World News | Donald Trump Defeats Indian-American Nikki Haley in Michigan Primary, Joe Biden Wins Democratic Primary

Washington, Feb 28 (PTI) Voters handed decisive victories to US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump in their respective parties' presidential primaries in Michigan on Tuesday, increasing the chances of a 2020 rematch between the two leaders in the race for the White House in 2024.

Trump easily defeated his main rival, Indian-American Nikki Haley, winning yet another early contest and additional delegates - bringing him one step closer to being able to formally secure the Republican Party's nomination in November.

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When the last reports came in, Haley had received 26.5 per cent of the votes as against Trump's massive 68.2 per cent. US media outlets projected that 77-year-old Trump would sweep the Michigan primary with more than 40 per cent of the votes against 52-year-old Haley.

Trump's win further shuts the door on former South Carolina Governor Haley's hopes of building momentum ahead of next week's Super Tuesday contests, when more than one-third of the Republican Party's delegates are at stake.

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Trump has previously won the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire primary, caucuses in Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and South Carolina primary. He needs 1,215 delegates to formally secure the nomination.

Trump reached the Michigan Republican Watch Party Tuesday night shortly after the race was called in his favour.

"I just want to thank everybody. This was a great day," he said, pointing to the state's autoworkers, saying Democrats "destroyed the autowork business," but vowed to "bring it all back into Michigan" if elected.

"I can tell you this November cannot come fast enough," Trump said. "We have the worst president in history--the most incompetent and the most corrupt president, and we can't let this continue," Trump said, attacking his Democratic Party rival.

"So that day, November 5th, and January 20th is when we take over," Trump said, referring to Election Day and Inauguration Day. "We're going to make America great again, greater than ever before," Trump said, amidst applause from his supporters.

Trump has won 119 delegates while Haley has just 22. To receive the Republican Party's presidential nomination, one should get the backing of 1,215 delegates.

Meanwhile, Biden, 81, coasted to another victory in the state, marking his fourth primary victory in four tries. He has won 177 delegates from the four victories. Biden, who does not have any known rivals, has to win 1,968 delegates to get the Democratic Party's nomination.

Reacting to his victory, Biden said, “I want to thank every Michigander who made their voice heard today. Exercising the right to vote and participating in our democracy is what makes America great.

“Four years ago, it was Michigan's diverse coalition that came together to reject Donald Trump's MAGA (Make America Great Again) extremism and sent me and Kamala to the White House," he said in a statement.

“For all of this progress, there is so much left to do. Donald Trump is threatening to drag us even further into the past as he pursues revenge and retribution," Biden said. Meanwhile, the results in Michigan further solidified the positions of Trump and Biden as frontrunners in their respective parties.

Republicans will formally name their presidential candidate during a national convention in July. Democrats will have their convention in August.

However, a key feature of the Democratic primary in Michigan, which has a significant Muslim population, as around 13.25 per cent of Biden's Democratic voters cast ballots for the “uncommitted” as part of their protest against the president for his handling of the Israel-Palestine war.

Strong opposition to Biden's support for Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas militants led some Democrats to call for voters to select “uncommitted” instead of casting a vote for the incumbent president.

Supporters of the effort for "uncommitted" ballots in Michigan said they were hoping for 10,000 such votes, a level that was easily surpassed. With nearly 99 per cent of the ballots counted, there were already more than one lakh “uncommitted” votes.

The movement picked up the support of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who announced her public opposition to supporting Biden ahead of her home state's primary.

"I was proud today to walk in and pull a Democratic ballot and vote uncommitted. We must protect our democracy. We must make sure that our government is about us, about the people," Tlaib said in a video.

"When 74% of Democrats in Michigan support a cease-fire, yet President Biden is not hearing us, this is the way we can use our democracy to say listen," she said.

Earlier in the day, the Haley Campaign said that it was going ahead with the Super Tuesday fight.

"She's in Michigan today and heading to Super Tuesday states across the country over the next week. We must get it right this election!” said the campaign.

For Democrats, voters in 14 states and American Samoa will head to the polls to choose their candidate on Super Tuesday. Those states include Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.

Republican voters in Washington, D.C., will cast their ballots over three days at the end of this week before caucuses take place in Idaho and Missouri on Saturday. Voters in North Dakota will hold a caucus on Monday.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)