COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Joe Biden and Donald Trump won their party's primary in Illinois on Tuesday, winning more delegates and setting up a rematch in this November's presidential election. continues to march towards.
Democrat Biden and Republican Trump easily won Tuesday's Ohio primary. Trump also won Florida's Republican primary. There was no race for Biden to win in Florida, as the state's Democratic Party chose to cancel its primary and award all 224 delegates to Biden, a move that gives preference to the sitting president. It is. Trump and Biden are expected to easily win Tuesday's primaries in Arizona and Kansas, with even more support likely to follow. become your party's presumptive candidate last week.
Other races other than the Presidency It may be possible to gain insight into the national political situation. Ohio Republican Senate Primary It pits Trump-supporting businessman Bernie Moreno against two challengers: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan, a family member of the owners of the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.
Chicago voters one-time property tax To pay for new homeless services. And California voters will decide who will replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned after being ousted by Republican leadership.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have focused on the general election in recent weeks, recently expanding their campaigns to states that are likely to be contested in November, rather than just primary states. ing.
Trump, a Florida voter, cast his vote Tuesday at a Palm Beach recreation center and told reporters, “I voted for Donald Trump.”
President Trump held a rally on Saturday in Ohio, a state that has been solidly Republican in recent years after once serving as a national flag bearer for presidential campaigns. Trump won the state by about 8 percentage points in 2016 and 2020. Signs the state could become more competitive Last year, Ohio voted overwhelmingly to protect the right to abortion in its constitution, and voted to legalize marijuana.
Associated Press correspondent Donna Warder reports that five states are holding presidential primaries.
Meanwhile, Biden is visiting Nevada and Arizona on Tuesday, two states that were and remain among the closest states in 2020. top priority for both campaign.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have asserted their credentials in office and cast the other as a threat to the United States. President Trump, 77, has described Biden, 81, as mentally unfit. The president praised his Republican rivals who tried to overturn the 2020 election results as a threat to democracy. foreign powerful person.
Those themes were evident at some polling places Tuesday.
“President Biden, I don't think he knows how to tie his shoelaces anymore,” said Linda Bennett, a Trump supporter who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, not far from the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort. .
While she echoed Trump's claims about Biden, she criticized his rhetoric and “his demeanor,” calling it “totally un-presidential.” But she said the former president was a “man of his word” and she felt the country, especially the economy, was stronger under Trump's leadership.
In Columbus, Ohio, Democrat Brenda Woodfork voted for Biden and shared her framework for choosing a president this fall.
“It's scary,” she said of the possibility of Trump entering the Oval Office again. “Trump wants to be a dictator, he's going to turn America back to white people, he's saying all this crap. There's so much hate going on.”
Bennett and Woodfork agreed that immigration is one of the biggest concerns, but differed on why.
“This border issue is out of control,” said Bennett, a Republican voter. “It's very upsetting because I think it's a conspiracy or a plan by the government to bring them in to change the whole dynamic for their own benefit.”
Woodfork, a Democrat, said he doesn't care about immigrants “sharing” opportunities in the United States, but worries that it will come at the expense of “people who have lived here all their lives.” He said there was.
President Trump and the Republican Party have harshly criticized Biden in recent years for the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and have sought to exploit the issue far beyond border states. Mr. Biden has stepped up his counterattack in recent weeks. Senate Republicans killed immigration compromise They negotiated with the White House and withheld support only after President Trump announced his opposition to the deal. Mr. Biden used the situation to argue that Mr. Trump and the Republican Party were not interested in solving the problem, but rather wanted to stir up voters in an election year.
Over the past year, Trump has linked his campaign to legal challenges, including dozens of criminal charges and civil lawsuits. Over $500 million With a fine.
His first criminal trial was scheduled to begin Monday in New York on charges of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments.But the judge The trial was postponed for 30 days. After new evidence recently came to light, Trump's lawyers said they needed time to consider it. — Jackson reported from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Price reported from New York. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
