President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump romped through Super Tuesday, amassing huge delegate hauls in California, Texas and beyond as they moved inexorably toward their parties’ nominations and a rematch for the White House in November.

Trump’s primary rival, Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, secured Vermont, depriving Trump of a clean sweep. But she is dropping out of the presidential race.

Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations when he was president, made the announcement in a speech in Charleston a day after Super Tuesday, when Trump beat her soundly in 14 of 15 Republican nominating contests.

“The time has now come to suspend my campaign,” Haley said. “I have no regrets.”

Haley lasted longer than any other Republican challenger to Trump but never posed a serious threat to the former president, whose iron grip on the party’s base remains firm despite multiple criminal indictments.

After winning the Republican primary in Washington, DC, on Sunday, Haley was hoping the northern Virginia suburbs would mirror the city across the Potomac River and deliver the state of Virginia to her. They did not. After that, one state after another slipped from her grasp.

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Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida, home, the former president made no mention of Haley, instead calling for “unity.”

“We want to have unity,” he declared, “and we’re going to have unity, and it’s going to happen very quickly.”

Haley’s campaign spokesperson, Olivia Perez-Cubas, fired off a statement saying: “Unity is not achieved by simply claiming, ‘We’re united.’ Today, in state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump.”

On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden swept in all 15 states that held Democratic contests, as well as the Iowa caucuses. His one stumble came in American Samoa, a tiny American territory in the Pacific Ocean, where he tied a little-known businessman, Jason Palmer, for the territory’s delegates, with three each, according to The Associated Press. (The party originally reported that Palmer had won a majority.)

Biden also looked toward the general election, declaring in a statement: “My message to the country is this: Every generation of Americans will face a moment when it has to defend democracy. Stand up for our personal freedom. Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights. To every Democrat, Republican and independent who believes in a free and fair America: This is our moment. This is our fight. Together, we will win.”

Biden faced only nominal opposition – although in Minnesota, pro-Palestinian advocates were hoping votes for “uncommitted” would embarrass the president and raise pressure on him to shift his pro-Israel policies as the war in the Gaza Strip grinds on. With more than 95 per cent of ballots counted early Wednesday, “uncommitted” had earned 19 per cent support, enough to send delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

“He’s going too easy on Netanyahu,” said Mark Suchy, 76, of Minneapolis, who had voted “uncommitted” on Tuesday. “He needs to cut the military funding.”

Democrats have worried that such feelings could depress turnout among the party’s voters in November, but Suchy called himself a “strong Biden supporter” and said he planned to vote for Biden on Election Day. NYTIMES, AFP