Biden wins Nevada primary as he continues to focus on Trump for 2020 rematch

President Joe Biden won an easy victory in Nevada’s Democratic primary on Tuesday over his lone prominent rival in the state, author Marianne Williamson.

Congressman Dean Phillips, another Democrat running for the party’s nomination, did not participate in the state. Mr Biden is all but guaranteed to win the nominating contest out right, having now won Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Iowa, which traditionally votes first, has extended mail-in voting until Super Tuesday — 5 March.

His challengers have raised both Mr Biden’s age and his popularity with voters as reasons that Mr Biden should step aside and let another candidate run for the presidency. But voters have not rallied behind either Mr Phillips or Ms Williamson’s campaigns to be that alternative candidate. Mr Biden’s supporters in the party have dismissed those concerns and pointed out the tremendous disadvantage any candidate running in the incumbent president’s stead would face, as the party as a whole would face questions regarding their confidence in Mr Biden’s agenda.

Mr Biden has ignored his Democratic would-be rivals completely, and has turned his eyes to the general election. All indications point to a rematch with Donald Trump in November, as the former president continues to lead the Republican nominating contest, winning two victories and scaring off all of his prominent rivals save for Nikki Haley. Ms Haley was expected to lose her own party’s primary on Tuesday evening, with a catch: Mr Trump did not compete, instead participating in the GOP-run caucuses set for this Thursday. She lost instead to “none of these candidates”, behind which the sizable Trump-supporting contingent of GOP voters rallied.

The state party will award Nevada’s GOP