Biden and Trump win Michigan presidential primaries

Former President Donald Trump (L) and President Joe Biden (R) | Getty Images

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Updated, 7:13 a.m., 2/28/24

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump each won their respective primaries Tuesday in Michigan.

The Associated Press made the call about an hour after polls in most counties closed at 8 p.m., with just over 10% of the votes tabulated. Four western Upper Peninsula counties in the central times zone close their polls at 9 p.m.

The victories make it all the more likely that the two will face off against each other this November, in a repeat of the 2020 election in which Biden defeated Trump.

However, the results aren’t all cut and dried for either candidate.

Biden, who cruised to an 81% victory with 618,000 votes, according to unofficial returns with 99% reporting, has had to contend with a campaign to convince Democrats across the state to vote uncommitted on their ballot as a protest message over his support of Israel in its war against the militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Unofficial results show more than 100,000 voters chose to do just that, easily outpacing the 10,000 vote goal set by the Listen to Michigan campaign, approximating the margin of votes by which Trump won Michigan in 2016.

It also bested the uncommitted vote totals in the 2020, 2016 and 2012 Democratic primaries. However, with 13% of the vote, uncommitted has not won any delegates so far — and the total is only slightly higher than the 11% uncommitted received when incumbent former President Barack Obama was on the ballot 12 years ago.

Michigan’s Democratic primary is the last before Super Tuesday, with 117 delegates up for grabs.

If the uncommitted vote hits 15% or higher, state election law allows those delegates to vote as they please at the Democratic National Convention, set for August in Chicago.

The only other candidate Biden faced on the ballot was U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who was polling under 3%. Author Marianne Williamson’s name was on the ballot and she was also pulling 3%, although she suspended her presidential campaign on Feb. 7.

Trump has 68% of the GOP vote, roughly 756,000 votes, according to unofficial returns with 99% reporting, and his rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley had 27% with about 294,000 votes.

However, that margin of victory could be seen as a sign of some discontent among the party faithful, and potentially show up Trump’s own prediction.

“I mean, Nikki’s not even a factor,” Trump said in an interview on WJR-AM Tuesday afternoon. “She’s gonna lose like by 80 points tonight. She’s become a joke.”

This story was published earlier by the Michigan Advance, an affiliate of the nonprofit States Newsroom network, which includes the Florida Phoenix.

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