Trump, Biden Sweep Massachusetts Primary Amidst Dominant Super Tuesday Showings

U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump easily won the Massachusetts Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively, on Tuesday.

The Associated Press called the race for Biden at 8:27 p.m. and shortly thereafter called the race for Trump at 8:48 p.m. Experts were mixed on whether or not former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley stood a chance in the Republican race due to the large number of independents in the state, but by early Wednesday morning Haley had amassed just more than 36 percent of the vote.

The results in Massachusetts mirror the rest of the country. Voters in 16 other states and territories cast their primary ballots on what is colloquially known as Super Tuesday.

Trump came out on top in 12 of the 13 primary contests that were called by early Wednesday morning — losing only in Vermont, where Haley eked out a narrow victory. As of Wednesday morning, Utah and Alaska had not yet been called.

Biden was victorious in each contest except for in American Samoa, where Harvard Business School alumnus Jason M. Palmer won a very low turnout caucus.

Trump currently leads the delegate count with 757 compared to Haley’s 62, as of Wednesday morning. Biden has won 818 of 823 of the delegates in the Democratic primary so far.

In Massachusetts, some groups, including the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee, encouraged Democratic primary voters to vote “no preference” as a protest over Biden’s handling of Israel’s war in Palestine.

As of early Wednesday morning, more than 9 percent of Democratic primary voters in Massachusetts voted no preference. In the 2012 Massachusetts Democratic Presidential, nearly 11 percent of voters cast a ballot for no preference.

This follows more than 100,000 voters in the Michigan Democratic primary casting an uncommitted primary ballot as a protest vote over the Israel-Hamas war.

Gund Hall at the Graduate School of Design was a poll site this year. Some Cambridge voters cast a ballot for no preference as a protest of Biden's support for Gaza. By Ike J. Park

Several Cambridge voters said they were casting a “no preference” ballot as a protest vote.

Climate activist Eben E.B. Bein said he voted “no preference” to be “in solidarity with the Muslim community in Dearborn, Michigan.”

“I want Biden to know that he doesn’t get my vote without doing better, or doing anything at all, meaningful, in terms of a ceasefire,” he added.

When asked if he would vote for Biden in the general election, Bein was reluctant to give an answer.

“I say the more important question is, ‘Why not a ceasefire?’” he said.

Thomas J. Felt, another Cambridge voter, said he initially planned to vote for Marianne Williamson, but changed his vote to no preference because he thought it would be “more impactful.”

“I was going to vote for Marianne, but it seems like it'll be more impactful to do no preference as far as policy is concerned,” he said.

Several voters expressed their lack of excitement for the primary. Elizabeth Haley, who voted for Biden, said she was not “excited” about her vote.

“I just wish there was, obviously, a younger, more progressive candidate,” Haley said.

Asherah J. Davis said she was disillusioned with the choices presented in this year’s election.

“I don’t like anybody, I don’t like anything,” she added. “It’s just a constant feeling that we sort of live in, almost like a farce of what our government says it is.”

—Staff writer Aisling A. McLaughlin can be reached on X at @aislingamcl and at aisling.mclaughlin@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Madeline E. Proctor can be reached at maddie.proctor@thecrimson.com.