Biden, Trump win Kentucky, Oregon primaries as presidential nominating season nears its end

Joe Biden and Donald Trump

President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, piled up more delegates on Tuesday as both presumptive nominees won primaries in Kentucky and Oregon. The symbolic decisions provide a few more delegates to the national conventions and a gut check on where the Democratic and Republican bases stand toward their standard-bearers as the presidential nominating season nears its end.

Even after they secured the nominations and their rivals dropped out, Biden and Trump have continued facing dissent from within their own parties. Biden has faced protest votes over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war while Trump is still seeing thousands of people voting for long-vanquished rival Nikki Haley.

That trend continued on Tuesday in Kentucky with about 18 per cent of the Democratic vote going to 'uncommitted' with roughly 80 per cent of the vote counted. In the GOP race, Haley was winning about 6 per cent. After Tuesday, eight presidential nominating contests will remain: Democrats in Idaho, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Virgin Islands, and both parties in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Voters in Kentucky, Oregon, Georgia and Idaho also held state primaries on Tuesday to choose nominees for the US House and other contests. And in California's Central Valley, voters will select a Republican to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Republicans Vince Fong and Mike Boudreaux face off in the special runoff election to finish McCarthy's term, and will have a rematch in November for the next full two-year term.

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the prosecution of Trump in a 2020 election interference case, defeated challenger Christian Wise Smith in the Democratic primary. The judge in the case, Scott McAfee, also won his election. In Oregon's Multnomah County, home to Portland, the progressive district attorney who took office during the social justice movement of 2020 is being challenged by a candidate vowing to be tough on crime.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever