US elections: Biden and Trump notch more wins in primaries

US President Joe Biden and his rival and predecessor Donald Trump, the presumptive presidential nominees for their parties, have secured more delegates by winning their respective primaries, continuing their march towards a rematch in November. Trump, 77, and Biden, 81, won in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio on Tuesday. Trump also won the Republican primary in Florida, where the Democrats are not holding a primary.

In Florida, Trump swept the Republican primary taking home all the 125 delegates.

Indian-origin former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has now withdrawn from the race, got 14 per cent of the votes and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received four per cent of the votes in a low turnout. DeSantis has also withdrawn from the race.

“Trump demonstrated absolute dominance in the result. Polling for the general election shows that his dominance in Florida will continue until November. Florida is Trump Country,” said Trump senior adviser Brian Hughes.

In Arizona, Haley surprisingly received 20 per cent of the votes. Trump with 76.2 per cent of the votes bagged all the 43 delegates at stake. Arizona is considered to be a battleground state.

In a rematch of 2020, Biden and Trump are facing each other in the November 5 presidential elections. After the Super Tuesday primaries on March 5, the two emerged as the presumptive nominee of the Republican party.

Their rematch is expected to mirror the 2020 campaign, though Trump will run this time under the spectre of 91 felony charges.

Trump is expected to become the first former American president to go on trial in a criminal case on March 25 in New York, where he faces charges he falsified business records to hide hush money payments to a porn star.

Other charges are related to allegations that he plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Biden; played a lead role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol and illegally took classified documents from the White House.