Super Tuesday presents major test for Trump, Haley

(The Center Square) – Former President Donald Trump will face off against former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Tuesday in what may be the biggest day of the Republican presidential primary so far.

Known as Super Tuesday, March 5 features more than a dozen state Republican presidential primary elections around the country, leaving 854 delegates up for grabs.

A candidate needs 1,215 delegates to win the Republican nomination.

Super Tuesday is a big day for Democrats as well, though President Joe Biden does not face any major challenger and is expected to sweep the states Tuesday.

States with presidential primary votes Tuesday include:

Alabama
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Maine
Massachusetts
Minnesota
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia

The U.S. territory of American Samoa will hold its primary election Tuesday as well.

The doling out of those delegates will be crucial for Haley, who has so far failed to beat Trump in any state and faces growing calls for her to leave the race. The latest polling, though, shows she will have to exceed expectations to make a dent in the delegate count on Tuesday.

Nationally, Trump leads Haley with 79% support to Haley’s 15% support, according to RealClearPolitics’ polling average. Haley has touted she is more electable than Trump in the general, and polling does show her performing well against Biden.

However, RCP’s polling average shows Trump leading Biden nationally by 2 points, and beating him in several swing states, including Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin. Biden holds a narrow lead in Pennsylvania.

Colin Reed, a Republican strategist, former campaign manager for former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, and co-founder of South and Hill Strategies, pointed out Haley has continued to raise the funds needed to remain in the race, regardless of her uphill battle.

“Running against two guys pushing 80 and facing uncertain futures, Nikki Haley has nothing to lose,” Reed told The Center Square. “She continues to raise money at a healthy clip. About two thirds of the delegates up for grabs on Super Tuesday are in states with open or semi-open primaries, and these are prime Haley targets. With 7 in 10 Americans not wanting a Trump-Biden rematch, there’s only one viable alternative, and that’s Nikki Haley.”

Haley’s campaign touted raising $12 million in February alone after raising $16.5 million in January.

“A substantial portion of Republicans are rejecting Trump’s divisive politics and isolationist policies,” Haley national spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement. “They are rallying around Nikki Haley’s conservative message, sending small-dollar contributions with handwritten messages, and showing up in droves as she travels across the Super Tuesday states. Like Nikki, they believe America is worth fighting for.”

Haley has blasted Trump as less electable than her when facing Biden. She has also pointed out that Trump’s legal woes will be dead weight on the campaign trail and a major problem for Republicans.

“The GOP has a hole in our ship,” Haley wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday. “That hole is Donald Trump.”

Trump took a shot earlier this week after beating Haley in the Tuesday primary vote in Michigan.

“Haley got trounced last night, losing the Great State of Michigan by over 42 Points,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial. “Looking forward to Super Tuesday where she is doing even worse, if that’s possible. I’m leading every State by over 60 Points! People don’t like her, and they know, as per the polls, that she can’t beat Biden, or any Democrat!”

Both Trump and Biden visited the southern border this week to address the illegal immigration crisis.

Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign National Press Secretary, said in a statement that Biden’s border policies have “resulted in more than 9 million illegal immigrants, 27 tons of deadly fentanyl, and dangerous criminals crossing the border since he took office.”