On March 5, the state of California, along with 14 other states, held primary elections in an event that has historically been known as “Super Tuesday.” These elections narrow down the fields of candidates in multiple general election races. From the race for the presidency, senate and many more down-ballot races, here are some of the outcomes.
In the presidential primaries, the results were the most straightforward. Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won in landslides across the vast majority of states and territories. In California specifically, Trump won the state Republican primary with more than 75% of the vote, and President Biden won nearly 90% of the vote in the Democratic primary.
The morning after, Nikki Haley, the only serious challenger to Trump, dropped out. Even though there are dozens of states that have yet to hold their primaries, both Trump and Biden are the presumptive nominees with their respective parties. Gearing up for the presidential election, both candidates are going to have to patch notable holes in their party’s support.
For President Biden, he needs to solve the dissatisfaction among young Americans and progressives. With the ongoing war in Gaza, resulting in more than 30,000 dead and millions of displaced Palestinians from their homes, many liberals are outraged with Biden’s “rock solid and unwavering” support for the state of Israel.
In the key swing state of Michigan, more than 100,000 citizens voted ‘uncommitted’ in the primary. Michigan, according to the Census Bureau, has the highest concentration of Arab-Americans of any state, and these protest votes signal to the Biden administration that the ongoing crisis is a key issue for many Americans.
On the Republican side, Primary polls showed the Trump campaign has a significant rift between many Haley voters. After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, there are many pro-choice Republicans concerned with the reproductive restrictions that could be imposed with a second Trump term. An Emerson College Poll found that more than 60% of Haley voters will vote for Biden if Trump is the nominee. Donald Trump will have to make the case to Haley supporters why another Biden term is a worse alternative than having him as president.
The presidential primaries were not the only key elections on Super Tuesday. In California, voters decided which two candidates would face off to replace the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. California has a jungle primary system for all of their down-ballot races. Instead of having the Democrats and Republicans nominate their candidates separately, all of the campaigns run together and the top two advance. With millions of votes counted, veteran Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff is projected to face off against Republican former Major League Baseball player Steve Garvey.
Progressive Congresswomen Katie Porter and Congresswoman Barbara Lee both gave up their seats in the Senate race, falling short on votes. Congresswoman Porter expressed her frustration with the results, claiming that the election was “manipulated by big dark money.” While the vote counts from this Senate election are all legitimate, Congresswoman Porter attempted to spotlight efforts by the Schiff campaign to keep her out of the general election.
Weeks before the election, preliminary polls indicated that Congressman Schiff would be in first place, with Garvey and Congresswoman Porter fighting for the second spot. A Democratic challenger for the November Senate race would make it more difficult for Congressman Schiff to succeed in the general election. So instead, the Schiff campaign boosted Garvey through millions of dollars worth of television advertisements. These ads from Schiff’s campaign caught the attention of many California conservatives, which gave Garvey the additional support to advance to the general election.
Though these campaign tactics may seem unfair to progressives like Congresswoman Porter, it is worth noting that Garvey won by a bigger margin than both Congresswoman Lee and Congresswoman Porter, with hundreds of thousands of extra votes to spare. With a Republican in the general election, Congressman Schiff is largely favored to win the Senate seat. This is because California is an overwhelmingly blue state. Every single statewide office in the state is controlled by Democrats, and the open Senate seat will likely be no different.
Aside from the Senate race, California voted on a proposition that determines if the state government could spend $6.4 billion to increase housing for the homeless and displaced veterans and build facilities for mental health treatment and alcohol addiction. Governor Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health are supporters of Proposition 1. Despite California being a state of one-party rule, this proposition is struggling to pass. With millions of votes left to be counted, no official projection has been made. As of March 9, 2024, it is split with 2.711 million for and 2.682 million against. There is no polling indication of where the remaining votes will lean towards.
In the other down-ballot races, Democratic Congressman Mark Takano and Republican David Serpa won in an uncontested primary. Both candidates will compete in the general election to represent a House seat where the University of California, Riverside (UCR) is located. In the state Senate race, Republican Cynthia Navarro and Democratic Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes advanced. Democratic school board member Angelo Farooq fell in third place and lost the state Senate race with only 15% of the vote. For state assembly, incumbent Republican Bill Essayli and Democratic challenger Chris Shoults won with partisan support. Independent candidate Orlando Munguia was left in the dust with only 3% of the vote.
The city of Riverside decided who would serve as mayor. In the nonpartisan election, incumbent Patricia Lock Dawson defeated business owner Jessica Qattawi by more than 50 percentage points. Riverside voters determined whether the city should impose a cannabis business tax. As of March 9, 23,083 voted for it, and 13,989 voted against it.
The March 5, Super Tuesday primaries narrowed down the field for many races and provided clarity as to who will be on the ballot come November. The general election for most of these races is only months away.
