US President Joe Biden on Tuesday night won Nevada’s Democratic presidential primary, bringing him one step closer to securing his party’s nomination for a potential GOP rematch against Donald Trump.
Representative Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat, entered the race too late to get on the Nevada ballot, leaving self-help author Marianne Williamson as Biden’s best-known challenger.
Biden is on track to win the majority of the vote, with Williamson finishing far behind him, as she did in previous contests, in New Hampshire and South Carolina, NBC News reported.
“I want to thank the voters of Nevada for sending me and Kamala Harris to the White House four years ago, and for setting us one step further on that same path again tonight. We must organise, mobilise, and vote. Because one day, when we look back, we’ll be able to say, when American democracy was a risk, we saved it — together,” Biden said in a statement.
Nevada Democrats have held a primary for the first time in 2024, following new rules from the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Thank you, Nevada! We're building a campaign that leaves no one behind.
Let's keep up this momentum. pic.twitter.com/GrXEqrKwhd
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 7, 2024
The state’s next challenge is on February 27 in Michigan, a newcomer to the pre-Super Tuesday window of early primaries and a critical general election swing state.
While Biden’s campaign made a show of competing in last Saturday’s South Carolina primary and it is working to shore up support among restive groups in Michigan, such as Muslim voters, it put little effort into Nevada.
With the Democratic nomination seemingly in hand, Biden’s re-election campaign has been focused on Trump since it started.
Biden, who kept his name off the ballot due to violating party rules, won the unsanctioned January 23 contest as a write-in candidate, receiving 64% of the vote.
In South Carolina, Biden won 96% of the vote.
