AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Washington state’s presidential primaries

WASHINGTON (AP) — If former President Donald Trump clinches the Republican nomination on Tuesday for a second term in the White House, it may be primary voters in Washington state who put him over the top.

Trump won hundreds of delegates on Super Tuesday, putting him within reach of locking up his party’s nod for a third time. But he’ll need the bulk of the 161 delegates at stake in Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington to close the deal. Polls close first in Georgia and Mississippi, but their combined 99 delegates likely won’t be enough, so the task may fall to the 43 delegate slots in Washington. His biggest obstacle on Tuesday won’t be former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who ended her nomination bid this week, but may instead be Washington’s history of relatively slow vote counting. In the 2022 midterm primaries, a little more than half the vote had been tabulated by 1 a.m. EDT.

President Joe Biden is on the Democratic primary ballot. He faces self-help author Marianne Williamson, whose on-again, off-again campaign has not had much of an impact on the vote totals of previous contests this year. He also faces the “Uncommitted” ballot option, which received enough protest votes in Michigan, Minnesota and Hawaii to win delegates. U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota dropped out of the race this week, but his name still appears on the ballot.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Third-party movement No Labels says it will field a 2024 presidential ticket