Biden and Trump could clinch presidential nominations after tonight's elections

Stephen Fowler

March 12, 2024 / 1:58 pm

caption: President Joe Biden, left, on Jan. 5, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, right, on Jan. 19.

Updated March 12, 2024 at 5:41 PM ET

Tuesday's presidential nominating contests could see official confirmation what has long been expected: a rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.

While both men have won nearly every contest so far, March 12 is the earliest the candidates can earn enough delegates to their respective party conventions to actually become the nominee – though it's possible Trump could have to wait another week.

Voting concludes Tuesday in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state. Hawaii Republicans have a caucus and Democrats abroad and on the Northern Mariana Islands have contests as well.

Heading into Tuesday, Biden had an estimated 1,866 delegates out of the 1,968 needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. There are 254 delegates at stake in the March 12 Democratic contests, and Biden won all six of the delegates from the Northern Mariana Islands Tuesday morning.

Trump has an estimated 1,089 delegates, with 1,215 needed to secure the nomination, or 137 of the 161 up for grabs in the March 12 Republican contests.

So when will Biden and Trump officially clinch the nomination?

Tuesday's presidential contests span six time zones and both parties allocate delegates allocated both statewide and by congressional district-level votes, so it may take a little while to have enough votes counted for news outlets to project winners to put Biden and Trump over the top.

Georgia's polls close at 7 p.m. ET, Mississippi's close at 8 p.m. ET, with Washington at 11 p.m. ET and the Hawaii GOP caucus concluding at 2 a.m. ET. Wednesday.

Biden is only 96 delegates short of clinching the nomination, so early results from Georgia (108) and the polls closing in Mississippi (35), where he is the only candidate on the ballot, will likely put him over the top.

For the Republican contest, the share of non-Trump votes and the speed at which they are reported could push his securing the nomination into Wednesday – or next week. He needs 126 of the 161 delegates awarded Tuesday to cross the majority threshold. Mississippi has 40 delegates, Washington has 43 and Hawaii awards 19 delegates to the GOP convention.

There are 59 Republican delegates at stake in Georgia, a state where he faces criminal charges for a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election and other obstacles to winning in November.

Georgia allocates 42 of its delegates to the winner of each of its 14 congressional districts, three Republican National Committee delegates to the statewide winner and the rest proportionally to candidates who earn more than 20% of the vote.

Despite dropping out of the race last week, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is still on ballots and could pick up Georgia delegates both statewide and in some suburban Atlanta congressional districts, meaning Trump would not officially win the nomination until the results of the Washington primary are released late Tuesday or Hawaii caucus are reported Wednesday morning.