Biden, Trump secure New York presidential primaries

In a decisive move towards their anticipated 2020 election rematch, Joe Biden and Donald Trump clinched victories in New York’s presidential primaries on Tuesday, bolstering their delegate counts for the upcoming White House race. The Associated Press swiftly declared the wins for both candidates shortly after the closure of polls.

As per the Associated Press figures, with approximately 70% of the anticipated vote counted by 11:40 p.m. on Tuesday, Trump commanded 81.8% of the vote, while Biden, with around 61% of the expected vote tallied by the same time, secured 91.4% of the vote. Despite their clear leads, other contenders, including Democratic candidates Representative Dean Phillips and author Mariane Williamson, were also featured on the ballots, albeit having suspended their campaigns.

New York, operating as a closed primary state, restricted participation to registered voters within respective parties. The state offered a substantial delegate count, with 268 Democratic delegates and 91 Republican delegates up for grabs. For Republicans, this included 13 statewide delegates and 78 congressional district delegates, while Democrats allocated pledged delegates based on both statewide and congressional district performances.

Biden and Trump, having already surpassed the delegate thresholds required for their presumptive nominations, are poised to garner the lion’s share, if not all, of their respective party’s delegates, pending official results. Conventions to formalize their nominations are scheduled for the summer in Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively.

Despite the apparent certainty surrounding the outcomes, some voters and organizations leveraged New York’s primaries as a platform to convey messages. Notably, the New York Working Families Party, a progressive entity with influence over Democratic candidates, advocated for leaving ballots blank in response to the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict, reflecting a trend of protest voting witnessed in prior primary states.

Alongside New York, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Rhode Island also held primary contests on Tuesday, marking another significant juncture in the evolving landscape of the 2020 presidential race.