Trump, Biden sweep state primaries, move closer to November rematch

US President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, his predecessor, cruised to victories in statewide Super Tuesday primaries.

Trump won the Republican votes in 14 of 15 states, while Nikki Haley, former United Nations (UN) ambassador and his last remaining rival, won Vermont, denying the former president a full sweep.

But Haley’s win did little to scupper Trump’s steady march to the Republican ticket.

The only contest Biden lost was the Democratic caucus in American Samoa, a small US territory in the South Pacific Ocean, where he came short by a slim margin to Jason Palmer.

Although not all states have concluded their primaries, the ones left are not enough to steer the trajectory of the race from the leading candidates — Trump and Biden.

“They call it Super Tuesday for a reason,” Trump told his supporters.

The former president focused on Biden’s immigration policies, a topic that has been of concern to American voters, and called him the “worst president” in history.

“Our cities are being overrun with migrant crime,” he added.

Biden did not give a speech but issued a statement labelling his rival “a threat to democracy”.

“Tonight’s results leave the American people with a clear choice: Are we going to keep moving forward or will we allow Donald Trump to drag us backwards into the chaos, division, and darkness that defined his term in office?” the US president said.

Trump, 77, is currently the subject of multiple investigations into his conduct before, during, and after his first term as president.

The investigations include allegations of fraud in his family business, his role in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol, his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, sexual assault, and the stashing of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Last month, a judge ordered the former president to pay nearly $354.9 million, in a ruling in the New York civil fraud case, and barred him from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in the state for three years.

Trump has called all cases against him a witch-hunt.

Biden, 81, has been accused of “weaponising” the justice department against political opponents to protect Hunter, his son.

Biden’s critics say Hunter’s dealings and repeated run-ins with the law indicate a pattern of corruption.

In December 2023, the Republican-led House of Representatives authorised an impeachment inquiry into the president.

The committees alleged bribery and corruption during Biden’s tenure as vice-president under Barack Obama, a former US president.

Trump, a twice-impeached former president, had urged his allies to move quickly to impeach his opponent.