By Michelle L. Price, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Five states will hold presidential primaries on Tuesday as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump continue to secure support around the country after becoming their parties’ presumptive nominees becoming their parties’ presumptive nominees.
Trump is expected to easily win GOP primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Biden is expected to do the same in all those states except Florida, where Democrats canceled their primary and opted to award all 224 of their delegates to Biden. That’s not an unusual move for a party with an incumbent in the White House seeking reelection.
Other races apart from the presidential election could give an understanding of the national political atmosphere could provide insight into the national political mood. Ohio’s Republican Senate primary pits Trump-supported businessman Bernie Moreno against two challengers, Ohio Secretary of State Frank Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.
Chicago voters will decide whether to assess a one-time real estate tax to pay for new homeless services. And voters in California will move toward deciding a replacement for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned his seat after being pushed out of Republican leadership.
Trump and Biden have for weeks been focused on the general election, aiming their campaigns lately on states that could be competitive in November rather than merely those holding primaries.
Trump on Saturday rallied in Ohio, which has for several years been reliably Republican. But there are signs the state could be competitive again in 2024. Last year, Ohio voted overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights in its constitution and voted to legalize marijuana.
Biden, meanwhile, is set to visit Nevada and Arizona on Tuesday.
Both men are running on their records in office and casting the other as a threat to America. Trump, 77, has portrayed 81-year-old Biden as mentally unfit. The president has described his Republican rival as a threat to democracy after his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and his praise of foreign strongmen.
For the last year, Trump has synthesized his campaign with his legal challenges, including dozens of criminal counts and civil cases in which he faces more than $500 million in fines.
His first criminal trial was scheduled to start Monday in New York on allegations he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments. But a judge delayed the trial for 30 days after the recent disclosure of new evidence that Trump’s lawyers said they needed time to review.
