WASHINGTON — As expected, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump easily won their respective party primaries in Minnesota Tuesday, but the election results also revealed other things.
The strong showing from the front-runners prompted former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Rep. Dean Phillips, the Democrat from Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, to suspend their campaigns.
And a protest campaign that began in Michigan by Democratic voters who are unhappy about Biden’s policies in the Israel-Hamas war has resonated in many other states, especially Minnesota.
With that, here are five takeaways to consider from Super Tuesday:
Biden’s handling of Israel-Hamas was on the ballot.
One big surprise was the size of a protest vote against Biden. According to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, there were only 2,612 “uncommitted” DFL ballots cast in the last presidential primary in the state, held in March of 2020.
On Tuesday, “uncommitted” won 45,942 — or nearly 19% of the vote. That was by far the highest percentage of any of the seven states that offered an uncommitted or “no preference” option on the Democratic ballot on Tuesday.
An organization called Vote Uncommitted, which wants Biden to press for a permanent cease fire in the Israel-Hamas war, urged DFLers to choose “uncommitted” on their ballots.
“This was a way to tell the president, there’s time to change course before November,” said Asma Mohammed Nizami, the group’s lead organizer. She said the protest movement began to organize only a week ago.
Attorney General Keith Ellison said he voted for Biden but understood the movement’s motivation.
“The uncommitted are asking for the Party that they are a part of to listen to them using the most sacred tool in any democracy, their vote. We must hear them and call for a permanent ceasefire and an immediate surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Ellison posted on X.
The interactive map below from The Associated Press shows Super Tuesday results in the Democratic primary.
Dean Phillips was not much of a factor in his home state.
Rep. Dean Phillips trailed Biden in every state he was on the ballot; he also trailed either author Marianne Williamson or “uncommitted” in every state he was on the ballot, beating Williamson in Minnesota.
Phillips won 7.76% of the vote in Minnesota while Biden won about 70%. Phillips did a little better in the suburban Twin Cities 3rd District that he has represented in Congress since 2019. The congressman won nearly 14% of the vote there, but Biden still pulled about 70% of the vote in the district.
Phillips seemed disheartened by his Super Tuesday results.
“Congratulations to Joe Biden, Uncommitted, Marianne Williamson, and Nikki Haley for demonstrating more appeal to Democratic Party loyalists than me,” he posted on X Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday morning, Phillips said he would assess the results and make a decision whether to continue his challenge to Biden, whom he maintains is too old to defeat Trump, in the coming days. Later Wednesday he suspended his campaign and endorsed Biden.
In November, Phillips said “I’ll be clear — if my campaign is not viable after March 5th, I’ll wrap it up and endorse the likely nominee — Biden or otherwise. I will then campaign for them as vigorously as I’m campaigning now.”
Phillips was encouraged to quit by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom many thought would challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination. “Appreciate the self-awareness,” Newsom posted on X. “Tonight’s the night you should drop out and support our nominee.”
Minnesota’s primary participation was low.
Turnout was depressed, as expected, especially among Democratic voters because, unlike the party’s 2020 primary, this one offered less competition. Biden won the 2020 Democratic primary in Minnesota, garnering 287,553 votes in an election that also had Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, as well as other Democratic candidates, on the ballot.
On Tuesday, Biden received 171,274 votes in the state. Meanwhile, 232,912 Minnesota voters turned out to vote for Trump, according to preliminary results on the Minnesota Secretary of State’s results page.
In all, 584,787 Minnesota voters cast ballots on Super Tuesday’s Republican, Democratic and Legal Marijuana Now parties, representing just 16.5% of those who had registered to vote before Tuesday’s election.
Haley finds supporters but suspends her campaign.
Trump handily beat former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in Minnesota, nearly 69% to nearly 29%, indicating a rise in support for the former president among state Republican voters. In 2016, when Minnesota still held caucuses instead of presidential primaries, Minnesota GOP voters preferred Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to Trump, who came in third place.
Haley only won one state, Vermont, and did less well than expected in others. She announced Wednesday she was suspending her campaign but did not endorse Trump. Still, exit polls showed that many Haley supporters said they would not support Trump in November, a concern for the former president’s campaign.
The interactive map below from The Associated Press shows Super Tuesday results in the Republican primary.
Trump and Biden still need more delegates to win their nominations.
At stake in Minnesota Tuesday were 39 Republican delegates and 92 Democratic delegates. To win the Democratic nomination, a candidate must win at least 1,969 delegates while 1,215 delegates are needed to win the GOP nomination.
With nearly a dozen primaries scheduled in the coming weeks in states that include Georgia, Washington state, Illinois, Arizona and Florida, Trump is positioned to win the GOP nomination later this month, and Biden will be the official Democratic candidate soon after.
The pledged delegates from both parties will be selected later this year.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the latest news that Dean Phillips has suspended his presidential campaign.
Ana Radelat
Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at aradelat@minnpost.com or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.
