Trump dominates in GOP primaries across the country

Now that it is well into Wednesday on the East Coast, we're wrapping up our Super Tuesday live coverage.

For the latest on the campaign, make sure to sign up for the NPR Politics newsletter.

Until next time!

Trump has won both Alaska and Utah, clinching the Republican nomination in 14 out of the 15 states that held their primary elections Tuesday.

He won 87.6% of the Republican vote in Alaska, far outpacing Nikki Haley's 12% and Vivek Ramaswamy's 0.4%, according to the Associated Press.

In Utah, Trump won 58.2% of the vote, compared to Haley's 40.7%, AP reported.

Former President Donald Trump took a major step toward the Republican nomination Tuesday night, dominating in states across the country and expanding his delegate lead. He could clinch the nomination as early as next Tuesday.

So how does clinching March 12 (or earlier if Nikki Haley drops out between now and then) stack up to past nominees?

The earliest any candidate has been the presumptive nominee was Feb. 18, 2004, when Democrat Howard Dean dropped out and John Kerry remained. Trump could formally clinch the nomination by passing the requisite number of delegates as early as next Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

When candidates became presumptive nominees (from earliest to latest):

Feb. 18: 2004, Kerry, (Dean drops out), March 10, formally clinches

March 5: 2008, McCain, formally clinches, (Ron Paul drops out June 13)

March 9: 2000, Al Gore, (Bill Bradley drops out), March 15, formally clinches

March 9: 2000, George W. Bush, (McCain drops out), March 15, formally clinches

March 19: 1996, Bob Dole, formally clinches, (Pat Buchanan drops out April 18)

April 8: 2020, Joe Biden, (Bernie Sanders drops out), formally clinches June 5

April 10: 2012, Mitt Romney, (Rick Santorum drops out), formally clinches May 29

June 2: 1992, Bill Clinton, formally clinches, was seen as likely nominee after April 7

June 4: 2008, Barack Obama, formally clinches, (Hillary Clinton drops out June 7)

June 6: 2016, Hillary Clinton, formally clinches, (Sanders never dropped out)

June 8: 1988, Michael Dukakis, formally clinches

For the latest on tonight's results, analysis and what comes next for the presidential campaigns check out NPR's Politics Podcast.

Plus:

• The latest results on all of tonight's matchups. (We're still waiting on results from Utah and Alaska.)
• Our breakdown of where the candidates stand on key issues
• Where the delegate count stands after tonight's results

The AP has made a correction in the delegate allocation in the Democratic caucuses in American Samoa, explaining the party there made an error in their reporting on delegates. The new and correct total is three for Jason Palmer and three for Biden. The vote totals in the caucus remain the same, Palmer 51 and Biden 40.

Republican Steve Garvey advances to the general election for U.S. Senate in California, according to a race call by the Associated Press. Garvey will also proceed to the special election making it a Schiff-Garvey matchup twice for California voters.

Who is Steve Garvey?

As LAist explains in their breakdown of the race to see which two candidates will compete for the late California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's seat:

• Garvey is a former Los Angeles Dodgers (then San Diego Padres) player who retired from the MLB in 1987 and still holds the fourth-longest consecutive game streak.
• Garvey, who flirted with a U.S. Senate run as early as 1981, has promised not to restrict abortion rights, supports private investment in transitional housing for homeless people and pledges to fight “out-of-control inflation.”

For more on Garvey and the California Senate race, check out LAist's full race guide. For NPR's coverage click here.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's campaign highlighted the support she received in each state, despite only winning one contest on Tuesday.

"Unity is not achieved by simply claiming 'we’re united.' Today, in state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump," said Olivia Perez-Cubas, Haley campaign national spokesperson.

Haley won the Vermont primary but significantly trails former President Trump in wins and delegates. As of midnight EST, her percentage of the vote fluctuates in each state she lost, ranging from just 13% in Alabama to nearly 37% in Massachusetts.

"That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing those voters’ concerns will make the Republican Party and America better,” Perez-Cubas added.

Voting in Alaska's Republican caucus has ended. The state’s Super Tuesday event isn’t a traditional state-run election; Alaska Public's Liz Ruskin has details.

Marcio Jose Sanchez

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AP

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff will move on to the general election matchup for California's open Senate seat in the state's jungle primary, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

A second candidate has yet to advance. Republican Steve Garvey trails in second with nearly 30% of the vote, followed by Democratic Rep. Katie Porter with about 15%.

Read more about this race from KQED's Marisa Lagos

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AP

Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, has won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, according to a race call by the Associated Press, and will now face Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in the November general election.

Allred finished well ahead in Tuesday's nine-candidate Democratic primary, which included nine Democrats, while state Sen. Roland Gutierrez came in second.

Cruz easily dispatched minor opposition in the GOP primary.

The last time a Democrat won a Senate seat in Texas was in 1988.

Two candidates for the U.S. House will face off for the Democratic nomination in Alabama’s redrawn 2nd Congressional District: Democrat Shomari Figures, a former Justice Department official, and Democrat Anthony Daniels, a state representative, advance to a primary runoff election, according to the race call by The Associated Press.

The runoff comes after voters narrowed a crowded field of candidates for Alabama's newly drawn 2nd District in Tuesday night's primary election.

On the GOP side, Dick Brewbaker, a former state senator, and attorney Caroleene Dobson advanced to the runoff.

The primary runoff will be April 16.

The district was reshaped to give Black voters more political power, and followed a lengthy legal battle that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Going into their primaries were 11 Democrats and seven Republicans, all vying for a seat that could tip the balance of power in the U.S. House this fall.

After the legal fight, the state of Alabama was required to use the new district map, which gives Black voters a better chance at electing a candidate of their choice. The 2nd District now has a Black voting-age population of nearly 50% and gives Democrats a better chance of picking up another seat in Alabama.

Elijah Nouvelage

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Getty Images

An Alabama Supreme Court decision that gives frozen embryos the same legal standing as children has further upended the landscape of reproductive rights in America.

The ruling has effectively halted most in vitro fertilization care in the state as lawmakers scramble to address fallout from the order.

Emerson Woodhall of Mobile said after voting "it's definitely a huge problem that these decisions are being made by people who are very out of touch" with the realities of IVF.

Elizabeth Goldman, the first Alabama woman to receive a uterine transplant who has shared her IVF journey on social media, visited the Alabama statehouse last week to give lawmakers a human face to a debate about abstract legislation.

"They have the power to make the decisions that impact my future," she said. "And the hard part is I've worked so incredibly hard and been through some unimaginable things to get to where I'm at, but here it is: The decision lies in their hands."

Both chambers of the Alabama Legislature proposed bills that answer some of the questions posed by the state Supreme Court ruling, and a final version could get approved this week.

Both President Biden and former President Donald Trump have won their respective primary races in California, according to the Associated Press.

The state has a whopping 169 delegates — more than any other state.

California's GOP primary has a winner-takes-all voting structure, which means that a candidate needs to have earned more than 50% of the total vote to be awarded all of the state's delegates.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images; Chuck Burton/AP

The race that could will be one of the most closely watched, and likely expensive, governor’s races this year.

Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein both won their primaries easily. Robinson has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and has a similarly brash approach, which plays well with Republican voters. The Democrat, Stein, used his acceptance speech to say his opponent is too extreme for the state.

“Instead of waging job-killing culture wars, let’s grow the economy,” said Stein in a throwback to an argument that helped propel the current Democratic Governor Roy Cooper to office in 2016. The state’s so-called “bathroom bill” back then kicked up controversy and cost the state business. Cooper ran on repealing it and won.

The results in November could determine the direction that North Carolina goes on everything from abortion access to funding public schools. The Biden campaign hopes it could also help the president win a state that has gone Republican at the top of the ticket every election since 2008, when President Obama won by the narrowest of margins.

Today's Alabama congressional primaries are being run on new district lines after the U.S. Supreme Court found the old map discriminated against Black voters.

The Republican-led redistricting process in 2021 led to only one of seven districts having a majority-Black population, despite Alabama's population being more than 25% Black.

Ollie Davison of Prichard, Ala., said the change is huge for Black residents being able to have their voices heard.

"Finally, we have an opportunity to elect the candidate of our choice and somebody that's from our community that understands the issues that we go through every day," he said.

The new 2nd Congressional District spans most of South Alabama, from Mobile to Montgomery. Nearly half the residents of this district are Black, and the district is likely to be represented by a Democrat after the November election.

Both the Democratic and Republican primaries appear likely to head to a runoff, with no candidate earning more than 50% of the vote.

In addition to the presidential contest, voters in California are deciding which two candidates will vie for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein's seat.

The state's top-two primary system means the top two candidates will be facing off in November, regardless of party affiliation.

Plus there are a bunch of local votes happening across the state; check out these community-level resources for more.

Nikki Haley has won the Republican presidential primary in Vermont, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

This is her first win of the evening and her first state win; she’d previously won the District of Columbia.

As Vermont Public's Bob Kinzel told NPR, Vermont's open primary likely had a role in her win, with Haley doing well in traditionally Democratic parts of the state.

Moderate Republican Gov. Phil Scott encouraged Vermonters to get out and support Haley's campaign.

"In my opinion, there’s no one less equipped, no one more incapable of healing the huge divide we have in this country than Donald Trump," Scott said in his remarks before Haley spoke at an event in Vermont over the weekend.

President Joe Biden has made a statement on Super Tuesday, writing in a campaign email that tonight's results leave Americans with a "clear choice."

"Are we going to keep moving forward or will we allow Donald Trump to drag us backwards into the chaos, division, and darkness that defined his term in office?" asked Biden.

Biden said that he ran in 2020 because of the "existential threat" he felt Trump posed to the country, adding that the "enormous progress" the U.S. has made since Trump left office is all at risk were the former president to return to the White House.

While offering criticism of his predecessor, Biden ended his statement with a message of unity:

“Every generation of Americans will face a moment when it has to defend democracy," said Biden.

"Every Democrat, Republican, and independent who believes in a free and fair America: This is our moment. This is our fight. Together, we will win.”

It has been crickets from the Haley campaign. The former South Carolina governor is in her home state this evening but does not have any public events planned. Previously, she has held events in most of the early voting states. On the night of Michigan's primary, she was not in the state but did hold a rally.

Meanwhile, she continues to have a strong showing in Vermont. As Burlington, Vt., the state's largest city continues to report results, Haley is extending a lead over the front-runner in the race, former President Donald Trump. If there is a bright spot in Haley's Super Tuesday, this is it.

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Former President Donald Trump started speaking in Mar-a-Lago shortly before 10:20 p.m. EST, sticking to similar talking points he uses on the campaign trail: that the stock market is soaring because he’s doing well in polls, that foreign leaders wouldn’t be acting in authoritarian ways if he were still president, and that Biden is the worst president in the history of the country.

He hailed the upcoming general election on Nov. 5 as the "single most important day in our country."

Trump has an almost completely clean sweep of Super Tuesday Republican primaries: Only Vermont, Utah and California are outstanding as he continues to speak.

President Biden has won the Utah Democratic primary, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

As of 10:20 p.m. EST, Biden has won 14 of the 15 Democratic calls, and former President Donald Trump has won all 11 Republican races called so far.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has yet to win a primary tonight.

Democratic Calls:

1. Iowa: Joe Biden
2. Virginia: Joe Biden
3. Vermont: Joe Biden
4. North Carolina: Joe Biden
5. Tennessee: Joe Biden
6. Oklahoma: Joe Biden
7. Massachusetts: Joe Biden
8. Maine: Joe Biden
9. Arkansas: Joe Biden
10. Alabama: Joe Biden
11. Texas: Joe Biden
12. Colorado: Joe Biden
13. Minnesota: Joe Biden
14. American Samoa: 4 delegates for Jason Palmer, 2 delegates for Joe Biden
15. Utah: Joe Biden

Republican Calls:

1. Virginia: Donald Trump
2. North Carolina: Donald Trump
3. Tennessee: Donald Trump
4. Oklahoma: Donald Trump
5. Maine: Donald Trump
6. Alabama: Donald Trump
7. Massachusetts: Donald Trump
8. Texas: Donald Trump
9. Arkansas: Donald Trump
10. Colorado: Donald Trump
11. Minnesota: Donald Trump

President Biden has placed second in the Democratic caucus in American Samoa, reports The Associated Press.

Biden lost to Jason Palmer, an entrepreneur and investor who campaigned heavily in the territory. Palmer earned four delegates, while Biden earned two.

This is the president's first loss in a Super Tuesday race.

But it's Biden's second loss in American Samoa, with the billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg winning the territory in 2020 — his only win that primary election cycle.

While the territory doesn't have electoral votes in the general election, it still holds primary contests.

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AFP via Getty Images

Over 8,000 people in Minnesota voted "uncommitted" in the Democratic primary, according to a count by the Associated Press, with 21% of the results as of 10:05 pm EST.

President Biden has received over 40,000 votes so far. Notably, results from Hennepin County, Minnesota's most populous county, have not been released yet.

The results come after a last-minute campaign launched in the state, inspired by a movement in Michigan to vote uncommitted as a protest vote over President Biden's handling of Israel's war in Gaza. In Michigan's primary last week, the uncommitted option garnered over 100,000 votes.

Organizers behind the larger movement have been rallying around calls for Biden to advocate for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

In Minnesota, the results are difficult to compare to past primaries in the state. Four years ago Democrats held an open primary and before that, they held caucuses instead.

Read more about the push to vote uncommitted in Michigan by Clay Masters of MPR News.

Win McNamee

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Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump's wins on Tuesday night come as he continues to face legal troubles this election season.

Later this month, Trump's first criminal case is expected to begin trial in a Manhattan courtroom. He faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York — specifically regarding 11 payments made to former Trump Organization vice president and counsel Michael Cohen during the 2016 election that were described by the Trump Organization falsely as "legal retainers." The payments were found to be reimbursements to Cohen for paying off a former adult film actor who was threatening to go public with charges that she had an affair with Trump. He has denied the affair.

The criminal charges were a historic first to come down on a former president.

Although Trump has pleaded not guilty, the fact of the payments and the false records isn't in dispute. What the district attorney, who brought forth the charges, has to prove is that Trump made them to further other crimes like violating campaign finance law and mischaracterizing the payments for tax purposes.

The trial is expected to last several weeks, so Trump may not be able to be on the campaign trail as often as he would like as the general election kicks into full steam.

All told, he is facing a combination of 91 state and federal charges, including several related to his role to stay in office after he lost the 2020 election to Biden. But the charges have done little to dent Trump's popularity among his base. Instead, he often uses the charges to bolster his credentials ahead of a potential rematch with Biden.

Polls are now closed in Utah, where Democratic voters held their presidential primary.

As KUER's Tilda Wilson explains, Utah's GOP voters instead participate in a presidential preference poll taken at local caucus meetings — instead of a primary.

Biden and Trump have each won their respective primaries in Minnesota, according to race calls by the Associated Press.

The calls came after the polls closed in the state at 9 p.m. EST. There are 39 delegates that will be assigned from Minnesota to help determine the two parties' nominees.

There's been a lot of focus on the races that have been called. But there are also interesting things to see in the races that haven't been. The Associated Press has yet to make a race call in the Republican primary in Vermont, where the race remains incredibly close.

There are also races still outstanding: Polls will close in California and Utah at 11 p.m. ET. California is known for being a slower state to count its votes and we may not have results quickly, especially in races that are expected to be close, like the U.S. Senate primary. Utah is a state where everyone receives a mail-in-ballot which can delay reporting of results as well.

There are two other races outstanding: the Alaska Republican caucus which will wrap up at 12 a.m. ET on Wednesday, and the Democratic primary in American Samoa.

Roberto Schmidt

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AFP via Getty Images

Super Tuesday went into widespread use on the GOP side in 1988. The idea was to front-load a bunch of states on one day to try to wrap up the nominating process quickly, unify the party and give it the best chance of winning in the fall.

That’s not to say runners-up haven’t been rewarded too.

The late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. finished second in the 2000 Super Tuesday voting to George W. Bush and wound up the nominee eight years later. It was the same story for Mitt Romney. The then-former Massachusetts governor was runner-up to McCain in 2008 and won the nomination in 2012.

Both President Biden and Donald Trump won their respective primaries in Colorado, according to the Associated Press.

As of yet, neither Biden nor Trump have lost a primary contest this Super Tuesday, with polls in other states set to close at 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. EST.

President Biden has won the Democratic presidential primary in Arkansas, according to the Associated Press.

Donald Trump won the Republican presidential primary in the state.

President Joe Biden has won the Democratic presidential primary in Texas, while former President Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in the state, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

Sen. Ted Cruz has also won the Republican Senate primary in the state. The two-term senator will be defending his seat in the fall. His challenger is still to be determined: the Democratic primary for the race has not been called.

Polls close in Colorado, Minnesota and in the last parts of Texas.

Plus: The Republican caucuses are now convening in Utah.

While we wait for results, here's what we know:

• Activists in Minnesota are encouraging Democratic primary voters to check "uncommitted" over Biden's response to Gaza
• Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips pledged to drop out if his campaign isn't "viable" after today
• Texas voters say immigration is top of mind as they cast ballots

California is an expensive state to advertise in. It’s so expensive that for what Rep. Adam Schiff has spent on his Senate campaign – so far – he could have bought this house in Los Angeles – and still have a couple million dollars left over.

More than $70 million in ads have been spent on this Senate race – $40 million from Schiff and a super PAC supporting him, almost $20 million from Rep. Katie Porter, according to data provided to NPR from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. The super PAC supporting Schiff has also spent millions to boost Republican Steve Garvey.

Given that California is a top-two primary system, everyone runs in the primary together and the top two advance to the general election. Schiff would much rather face a Republican in November in blue California. And Porter has also had to deal with about $10 million in attack ads from a pro-cryptocurrency group.

The Associated Press has called Massachusetts in favor of Biden in the Democratic primary contest. And former President Donald Trump has won the Republican race.

President Joe Biden has won the Democratic presidential primary in Alabama, while former President Donald Trump has won the state's Republican primary, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

Trump and Biden have both won every contest called so far tonight. On the Republican side, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has a narrow lead over Trump in Vermont.

North Carolina's current lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, has won the Republican nomination in the state governor's race.

Current Attorney General Josh Stein has won the Democratic nomination.

Both of these were race calls by The Associated Press.

The current governor, Democrat Roy Cooper, is term-limited.

Previous gubernatorial elections have been close in the state, with Cooper defeating his Republican challenger in 2020 by about 4.5 points and in 2016 by a razor-thin margin.

Former President Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary and President Biden has won the Democratic primary in the Pine Tree State.

The calls came nearly a half hour after polls closed at 8 p.m. EST. The state has 20 delegates at stake.

President Biden and former President Donald Trump have won their primaries in Oklahoma, according to race calls by the Associated Press.

The calls were made after polls closed at 8 p.m. EST. The state has 43 delegates up for grabs.

So far this evening there have been the following race calls:

Democratic Calls
Iowa: Biden
Virginia: Biden
Vermont: Biden
North Carolina: Biden
Tennessee: Biden

Republican Calls
Virginia: Trump
North Carolina: Trump
Tennessee: Trump

Polls have yet to close in several states including those in Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones.

As KUAR's Josie Lenora and Nathan Treece explain, in addition to the presidential race:

Several incumbent members of the Arkansas House of Representatives are facing challengers. The Supreme Court chief justice seat is also up for grabs, with four candidates running in the race. Another Supreme Court position, a seat on the Court of Appeals and several other nonpartisan judicial races are also on the ballot.

Here are the details on these races from KUAR in Little Rock.

In Tennessee, President Biden has won the Democratic presidential primary, and former President Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary.

The call was made shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m. EST. The state assigns 58 delegates that will help determine the presidential nominees for both parties.

Tayfun Coskun

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Anadolu via Getty Images

In 2024, a significant number of local election officials are overseeing voting in a presidential election for the first time.

That makes primary elections, like the many concluding today, even more critical as voting officials use the lower-turnout affairs to figure out problem areas they need to address before the crush of voters they expect to see in November.

A report last year found that in some battleground states, more than half of the local election administrators are new since 2020.

"The biggest challenge right now facing new election officials is just not having that experience of having run a presidential election," Kim Wyman, a former secretary of state of Washington, said at the time. "It sounds really simple, but it takes months of planning to get there. And without that experience of knowing what to expect and really what to be looking for puts them a little bit at a disadvantage.”

A recent report by the nonprofit news outlet Votebeat found a correlation between turnover in local voting officials and election administration errors in Pennsylvania.

And in some cases, officials are dealing with rule changes too and trying to get a sense of how voters will adjust to them.

In North Carolina, for instance, election officials have been working to get the word out to voters that they need to show voter ID for the first time in a presidential election.

At a press conference this morning, Karen Brinson Bell, the state’s lead voting official, was optimistic the law hadn’t tripped up many voters before Election Day. Out of close to 700,000 early and mail voters, Bell said just over 200 had to cast provisional ballots due to issues with their IDs.

Former President Donald Trump has won the Republican primary in North Carolina, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

Trump's win in the state comes just days after he held a rally in Greensboro, N.C. He spent his remarks looking ahead to the general election and his likely rematch with President Biden.

"This November, North Carolina is going to tell crooked Joe Biden: Joe, you're fired. Get out of here," Trump said.

North Carolina is expected to be a crucial battleground state for both Republicans and Democrats this fall. Trump won the state by just over a percentage point in 2020.

For many young Democrats, thinking about another Biden-Trump rematch is underwhelming.

"I wish we had some new faces! Something else!" 21-year-old Arianna Dwomoh joked. "Just anyone else, please!"

Dwomoh, who is from Raleigh, voted for President Biden in 2020. Though she plans to support him again, she's not excited about the decision.

On the Republican side, though former President Donald Trump leads among all Republicans regardless of age, supporters of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley see her as an ideal alternative.

"At this point, I feel like it's just a broken record. And I'm kind of frankly tired of hearing about it," said Hannah Brown, 24, from Winston-Salem.

"[I'm] just trying to look at politics in a positive light. And I know, Nikki, unlike Trump and unlike Biden, she's not tied to big politics, which is really refreshing," she added.

Despite Brown's support, Trump is overwhelmingly expected to dominate across primaries.

Young voters could have electoral power this year.

In recent major elections, Gen Z and millennial voters largely voted for Democratic candidates.

This year, Americans under 43 are expected to make up nearly half of the electorate. People under 30 had a comparatively high turnout in 2020 and in recent off-year elections.

Listen to this story on All Things Considered here.

Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

And, most — but not all — polls in Texas are now closed.

Plus:

• Alabama voted under a new congressional map.
• Texas will decide the Democratic challenger to Sen. Ted Cruz.

President Biden has won the presidential primary in North Carolina, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

North Carolina has proven to be a new battleground for the 2024 election — Trump won the state by less than 2 percentage points in 2020 and there is an open governor's race to replace a term-limited Democrat, Roy Cooper.

Biden’s team has invested early and often, also relying on Anderson Clayton, a 25-year-old woman from rural North Carolina running the state Democratic Party.

North Carolina Public Radio spoke to voters in the state on Tuesday.

NPR will air live Super Tuesday coverage starting at 8 p.m. ET. Click here to listen.

You can also stream live coverage on many public radio stations and listen on the NPR app.

Social media users experienced login issues to the Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp this Super Tuesday. Down Detector, which tracks user reports of access, logged over 600,000 disruptions to Facebook just after 10:30 a.m ET.

Though access has largely been restored, the outages are significant in an era when half of U.S. adults are at least sometimes getting their news from social media, according to research published last November by Pew.

Facebook, by far, is the platform that the majority of American adults are turning to for their news. Nearly one-third turn to the site for information, followed by YouTube and then Instagram.

The platform has previously come under fire for serving as a breeding ground for political conspiracy theories, including the belief that the 2016 election was stolen from former president Donald Trump.

With access limited on the biggest primary day of the year, many observers have been left wondering what caused the outage. While Meta has acknowledged the disruption in service, the company has yet to offer an explanation beyond a "technical issue."

Former President Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Virginia, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

The AP called the race shortly after calling the state's Democratic primary for President Biden.

Hart Van Denburg

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CPR News

Carrying his skis on the way to the slopes, Bob Christie of Breckenridge drops off his ballot on Tuesday.

Voting in Colorado too, today? Colorado Public Radio has a handy FAQ for all your last minute questions.

In addition to the presidential contest, North Carolina has a high-stakes gubernatorial race underway.

More on the race in North Carolina:

• Abortion is driving Democrats to the polls in North Carolina
• What's drawing Black voters in Charlotte to the polls — and what's deterring them

President Biden has won the Democratic primary in Vermont, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

Find more coverage of Vermont's elections at Vermont Public. Tuesday's vote in Vermont also involved local issues of school budgets and property tax hikes.

President Biden has won the Democratic primary election in Virginia, according to a race call by The Associated Press. 

Polls are now closed in Vermont and Virginia — and in Alaska caucuses are set to convene.

• In addition to the presidential contest, voters in Vermont are also considering town budgets and infrastructure bonds, electing mayors and select board members, and in some places dealing with the aftermath of the summer 2023 floods.
• Voters in Virginia will be going back to the polls in June to decide their congressional primaries.
• Alaska’s Super Tuesday event isn’t a traditional state-run election. Alaska Public's Liz Ruskin has details.

As WFAE's Elvis Menayese reports:

Forty-two percent of Black registered voters in North Carolina cast a ballot in the 2022 midterm elections, according to an analysis by Democracy North Carolina. That was the lowest turnout of Black voters since 2010, two years after Barack Obama’s campaign spent heavily on mobilizing voters in the state, the report said.

“At the end of the day, we can’t simply run folks based off their race and hope that’s going to gin up turnout without going out and talking to people,” said Drew Kromer, who was elected chair of Mecklenburg County’s Democratic Party last year. “You can’t just run a Black candidate and not go talk to Black voters. You have to talk to people. You have to be in the community. You have to be listening.”

But race and age are two factors about a candidate that do matter, according to Jocelyn Nolley, chair of the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Keep reading on WFAE.org

Using the excuse that a polling place is too far away is not a valid reason not to vote, according to two NASA astronauts.

Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli shared a photo of the two floating and voting on the International Space Station earlier today.

According to the National Air and Space Museum, astronauts use a special encrypted electronic absentee ballot to vote from space.

"Using a set of unique credentials sent to each of them by e-mail, astronauts can access their ballots, cast their votes, and downlink them back down to Earth to the County Clerk’s office," the museum said.

This process began in 1997 when David Wolf became the first astronaut to cast a ballot in space while aboard the Russian Space Station.

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Getty Images

President Biden has won the Iowa Democratic caucuses, according to the race call from The Associated Press.

Iowa held the first voting contest in the Democratic primary calendar for many years until this one, when the Democratic National Committee, at the urging of President Biden, upended its calendar to start with South Carolina.

Iowa Democrats ended up holding their presidential preference caucus via mail with the results announced on Super Tuesday.

About $305 million has been spent for the Republican nomination, according to data provided to NPR by the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

Groups supporting Nikki Haley have spent the most: $96.6 million (SFA Fund Inc. $64.4 million, Haley campaign $17.9 million, Americans for Prosperity Action $13.5 million, Independents Moving the Needle $843,000).

Trump allies are second at $60.9 million (MAGA Inc. $40.2 million, Trump campaign $17.4 million, Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee $3.3 million).

Haley has been able to stay in the race because she’s had a considerable amount of money from Republicans who don’t want to see Trump as president. But donors, like the Koch-backed AFP Action, are starting to pull back.

Most of the money spent in this campaign has been on the first two states, Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as on national broadcast and cable – $4 out of every $5.

Lucy Nicholson

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Reuters

Lawmakers in multiple states are working to limit the presence of firearms at polling stations ahead of the presidential election in November.

On Monday, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 5, which among other measures, "prohibits carrying firearms within 100 feet of polling places and ballot receptacles," according to her office.

Lawmakers in Vermont, which is holding its primary today, are considering a similar proposal.

Vermont state Rep. Angela Arsenault introduced a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for anyone to possess a gun at polling stations in future elections, according to Vermont Public.

Lawmakers in Pennsylvania and Michigan are considering similar proposals, according to WESA and WKAR.

As of September, only 12 states and Washington, D.C., had banned both open and concealed carry of firearms at polling places, according to the Brennan Center for Justice think tank. Several other states allow either open carry or concealed carry but not both.

A Brennan Center survey last year found that 45% of local election officials fear for the safety of their colleagues and that many officials have left the field due to increased threats of violence, harassment and other kinds of abuse.

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Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced Tuesday that she will not seek reelection in November.

In a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Sinema cited the "anger and division" of politics today as one reason for her departure after a single term in the Senate. She highlighted bipartisan efforts she has undertaken to improve infrastructure, boost manufacturing and create jobs, but said in today's Senate, bipartisan efforts are "considered failures," and "compromise is a dirty word."

"I believe in my approach, but it's not what America wants right now," Sinema said. "I love Arizona, and I am so proud of what we've delivered. Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year."

Arizona's not a Super Tuesday state, but Sinema's announcement has big implications for control of the Senate, since her seat is a key battleground race. The state's voters head the polls for their primary on July 30.

Recent polling showed Sinema in third place in the race behind Democrat Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake.

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Krispy Kreme is celebrating not Super Tuesday but "Super Twosday."

The doughnut chain announced on its website that it will be giving away two free glazed doughnuts to anyone who orders online or in person using the code TWOSDAY.

"Our primary role on Super TWOsday is to sweeten this important day for our country," the franchise wrote. "After all, everyone can unite around the joy of doughnuts!"

NPR couldn't find any more Super Tuesday deals at time of publication, other than the major movie chains that offer discounted tickets every Tuesday.

Tamara Keith/NPR

CLAYTON, N.C. — It was a pretty standard Super Tuesday scene outside a polling place in a strip mall. That is, until Monty Bynum pulled up wearing a sequined bomber jacket and dark glasses.

The 23-year-old R&B artist planted a black and gold yard sign among the more traditional red, white and blue candidate signs.

It read: “King of NC.” It’s the name of the song Bynum hopes will give him his big break, and he blasted it from a speaker next to his car.

Pointing to the candidate yard signs, he explained he was inspired to use the same tactic to get the word out about his music.

As volunteers handed out flyers outside the polling place, Bynum passed out cards with a QR code to hear his album.

“You can’t be mad at a local musician trying to get listens on his album. I just put so much money into this thing,” Bynum said, before ducking in to cast his own ballot. “For something as polarizing as politics, it’s like, come on — you need something lighthearted to help you guys out.”

In recent years, many Republican-led states have enacted rules requiring voters to show ID when casting a ballot.

And now in predominantly liberal California, one city's conservative leaders want to do the same at the local level.

The proposal in Huntington Beach would be a big departure from state law — and has drawn threats of legal action from state officials.

Listen to the NPR story here or read more at LAist.

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AFP via Getty Images

If you're voting in California today and trying to navigate your ballot, find your polling location, or have questions about process, our member stations throughout the state are here to help:

• Chula Vista Voter Hub and Guía Electoral (en español) from KPBS
• Los Angeles Voter Plan from LAist (plus their guide to voter guides!)
• Sacramento Voter Guide from CapRadio
• San Diego Voter Hub and Guía Electoral (en español) from KPBS
• San Francisco Voter Guide from KQED

Clay Masters

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MPR

Activists in Minnesota hope to send President Biden a protest message similar to the one made at the polls in Michigan last week over the war in Gaza.

It’s one of several campaigns across the country urging Democratic primary voters to pressure Biden to push for a permanent cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

The grassroots group Uncommitted Minnesota is encouraging voters to check the option "uncommitted" on their Democratic primary ballots on Super Tuesday.

"We're just hoping our neighbors come out in hopes that we can see a cease-fire, in hopes we can save lives," Uncommitted Minnesota's Jaylani Hussein said Friday after speaking to hundreds of Somali Americans at the Karmel Masjid, a mosque in Minneapolis.

In addition to speaking at several mosques across the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the group has been doing national phone-banking and other get-out-the-vote efforts.

About 13% of voters in Michigan's Democratic primary voted uncommitted last week, far surpassing the group Listen to Michigan's stated goal of getting 10,000 votes. Organizers in Minnesota have not indicated exactly what would constitute a victory for their campaign. They say they hope to get more than the number of people who voted uncommitted in 2020, which was 2,612, according to the Minnesota secretary of state's office.

Listen to the full story here.

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Super Tuesday is also a big test for Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, the Democrat challenging President Biden for their party's nomination.

Phillips tweeted in November that "if my campaign is not viable after March 5th, I'll wrap it up and endorse the likely nominee — Biden or otherwise."

Phillips has not won a primary contest, or delegate, so far. He placed fourth in the Michigan Democratic primary with 2.7% of the vote, behind Biden with 81.2% of the vote, "uncommitted" (13.2%) and Marianne Williamson (3%).

The New York Times reports Phillips voted for himself today at a church in his home state of Minnesota, which he is likely to lose. Phillips himself acknowledged his dim prospects in a tweet earlier this morning, hinting at more to come in the days ahead.

"As the only candidate not losing to Donald Trump in any poll, I'm grateful for the beautifully orchestrated outpouring of wishes to end my mission to ensure his defeat," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "I'm touched by the thoughtfulness, and will be making decisions over the coming days about how we can best fulfill that objective."

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AFP via Getty Images

Yes, you read that right.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won the Republican nominating contest in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, making her the first woman to ever win a GOP primary contest.

The win doesn't do much for Haley's chances during the Super Tuesday races today. Former President Donald Trump is the party's inevitable nominee.

Before Haley, the only other woman to win the majority of delegates in a primary contest as a presidential candidate was Hillary Clinton, who won primaries as a Democrat running for president in 2008 and 2016.

Sarah Palin was the first Republican woman nominee for the vice presidency, in 2008, and only the second female vice presidential nominee of a major party after Geraldine Ferraro (a Democrat), in 1984.

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Here in Fort Worth, voters — especially Republicans — say immigration and the country’s southern border are among the most important issues driving them to the polls for the state’s primaries.

Mark Dobbins, who cast a ballot Friday — the last day of early voting — said he voted for Donald Trump in the GOP primary, partly because of his tougher positions on U.S. immigration policy.

“I think one of the biggest issues that we're facing right now is the illegal immigration crisis,” he said. “The border is effectively open.”

Elaine Garrison, who also voted for Trump, says immigration and illegal border crossings have been an issue in Texas for a very long time. But she says she feels like things are out of control.

“I've lived in Texas my whole life and it's always been an issue,” she said. “It's just beyond more so. It's catastrophic.”

James Henson, a pollster with the Texas Politics Project at UT-Austin, says it’s “astounding” how much immigration continues to influence GOP politics at this point.

“The only thing even remotely competitive is the economy,” Henson said. “But as we've seen for the last several cycles, immigration and border security stand very tall and just dominate Republican positions and Republican attitudes.”

The issue is not just being closely watched by Republicans, though. Henson says more Democrats and independent voters say it's front of mind. He cites recent polling that found a plurality of Texas Democrats support making it harder for migrants to seek asylum in the U.S.

“It's a sign that public opinion is shifting to some degree among Democrats," Henson said. "We don't know how permanent that shift will be, though.”

Roni Harris, who voted for President Biden in the Democratic primary, says immigration is also an important issue for him. And he likes how Biden is handling it.

“He seems to be wanting to compromise and work with other parties on that issue, too,” Harris said. “So, you know, I like that stance.”

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AP

Super Tuesday involves 16 states and one U.S. territory: American Samoa, a 301-mile-long volcanic island chain halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand.

The territory is composed of seven land masses (five volcanic islands and two coral atolls) and home to more than 43,000 people. It's one of five U.S. territories whose permanent inhabitants are considered U.S. citizens.

That means those who live there pay some federal taxes but do not have meaningful representation in Congress: American Samoa elects a non-voting member in the House of Representatives but does not have representation in the Senate.

"While citizens in these territories do vote in presidential primaries, they do not have representation in the Electoral College, rendering their vote more symbolic than consequential," says the nonprofit organization Rock the Vote.

American Samoa's Democratic Party holds its caucus today, and Republicans will hold theirs on Friday. The territory has 11 delegate votes in the Democratic National Convention and nine delegates in the Republican National Convention.

In 2020, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg won American Samoa's Democratic caucus. Republicans backed former President Donald Trump in 2020 and 2016, the last contested Republican caucuses.

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AFP via Getty Images

Global superstar Taylor Swift is using her massive platform to encourage eligible voters to show up for Super Tuesday.

The singer, currently in Singapore for the Asia-Pacific leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, addressed her 282 million followers in an Instagram story this morning.

She urged them to vote today in her adopted state of Tennessee and the more than a dozen other states and territories holding nominating contests today.

"I wanted to remind you guys to vote the people who most represent YOU into power," she wrote. "If you haven't already, make a plan to vote today."

She included a link directing U.S.-based fans to Vote.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit voting registration and get-out-the-vote platform.

Swift has encouraged her fans to participate in politics before — after many years of staying quiet on the topic.

In the fall of 2018, she broke her silence by endorsing two Democratic candidates up for election in Tennessee. She endorsed Biden for president in 2020 (and many Republicans — including Trump himself — appear to be worried she will do so again).

Last year, Swift posted on Instagram urging people to register to vote — and helped drive a surge in voter registrations on Vote.org.

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After sweeping all but one of the Republican primaries and caucuses so far, former President Donald Trump is pretty confident that voters will turn up for him if he is the Republican presidential candidate in 2024.

"They're all going to vote for me again," Trump said while speaking to reporters in Londonderry, N.H., in January. "Everybody."

Trump is expected to win big on Super Tuesday, when 16 states make their preference for a presidential candidate known.

But experts think Haley's relatively strong showing in the Republican primaries may be an issue for the party. Jon McHenry, a Republican pollster with North Star Opinion Research, told NPR's Franco Ordonez that he'll be watching two counties in Virginia: Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

These are large, high-income counties — with a wide swath of college-educated voters — where McHenry sees the potential for a protest vote.

"If they are voting for Nikki Haley, I think that's a sign of potential trouble for Donald Trump," McHenry said.

Listen to the full story here.

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Everyone's got to eat — including the president of the United States. And lately, President Biden has been sampling it all: boba tea in Las Vegas, burgers and a milkshake in Raleigh, N.C., and ice cream with late-night host Seth Meyers in New York City.

As Biden has ramped up his travel this election year, he's been making frequent stops to grab a bite to eat or a drink. The smaller settings offer a chance for Biden to do the kind of retail politics he's known for, but the food and drink choices themselves hold significant symbolism.

"Food is identity and food is inherently political and food is cultural currency. It has the power to connect us and also the power to repulse us. So these are, obviously, very calculated choices about where to go," Hunter Lewis, the editor of Food & Wine, told NPR.

Biden's recent stops include burgers and a milkshake from Cook Out, a Southern fast food chain that Lewis described as having a "cult following." He ordered boba tea in Las Vegas' Chinatown. These stops show Biden, 81, is trying to connect with younger voters and shake off concerns about his age.

"Age is the question right now and so I think going to a Cook Out, going to a boba tea shop, those are smart moves," Lewis said. "He is projecting that he connects with a younger audience and is in the know."

Boba tea, a Taiwanese drink that's become hugely popular in the United States, also shows an outreach to Asian American voters, who make up nearly 10% of the population in Nevada, a key state for Biden to win in November.

"Food is definitely a way to humanize a candidate," said Emily Contois, a professor of media studies at the University of Tulsa and the author of the book Diners, Dudes and Diets.

That's important because American voters tend to be swayed by personality, rather than only focusing on issues, Contois said. And the fact that Biden is choosing establishments that serve foods from different cultures sends a message about his politics, in addition to his personality, she said.

Biden's food stops also draw a contrast with Trump — and have viral potential, for better or worse. Read the full story here.

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Iowa Democrats held their caucus when Republicans did, on Jan. 15. But they didn't cast their votes for president that day — they met to conduct party business and cast their votes by mail instead.

Today, we find out the unofficial results. They will be announced at 5 p.m. local time on the Democratic Party's website and in a news release, according to Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart.

"I think that the important thing is that Iowa Democrats will know that this process was smooth, it was easy, it was accurate, it was transparent and that the results are going to be clear to everyone," Hart told The Des Moines Register.

"And when we get that all done, it may seem — I don't know if anti-climactic is the right word — I would just say that we will be relieved that this step of the process is done. And we're proud that we were able to do it in a way that I think is going to be beneficial to Iowa Democrats."

Iowa Democrats changed their process after their chaotic 2020 caucus, in which technical malfunctions got in the way of producing a clear winner. It was demoted from being the first in the nation in the Democratic Party's primary process as a result.

State Democrats will accept any card postmarked by March 5 and will leave three more days for late cards to be returned, meaning official results will be announced on Friday.

The Register reports that 19,609 Iowans requested presidential preference cards by the Feb. 19 deadline. Hart told the paper she hopes the return rate will be high, but also described this year as practice for 2028 — when Democrats will have an open seat to fill.

"I'm very much looking forward to making some improvements as we as we get closer to 2028," she said. "But the focus right now is to get this one right."

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NPR

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nicole Sidman walked up a long driveway in a hilly suburban neighborhood of Charlotte, campaign flyers in hand, ready to talk about an issue that prompted her to run in the Democratic primary for the state legislature this year.

A chubby white Chihuahua named Frankie came running when she rang the bell. Rebekah Rubenstein opened her door.

"I know who you are!" Rubenstein told Sidman. Rubenstein, who has three daughters, quickly told Sidman she plans to vote for her and will bring her 8-year-old daughter to the polls to be part of a moment she described as critical.

"For my children to be able to have the right — now, in the future, any time — to make the choices about their own bodies is essential," Rubenstein said. "So that's 100% in the forefront of my vote."

Concerns about new restrictions on abortion are motivating voters and candidates alike in North Carolina primary races. It's an issue that the Biden campaign hopes will energize voters not just on Super Tuesday, but also in November's presidential election.

Only one Democratic presidential candidate has won this state in modern times — former President Barack Obama, in 2008, by the narrowest of margins.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said he believes this issue will put North Carolina in play. He isn't running this time — the state has term limits — but the race to replace him is shaping up to be a barn burner, and the Republican supermajority in the state legislature is on the line, too.

"When you add issues like reproductive freedom, when you add the biggest governor's race in the country — those things, I think, come together to make North Carolina ground zero in 2024," Cooper told NPR in an interview at the governor's mansion in Raleigh.

"You can care about more than one issue, but this is one where we need to make clear about the stark difference between Republicans and Democrats. Women's reproductive freedom depends on getting Democrats elected across this country and particularly in North Carolina," Cooper said.

You can read the full story and listen to it here.

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Super Tuesday — like Leap Day — only happens every four years. And a lot has happened since the last one. So here's a refresher on some of the lingo we're likely to see today and in the days ahead.

Open: Registered voters have the option of voting in the Republican or Democratic primary regardless of party affiliation. That said, in some states, a vote may be regarded as a form of registration with the party.

Closed: Only voters registered with the party holding the election can vote. As in, only registered Democrats in a state can vote in that Democratic primary.

Threshold: This pertains to the percentage of the vote needed to earn delegates on a congressional or state level.

Proportional: Democratic delegates are proportionally allocated throughout the primary process. For Republican contests, delegates must be allocated and proportioned until March 15.

Winner-take-all: After March 15, Republican contests are allowed to structure the contest as winner-take-all based on at-large delegates or a combination of at-large and congressional district delegates.

Congressional district delegates: What the GOP uses to represent congressional district votes — three delegates are given to each district.

District-level delegates: What Democrats use to represent congressional districts' votes — the number of delegates per congressional district is determined proportionally based on the state.

At-large delegates: These delegates represent the state-wide vote — which is also proportional to the specific state population.

PLEOs (party leaders and elected officials): A certain number of state political figures who are designated to serve as delegates by the state party (and are officially determined in the late spring).

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Biden and Trump have easily won the Democratic and Republican primaries so far, and are projected to claim their parties' nominations once again.

One of the bigger wild cards this Super Tuesday is how Republican contender Nikki Haley — former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador — will fare.

Haley heads into Super Tuesday just after her first primary victory: Washington, D.C., which she won on Sunday. But that win followed blowout losses in South Carolina and Michigan.

A conservative super PAC backed by the powerful Koch network stopped spending to support Haley after she lost her home state, saying it still endorses her but does not "believe any outside group can make a material difference to widen her path to victory." Haley said this week that her campaign had raised $12 million in February and is continuing to raise money.

Haley has pledged to remain in the race "until the last person votes," telling NPR last month that she'd stay in at least through Super Tuesday.

"I haven't actually sat down and thought about what comes after that," she said. "But our goal was between South Carolina and Super Tuesday, another 20 states have voted, and that's more of the representation we want, let people's voices be heard."

When asked this weekend on NBC's Meet the Press whether she will drop out if she loses to Trump on Tuesday, she said she isn't looking "too far ahead."

Haley is losing by about 30 points in an average of national polls to Trump. And while she is a conservative, she tends to perform better among moderate and independent-leaning voters — of whom there don't appear to be enough likely to vote in Super Tuesday states for her to make a real dent.

Super Tuesday contests are mostly winner-take-all, so without winning more than half of those states, Haley will fall even further behind Trump in the delegate count.

But the longer she stays in the race, the more she could potentially hurt his prospects. As NPR's Ron Elving explains here: History shows that when the major party nominees for president have not cleared the field of notable challengers before summer, they tend to lose in the fall.

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AFP via Getty Images

The first candidate to win 1,215 delegates will win the Republican presidential nomination. Former President Donald Trump now leads former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley 273 to 43.

A total of 874 votes — representing 36% of the total — are available between all states that vote on Super Tuesday.

The states mostly allocate their delegates in a winner-take-all approach if a candidate gets more than 50% of the votes — meaning that if one candidate sweeps most of the states, they gain a nearly insurmountable lead.

"And that was part of the intent of the creation of Super Tuesday — to establish a day that is a pseudo national primary to try and get the primary over with and have the party start to unite around one candidate," NPR's Domenico Montanaro explains.

The delegate process is more of a formality on the Democratic side, since President Biden is running as an incumbent. He has 206 of the 1,968 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.

Mathematically, nobody can earn enough votes — and thereby, delegates — to officially become the presumptive nominee by the end of Super Tuesday.

The Associated Press says the soonest that could happen is March 12 for Trump and March 19 for Biden. Republicans will have awarded more than 70% of their delegates by the end of March — just as Trump's criminal trials are getting underway.

In the meantime, stay up to date with NPR's delegate tracker.

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Voting ends tonight in 16 states and one U.S. territory. Here's the complete list:

1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arkansas
4. California
5. Colorado
6. Iowa
7. Maine
8. Massachusetts
9. Minnesota
10. North Carolina
11. Oklahoma
12. Tennessee
13. Texas
14. Utah
15. Vermont
16. Virginia
17. American Samoa

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AFP via Getty Images

The first GOP presidential primary to have a real, front-loaded Super Tuesday with lots of states voting fairly early in the process was in 1988.

Since then, every Republican candidate who has won Super Tuesday has gone on to be the nominee.

Take a look at Super Tuesday results from past open presidential primaries — the eventual nominee's name is bolded, and the numbers represent the number of states won:

1988: H.W Bush 16, Robertson 1

1996: Dole 9-0

2000: W. Bush 9, McCain 4

2008: McCain 9, Romney 7, Huckabee 5

2012: Romney 6, Santorum 3, Gingrich 1

2016: Trump 7, Cruz 3, Rubio 1

On the Democratic side, remember that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders entered Super Tuesday as the front-runner in 2020, and Biden — riding a surge of momentum after winning South Carolina — won a majority of states to make it a two-person race.

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Donald Trump has done exceedingly well in this primary with core Republicans, and that gives him a huge advantage today. Only a few of the states voting today have historically had high percentages of independents who participated, according to past exit polls.

Of the nine states that had exit polls conducted in 2016, just two had electorates with less than 60% who identified as Republicans – Vermont and Massachusetts. But they account for just 57 delegates of the 874 up for grabs today. Even if you give Haley California, Colorado and Maine – states that didn’t have exit polls in 2016 but have high moderate populations – it would still be far from enough, just 283 delegates.

And even giving Haley those is a stretch. Consider: only 50% of New Hampshire primary voters this year identified as Republicans – and Haley still lost by 11 points.

So surprise, surprise, you have to win over Republicans to win the Republican nomination.

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AFP via Getty Images

Today's primaries are scattered across multiple states and time zones, so poll closing times are especially varied.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers of delegates at stake and poll closure times, all in Eastern Time:

7 p.m.: Vermont (17), Virginia (48)

7:30 p.m.: North Carolina (74)

8 p.m.: Alabama (50), Maine (20), Massachusetts (40), Oklahoma (43), Tennessee (58)

8:30 p.m.: Arkansas (40)

9 p.m.: Colorado (37), Minnesota (39), Texas (161)* (*First results reported at 8 p.m. ET)

11 p.m. ET: California (169), Utah (40)

So when will we know the results? The Associated Press has called recent primary contests within minutes of polls closing, but it could take longer this time around.

The AP says it will declare winners on Super Tuesday "only when it's determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap."

It explains that in noncompetitive contests, the AP may be able to determine winners relatively quickly based on factors like the size of the lead in initial returns, the type of contest and who is eligible to participate, and the state's voting history.

"Once the polls have closed, if initial vote results received from key locations throughout the state confirm that the frontrunner or expected winner is indeed ahead by an overwhelming margin, the AP may declare a winner in that contest," it adds.

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AP

While most eyes will be on the presidential race, particularly for the Republicans, voters in several states will also be making decisions on their final slate of candidates in Senate, House and governors races that can determine political control of Congress and states for the next two to four years.

Here are some of them:

California voters will get their say on the Senate seat long held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, now occupied by Sen. Laphonza Butler. The state has a top-two primary system, meaning the top two finishers, regardless of party, will advance in what's expected to remain a solidly blue seat.

North Carolina votes in a high-stakes gubernatorial race. The state legislature is currently controlled by Republicans, and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has reached his term limit — leaving an open seat.

Texas will pick the Democratic challenger to Sen. Ted Cruz, who is seeking a third term. Nine Democratic candidates are looking to be Cruz's opponent in the fall.

Alabama will be voting under a new congressional map that opened a new district in the state's southwest corner. Last fall, a federal court decided on Alabama's new congressional map, which is likely to result in a Democratic member of the U.S. House.

Correction: An earlier version of this post said California was holding a Democratic Senate primary. It's an open primary, with all candidates on the same ballot.

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More states vote and more delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday than any single day of the primary season.

This year, voters in 16 states are heading to the polls or wrapping up voting: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. (Voting in the Iowa Democrats’ mail-in caucus also ends today.)

The main event is on the Republican side — 874 delegates are at stake, more than a third of the total. States are mostly winner-take-all, meaning Donald Trump could take a sizable lead and be well on his way to recapturing the GOP nomination.

Today is Nikki Haley’s last chance to claim enough delegates for the nomination. If she doesn’t win a majority of states, she will fall further behind — and no candidate has become the Republican nominee without winning Super Tuesday since it became a thing on the GOP side in 1988.