projects.  

There were 99 pledged delegates at stake in the contest.  

In 2020, Biden also won the state’s Democratic primary. 

It's 7 p.m. ET and polls are closing across Vermont and Virginia.

Nikki Haley is not planning to make any public remarks tonight and she has not promised to keep her campaign alive after today’s results have been tallied – a tactic that is very different than her approach to previous primary contests.

Before the Iowa caucus, Haley’s campaign was pointing to the competition turning into a two-person race between Haley and former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire.

Before the New Hampshire primary Haley clearly stated her intention to go onto compete in her home state of South Carolina, and her campaign put out a memo pointing to “fertile ground” in super Tuesday states.

And days before the South Carolina primary, Haley gave a speech where she committed to campaigning in Michigan and competing through Super Tuesday no matter the results. Her campaign had also already scheduled rallies in Super Tuesday states.

Ahead of today, Haley did not set those same expectations. There was no campaign event, no campaign memo laying out the path ahead and no campaign manager call with reporters claiming that Haley isn’t going anywhere. Haley will monitor the results in her home state of South Carolina, where voters are not even voting. 

Tonight is very different than the previous contests, given the sheer number of states voting which means there is a lot of information for the campaign to digest, a campaign official pointed out. 

Still, in the last week Haley has repeatedly said she has not thought beyond Super Tuesday, citing the importance of allowing voters in more than a dozen states that vote today to have their voices heard.

None of this definitively means that Haley won’t keep her campaign alive or add events to her schedule in states that vote next week — but it does mean that tonight’s results will dictate what her campaign does next.

Voters in North Carolina were focused on key issues as they headed to the polls to make their primary choices on Tuesday.

In Cornelius, a more affluent lake community outside of Charlotte, those turning up to cast their ballot cited their views on abortion, education, democracy and immigration as the reasons behind their vote. 

North Carolina could have the power in November to sway the race for president. The crucial swing state’s importance goes beyond the top of the ticket though — North Carolina has a long ballot full of competitive races.

One of them is the nation’s most closely watched gubernatorial race, which will likely end up being between frontrunners Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general who has raised millions of dollars, and Mark Robinson, the state’s controversial lieutenant governor. Robinson brings with him an endorsement from Donald Trump, but also a long list of inflammatory statements and right-wing positions that some Republicans worry will hurt him in the general election. 

Former President Donald Trump’s team is aware that he won’t cross the delegate threshold to become the presumptive Republican nominee tonight, but the hope is that he secures enough delegates to ensure he does meet that milestone as early as next Tuesday, March 12.

Trump’s campaign is also hoping that a definitive win tonight will effectively force his lone GOP rival, Nikki Haley, to drop out of the race. While keenly aware that Haley had only pledged to stay in the race through Super Tuesday, Trump’s campaign is also not operating under an assumption that Haley will drop out, having already pivoted their focus to a general election. 

Publicly, Trump followed the campaign’s shift to focus on President Joe Biden, but privately the former president has continued to complain that Haley has remained in the race, arguing that she is stopping the Republican Party from fully getting behind Trump. 

As Trump’s campaign looks to a general election rematch with Biden, tonight’s results could help shape where and how they will spend resources. Trump advisers indicated they would look at several key data points out of Super Tuesday – including how suburban voters in red and purple states cast their ballots and what Republican turnout looks like, which will serve as a reference point for the party’s enthusiasm around this election. 

One thing the Trump team knows – every single vote counts in a rematch with Biden, and they aren’t taking anything for granted.

Donald Trump might be on the hunt for delegates tonight, but he’s already secured support from the majority of Republicans on Capitol Hill — another key barometer of his grip on the GOP.

Over half of the Senate GOP conference has endorsed Trump, including Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican who has expressed concern about Trump’s viability as a general election candidate. And across the Capitol, well over half the House Republican conference is backing Trump, including the entire House GOP leadership team. 

One key Republican who hasn’t endorsed him yet is Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, whose relationship has soured with the former president since January 6, 2021. But McConnell is expected to back whoever the presumptive nominee is — even if it’s Trump.

And in a sign of just how enthusiastic — and confident — Republicans are about Trump’s march to the nomination: Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 3 Senate Republican, told CNN that he called Trump this morning to “congratulate him in advance” of his expected performance on Super Tuesday.

It’s a remarkable turnaround from just a few years ago when Trump left Washington in disgrace and many were skeptical about his future in the party.

The economy may be looming large for many Californians as they cast their ballots on Tuesday.

The past year has seen a slowdown in the tech-focused Bay Area and two prolonged Hollywood strikes, resulting in an uptick in layoffs in the state. According to the latest government data from December, California has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. The state has a 5.1% unemployment rate, far outpacing the nationwide unemployment rate, which was 3.7% in January. Only one state, Nevada, has a higher unemployment rate than California. The state’s labor force has also been steadily shrinking since September.

However, California’s economy, the largest in the US, has grown at a relatively healthy pace. The state’s real GDP grew at a 4.8% annual pace in the third quarter of 2023, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The state ranks No. 22 out of all 50 states when it comes to real GDP growth.

President Joe Biden raised at least $42 million for his reelection campaign and the Democratic Party in February, campaign officials told CNN, a total fueled by the strongest month of grassroots donations during this election cycle – which campaign officials say demonstrates an under-appreciated level of enthusiasm for the president.

Biden campaign officials told CNN that last month’s grassroots fundraising included nearly $2 million in donations on the final day of the month. That marked the campaign’s second strongest grassroots fundraising day of the cycle so far, following the official launch of the Biden reelection operation on April 25. CNN was the first to report on the figures.

The president and his team have been fighting off concerns about a lack of enthusiasm around his reelection, with recent polls showing voters’ worries about his age and key issues like the economy.

The Biden campaign had raised more than $42 million in January and had ended that month with $130 million on hand — the biggest figure amassed by a Democratic presidential candidate at that point in the election cycle.

North Carolina’s unemployment rate was 3.6% in December 2023, ranked 31st in the country. The North Carolina commerce department touted “remarkable progress” on a balanced labor market in 2023, saying job openings in the state are beginning to approach pre-pandemic levels.

The state’s economy grew 4.6% in the third quarter of 2023 (in contrast, neighboring South Carolina grew 5.7%). North Carolina gained about 99,000 jobs in 2023, with a growth rate of 2%. 

Though North Carolina may best be known for its historic furniture and tobacco industries, the state has a diverse economy, from Charlotte’s metropolitan financial center, food processing and agriculture, to information technology in the Raleigh-Durham area.