By Nathan Worcester
Former President Donald Trump made a clean sweep of three more Republican presidential primaries as he remains effectively unchallenged within his party.
He sailed through successive contests on March 12 in Georgia, Mississippi, and Washington, claiming three more victories as the de facto GOP nominee.
His last remaining rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, suspended her campaign after losing every state but Vermont on Super Tuesday, March 5.
The Associated Press called the Georgia race for President Trump at 7:11 p.m. (ET), shortly after polls closed. The Mississippi race was called at 8:08 p.m. (ET), and the Washington results were called at 11.05 p.m. (ET).
With the Republican National Convention set for July 15–18, there were 59 delegates at stake in Georgia’s race, all bound to those running in its March 12 primary. In Mississippi, 40 were available under broadly similar rules, while 43 were up for grabs in Washington’s GOP primary.
If President Trump claims almost all those delegates—137 out of 142—he will have secured a majority of his party’s delegates. That would position him to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee once that question is voted on at the convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Before the evening’s contests took place, President Trump could lay claim to 1,078 delegates. Ms. Haley had garnered 94 delegates. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who dropped out in January before the New Hampshire primary, had 9 delegates. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who left the race after a lackluster finish in the Iowa caucus, had 3 delegates.
Incumbent President Joe Biden was also poised to clinch his party’s presumptive nomination on March 12.
Marianne Williamson recently relaunched her campaign, as “uncommitted” campaigns in various Democratic races have registered left-wing dissatisfaction with the Biden administration’s Israel policy.
On the streets of Chicago, Illinois, which will host the Democratic National Convention Aug. 19–22, stickers labeling President Biden a “terrorist” are a foreshadowing of protests that could rock that event, barring a ceasefire brokered by the Biden administration or similar policy moves.
Yet, the forces arrayed against President Biden do not amount to a serious challenge within his own party, at least not when it comes to racking up delegates.
In Mississippi’s Democratic primary, 35 delegates were at stake, while contests in Georgia and Washington had 108 and 92 up for grabs, respectively.
Going into March 12, President Biden had a total of 1,872 delegates, 96 short of the 1,968 required to have a majority of delegates to the DNC.
That meant he needed less than half the 235 delegates in play in the Democratic races taking place across the country on March 12.
On both the left and right, speculation has persisted that President Biden will be replaced by another candidate.
“Gavin Newsom is doing everything he can to position himself as the Democratic Party’s presidential heir-apparent should Biden, in the face of daunting poll numbers, step aside later in the election season—or, alternatively, come the 2028 electoral cycle,” wrote The Nation, a left-leaning periodical, in a March 9 post on X.
On March 7, Roger Stone posted his prediction on X: “Joe Biden will be replaced as the Democratic nominee. In fact, he will withdraw shortly before the convention.”
