US election 2024 primaries: intrigue in down-ballot races as Trump-Biden rematch set

With a rematch set between Joe Biden and Donald Trump after both candidates crossed the delegate threshold needed to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations, suspense around the next wave of Tuesday primaries shifts to a handful of key down-ballot races.

Five states – Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio – will hold their presidential nominating contests on Tuesday. Trump and Biden are expected to sail to victory, growing their delegate counts in a march toward this summer’s conventions, where they will officially secure their parties’ nomination.

Trump’s last Republican challenger, his former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, ended her presidential campaign after being routed on Super Tuesday, while the Democratic congressman Dean Phillips dropped his long-shot challenge to Biden after failing to win a single delegate, including in his home state of Minnesota.

In Florida, the state Democratic party decided support for Biden was strong enough and cancelled its presidential primary. Republicans in the one-time swing state can vote for Trump, though his vanquished rivals, including the governor, Ron DeSantis, will still appear on the ballot. The result may reveal clues about the enduring strength of the anti-Trump vote within the Republican party.

Further down the ballot there could be some surprises in store on Tuesday.

Ohio Republicans will choose their nominee in one of the most highly anticipated Senate races of the cycle. The heated three-way battle to take on the Democratic incumbent, Senator Sherrod Brown, features Republicans Frank LaRose, Matt Dolan and the Trump-backed Bernie Moreno. The final days have become increasingly bitter.

Trump held a rally for Moreno in Ohio this weekend, a day after the candidate, who