DETROIT (CN) — Former President Donald Trump prevailed once again over Republican rival Nikki Haley, this time in the Michigan's presidential primary, in which Democratic voters also confirmed their desire for President Joe Biden to remain in office.
As of 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time, with about 20% of the results in, Trump had captured more than 65% of the vote compared to Haley’s 30%, according to the Associated Press.
Trump continues his streak of primary victories. He beat Haley in South Carolina on Saturday and is heading to Super Tuesday on March 5 as the unquestioned Republican favorite.
In a closing message to voters Tuesday morning, Trump told conservative radio commentator Justin Barclay that Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was “terrible.”
Whitmer responded in the afternoon with a post on social media.
“Listen, I can handle a hit. But his attacks on me are an attack on the progress we've made in our state. Michigan, I got your back. And I won't stop fighting like hell for you,” she wrote on X.
Biden was subject to a vocal backlash from Arab-American Michiganders for his unwavering support of Israel, including a message from Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Detroit, who encouraged voters to side against Biden in the primary.
Tlaib said Tuesday she was “proud” to vote uncommitted.
“We must make sure our government is about us,” she said. “President Biden is not hearing us.”
Tlaib and others' goal was to corral 10,000 votes and demonstrate that it could be the margin of victory in the November election. Trump won Michigan in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton by a little more than 10,000 votes.
That 10,000 goal was quickly reached shortly after most polls closed at 8 p.m. and counting began according to the AP. A little after 9:30pm with about 14% of the results in, the amount of uncommitted votes totaled more than 20,000.
According to poll book totals, 6,587 voters cast their ballots early starting on Saturday, Feb. 17, at voting sites around the state, and tens of thousands of Michigan voters followed suit over the next nine days. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was among the first to vote.
“All across the state, thousands of clerks and election workers ensured the historic day was a success,” she said in a statement.
Before early voting began, more than 600,000 citizens had already submitted their absentee ballot to be counted. A week later that number swelled to more than 765,000, according to a press release from the secretary of state's office.
On Monday, the secretary of state said more than 78,000 citizens voted in person at an early voting site, and 934,000 others returned their completed absentee ballot to their clerk for tabulation.
More than 1.4 million voters requested an absentee ballot for the primary.
“I can tell you; I’ve never seen this level of excitement from voters as they go into the early voting site and cast their ballot for the first time,” Canton Township Clerk Michael Siegrist said in a statement.
In December 2023, Governor Whitmer signed an executive directive, which expanded access to voting information for Michiganders. The executive directive required state departments and agencies to adopt a set of “Voting Information Best Practices” to provide Michiganders with easily accessed voter information.
In 2022, voters in the state approved a proposal that required at least nine days of in-person early voting before Election Day in federal and statewide elections starting with the presidential primary.
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