HOUSTON, US
US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump swept their primary elections on Tuesday in the states of Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia, according to media outlets.
In Maryland, where Biden beat Trump by more than 30 points in the 2020 election, Biden secured a clear victory with 86% of the vote in the Democratic primary. However, on the Republican side of the ballot, while Trump took home a majority 80% of the vote, former opponent and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley managed to score a significant tally of nearly 20% even though she dropped out of the race more than two months ago.
Haley's high polling numbers in Maryland could play an important factor in foreshadowing Trump's chances during the November general election because political experts have said that Maryland is a significant state -- holding 10 Electoral College votes -- and has reliably voted for the Democratic candidate for decades.
A total of 538 Electoral College votes are at stake nationwide, with at least 270 votes required for either candidate to win the presidency.
The numbers were similar in Nebraska, where Trump won with 80% of the vote in the Republican primary while Haley managed to garner 18% of the vote. Biden scored an even larger victory on the Democratic slate with 90% of the tally.
Trump had his widest margin of victory in West Virginia, where he took home 88% of the vote to Haley's 9% of the tally. Biden had his lowest vote total in that state, winning with just 70% of the vote compared to 18% of the vote for "other candidates." Little-known Democratic candidate and entrepreneur Jason Palmer managed to generate 11% of the vote. Palmer handed Biden his only defeat of the primary season back in March, when he beat the incumbent president in the tiny US territory of American Samoa.
Tuesday's primaries, as well as the rest of the US primaries slated to run through June, are just formalities, as both Trump and Biden have already clinched their respective parties' nominations.
Trump has already secured 2,142 delegates for the Republican nomination in which 1,215 delegates were needed. Biden has totaled 3,528 delegates, nearly doubling the 1,976 delegates necessary for the Democratic nomination.
Trump will formally accept his party's nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin which will be held July 15-18.
Biden will officially be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, which will take place Aug. 19-22.