President Joe Biden and the man Georgia helped expel from the Oval Office in 2020, former President Donald Trump, are on Tuesday’s ballot for the state’s presidential choice primary.
Mississippi, Washington, and Hawaii are also conducting primaries on March 12. Early voting for Georgia’s primary began on Monday, February 19, 2024, and finished this past Friday.
According to CBS News, Trump presently has 1,076 delegates, 139 shy of the 1,215 required to earn his third consecutive Republican White House candidacy, a feat never before achieved in American presidential politics.
No Republican presidential candidate has ever been nominated for three consecutive elections; Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, was elected president in 1885 and served just one term before being elected again four years later (1885-1889 and 1893-1897).
There are 161 delegates available on Tuesday, with 59 in Georgia, 40 in Mississippi, 43 in Washington, and 19 in Hawaii. Trump requires the majority of those delegates to push him over the top.
Biden, the 81-year-old Democratic incumbent president, is running for reelection, while the man he deposed four years ago is vying for a third consecutive Republican presidential nomination. Trump, 77, and numerous Republican associates are charged in Fulton County with an alleged organized crime-style conspiracy to derail Georgia’s 2020 election.
In that race, Biden became the first Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992 to win a deep Southern state’s presidential primary, perhaps propelling the career politician to the presidency.
On Saturday, both men attended rival rallies, reinforcing Georgia’s national prominence in choosing American presidential politics.
Both Biden and Trump warned of catastrophic implications for the country if the other won another term in the White House as they held dueling rallies in Georgia on Saturday, fresh off strong Super Tuesday victories that positioned them for an almost certain rematch in November.
Biden began his speech at a rally in Atlanta by mentioning that Trump was across the state with U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. “It can tell you a lot about a person who he keeps company with,” Biden added to applause. Biden pointed out that Trump had received Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has undermined democracy in his country, at his Florida club the day before.
“When he says he wants to be dictator, I believe him,” Biden remarked of Trump. “Our freedoms are literally on the ballot this November.”
Trump slammed Biden on the border, blaming him for the murder of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley last month. A Venezuelan immigrant who illegally entered the United States has been arrested and charged with murder. He welcomed Riley’s family to his rally in Rome, Greene’s hometown.
“Joe Biden went on television and apologized for calling Laken’s murderer an illegal,” Trump claimed, drawing loud jeers and boos. “Biden should be apologizing for apologizing to this killer.”
The “Laken Riley Act” was passed last week by the United States House of Representatives. The law was written by US Representative Mike Collins, whose 10th congressional district includes Athens and the University of Georgia.
The law would require federal authorities to hold unauthorized immigrants accused of theft in the United States. The law was passed with bipartisan support from 37 Democrats and all Republicans. The bill now heads to the United States Senate for approval.
Jose Ibarra, 26, is facing murder charges in Riley’s death. According to ICE officials, Ibarra entered the United States unlawfully in El Paso, Texas, in 2022.
Even if the majority of Biden and Trump’s competitors have already suspended their campaigns, their names remain on Georgia’s Tuesday ballot:
Democrats
- President Joe Biden (the incumbent)
- Marianne Williamson (suspended).
- Dean Phillips
Republican Party
- Ryan L. Binkley
- Doug Burgum (suspended).
- Chris Christie (suspended).
- Ron DeSantis (suspended).
- Nikki Haley (suspended).
- Asa Hutchinson (Suspended)
- Perry Johnson (suspended).
- Vivek Ramaswamy (suspended
- Tim Scott (suspended).
- David Stuckenberg
- Donald J. Trump
Thirteen states held primaries on Super Tuesday, March 5, including Arkansas, California, Ohio, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador suspended her candidacy hours after Super Tuesday, having won only one primary, in Washington, D.C.
The next presidential primaries are scheduled for March 19 in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio.