Donald Trump won Virginia and North Carolina as the first states to finish voting on Super Tuesday as he hopes for a massive victory that will knock rival Nikki Haley out of the race.
Haley was seeking a victory in Virginia, similar to her victory in Washington, D.C., her only victory to date in the Republican nomination contest. She hoped Democratic crossover votes, moderate GOP voters and independents would side with her.
Trump is still awaiting results in Vermont, the third of 15 states to close its polls on the biggest primary day of the year. Millions of voters will cast their ballots and hundreds of delegates are at stake – the largest haul ever for a candidate.
Guests wait before Donald Trump speaks at a Super Tuesday election night party at Mar-a-Lago
After Tuesday's election campaigns, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are expected to move significantly closer to their respective parties' nominations.
Biden began the evening with a victory in Iowa, where Democrats had previously held their contest but released their results on Tuesday.
Trump wants to win the 15 states in which the Republican primaries are taking place on Tuesday. He still faces resistance from Haley, but a string of victories will make it mathematically nearly impossible for her to capture the former president.
Tuesday's contests will award more than a third of the Republican delegates – and more than 70% of the number needed to win the nomination.
Haley promised to stay in the race through the Super Tuesday contests but has made no commitments beyond that, and her campaign has no public events planned for Tuesday or beyond.
She is at her home in South Carolina. Trump is expected to address his supporters at Mar-a-Lago later Tuesday evening.
Both the Biden and Trump camps are preparing for a rematch, although the earliest Trump can be nominated as his party's presumptive nominee is March 12 and Biden on March 19.
But after Tuesday, the general election campaign will actually be underway. Both men are ready.
“We have to beat Biden – he is the worst president in history,” Trump said on Fox & Friends on Tuesday.
“If we lose this election, you will be with Donald Trump again,” Biden said on the North Carolina radio show “DeDe in the Morning.” “The way he talks about the African-American community, the way he behaves, the way he treated the African-American community, I think was disgraceful.”
Donald Trump (left) is hoping for a big victory on Super Tuesday that will knock Nikki Haley (right) out of contention
On primary election day in Philomont, Virginia, voters pick up their ballots at the Philomont Fire Department
However, voters do not appear enthusiastic about repeating the 2020 election, which Biden won and Trump falsely claimed victory. Polls show that a majority of voters wanted an option other than Biden or Trump.
Now every campaign must focus on rallying its base and convincing independent voters to go to the polls in November.
On Saturday, Biden and Trump will hold separate campaign events in Georgia, a battleground state. Biden was the first Democrat since Bill Clinton to win the election in 2020. Trump was convinced he had won the election and is now facing federal and state charges over his attempts to overturn the results there.