Trump scores big Super Tuesday wins

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 5, 2024 / 22:47 pm

Super Tuesday saw former President Donald Trump easily defeat his sole remaining rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

The former president racked up overwhelming victories in 14 of the 15 states voting on Super Tuesday, March 5, including in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. 

Haley prevailed in only one of the Super Tuesday states, Vermont, where she edged out Trump by 50% to 46%.

To date, Trump has won every Republican primary contest, except Vermont and Washington, D.C., where Haley also prevailed in the nation's capital March 3 primary contest.

Trump is projected to win enough delegates to officially secure the Republican Party’s nomination within the next week.

More than one-third of the Republican delegates were up for grabs on Super Tuesday, which makes it the single most decisive day in the contest for the Republican Party presidential nomination.

Amid her mounting string of losses, Haley faced increasing pressure from Republican lawmakers, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, to drop out of the race. Finally on Wednesday, in the wake of her drubbing on Super Tuesday, she announced the suspension of her campaign.

Trump eyes pro-life vote, Catholic vote in general election

With Trump on his way to securing the Republican presidential nomination, a 2024 rematch of the 2020 election is taking shape. Incumbent Democratic president Joe Biden has not faced a competitive challenge since the start of the Democratic presidential primary season. 

“I think that the conversation for the general election has already started,” said Jack Posobiec, a conservative commentator who is set to speak at a Catholic Prayer for Trump event at Mar-a-Lago on March 19, in an interview with CNA.

The 2024 election will be the first presidential election since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling allowed states and the federal government to impose restrictions on abortion.

Biden has campaigned hard in favor of abortion and has urged Congress to pass a law to codify the abortion standards that were set in Roe. Trump has been less specific about his intended policies on abortion, but he has said he would sign something that pro-life voters will like and has acknowledged that the federal government has a role in protecting life.

Posobiec told CNA that Trump has “already begun the conversation about federal legislation on abortion,” referencing the former president’s open discussion about a 15-week limit. He said that a second Trump administration is “certainly putting pro-lifers in a much better position” and criticized Biden as being “Catholic in name only.” 

“[Trump] is the guy who appointed the judges who overturned Roe v. Wade,” Posobiec added. “He is the most pro-life president in American history.”

Although Biden is the country’s second Catholic president, Trump has accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against political opponents, Christians, and specifically Catholics.

The former president has specifically referenced the arrests of pro-life activists who were convicted of violating Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and the Richmond FBI memo that investigated a supposed link between traditionalist Catholics and white nationalist violent extremism. 

Posobiec also leveled sharp criticism of Biden’s embrace of gender ideology, in addition to the administration’s consistent failure to prosecute individuals who have vandalized pro-life pregnancy centers and churches.

Four more states will hold either primaries or caucuses for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday, March 12. Another five will hold their contests the following Tuesday, March 19. 

The Republican National Convention, which will formally nominate the party’s nominee, will take place July 15–18.