Washington, DC, May 8
Winners of the 2024 Indiana presidential primary will be President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, who are already expected to be the front-runners for their respective parties, NBC News has projected.
On March 12, both Biden and Trump had acquired the requisite number of delegates to become their respective party's nominees, guaranteeing the outcome in Indiana.
According to a tracker from Decision Desk HQ/The Hill, the victory may provide Trump, who is already the presumed GOP nominee, an additional 58 delegates in a state that he is expected to win this autumn.
Even though Trump was the only contender remaining on the Indiana GOP ticket, he faced off against his former competitor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who has garnered significant support in many state primaries despite withdrawing.
In the Democratic primary in Indiana, President Biden is predicted to win all 79 delegates; but, according to current head-to-head Hoosier State polls, Trump is ahead of Biden, The Hill reported.
In Indiana, Biden's name was the only one that appeared on the ballot.
However, for the Republicans, Trump's name was one of two on the primary ballot, with former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley still appearing on the state's ballot despite having dropped out of the race, according to NBC News.
Trump defeated Biden handily in the state in 2016 and again by double digits in 2020 before losing his attempt for re-election.
In addition, voters in Indiana cast their votes in a tight six-way GOP primary on Tuesday (local time) to succeed term-limited Republican Governor Eric Holcomb. The party mobilised behind Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) to unseat the first-term senator in the upper chamber after Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) was predicted to win that contest. Banks' House seat, in turn, is one of six that are in contention.
The long-anticipated rematch of Trump and Biden is expected to mirror the 2020 campaign, though Trump will run this time under the spectre of 91 felony charges related to allegations that he plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat, according to CNN.
The charges included that he played a lead role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol; illegally took classified documents from the White House; and covered up hush money payments to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 election.
However, Trump has now achieved a record of accomplishments and missteps for voters to weigh.
Moreover, Biden is so far running a similar campaign to 2020, appealing to concerns over Trump's authoritarian behaviour and a middling economy.
Biden's main opposition has come more from general intraparty anxiety over his age and from progressives' outrage over the administration's support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.