By Steve Peoples, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump hope to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations with dominant victories in a slate of state primaries on Tuesday as the 2024 fight for the White House moves into a new phase.
Neither Biden, a Democrat, nor Trump, a Republican, faces significant opposition in primary contests across Georgia, Washington state, Mississippi and Hawaii. The only question is whether they will earn the necessary delegates in each state to hit the 50% national threshold to become their parties’ presumptive nominees.
Whether it happens Tuesday night or in the coming days, the 2024 presidential contest is on the verge of a crystallizing moment that will solidify a general election rematch between Biden and Trump. And that rematch — the first featuring two U.S. presidents since 1956 — will almost certainly deepen the nation’s searing political and cultural divides in the eight-month grind that lies ahead.
On the eve of Tuesday’s primaries, Trump acknowledged that Biden would be the Democratic nominee, even as he unleashed a new attack on the president’s age.
“I assume he’s going to be the candidate,” Trump said of Biden on CNBC. “I’m his only opponent other than life, life itself.”
Biden, too, directed much of his attention toward Trump, whom the Democratic president described as a serious threat to democracy during a campaign stop Monday night in New Hampshire. He also signaled a more robust presence on the campaign trail.
“I’m looking forward to doing more and more of these events,” Biden said. Later, he joked about his age. “I know I don’t look it, but I’ve been around a while.”
Georgia leads the slate of four states holding primary contests on Tuesday.
The state was a pivotal battleground in the last presidential election — so close that Trump finds himself indicted there for his push to “find 11,780 votes” and overturn Biden’s victory.
But…
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