What happened today:
- The Supreme Court ruled this morning that Trump must stay on the ballot in Colorado, finding that states do not have the power to disqualify candidates under the 14th Amendment.
- Trump won the North Dakota GOP Caucus.
- Nikki Haley held rallies in Spring and Fort Worth, Texas
- Tomorrow is Super Tuesday when 15 states and American Samoa will hold presidential primaries. About one-third of the available GOP delegates will be awarded from these states.
- Congressional and gubernatorial primaries will also be held in some states on Super Tuesday.
Trump Glides to Victory in North Dakota Caucus
Former President Donald Trump easily won the North Dakota GOP Caucus on the eve of Super Tuesday.
The Associated Press called the race at 9:22 p.m. ET.
North Carolina Voters Undecided Ahead of Super Tuesday
One day before the primary, a couple of North Carolina voters told The Epoch Times on March 4, that they are undecided on how they will vote.
Alex, a registered independent, usually votes early, she said, but did not do so this time around. Although still undecided, she said the biggest issues in the primary are abortion and housing.
“I think housing costs are a big issue. We need to figure out a way to encourage people to have multi-residential housing in single-residential neighborhoods,” she said.
“Like if you go to the Plaza Midwood neighborhood in Charlotte, there’s like quads or sixplexes that really add character in the neighborhood. But people are concerned about their property value,” she said. “I think it adds to the neighborhood.”
Nixon, a liberal, said he is leaning toward voting Democrat and expressed “disgust” with former President Donald Trump. He also said he will “probably not” vote for Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is running for governor.
He is leaning toward voting for Attorney General Josh Stein in the gubernatorial race, though he said he has not made a final decision. The biggest issue for him is integrity as President Trump “should have been in jail Jan. 6, 2021,” when his supporters breached the U.S. Capitol as Congress certified President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
—Jackson Richman and Joseph Lord
Early Voters Reflect on Trump in Colorado
Early voting before Super Tuesday is soon to end at Belmar Library in Lakewood, Colorado. Locals were turning up for early in-person voting as well as to deposit ballots in a drop box, with the latter being much more common than the former, election officials told The Epoch Times.
A familiar slot near the library’s front door was marked with a sign for the perplexed: “Do Not Drop Ballots in the Book Return.”
Anita Leyba, who said she voted for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, was one of several voters who reflected on former President Donald Trump.
“I think he’s a good businessman. I just think he’s got a mouth that doesn’t know when to shut up,” she told The Epoch Times, repeating a frequent criticism heard from non-Trump supporters at early voting locations across the country.
She decried the state of partisan politics in the country.
“There’s too much animosity among the parties. They seem to be more in each other’s personal business than the business of the country,” Ms. Leyba said.
She said she liked Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Jeremiah, a Trump voter who would not provide his last name out of “fear of persecution,” told The Epoch Times he was concerned about the erosion of traditional values.
“I have a general concern about the United States, and I don’t want it to fall apart,” he said.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who has campaigned with President Trump, described today’s Supreme Court ruling preventing him from being removed from ballots on 14th Amendment grounds as “justice for the disenfranchised voters across America.”
Jeremiah phrased it a little differently.
“I think it’s justice for the United States,” he said of the ruling.
Mitch Nieto, who said he voted for President Biden in the Democratic primary, spoke with The Epoch Times as his son, Luca, looked on.
Luca, a high school sophomore, wasn’t old enough to vote. But while he can’t discharge all his duties as a citizen, he’s already a junior member of the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). Mr. Nieto didn’t serve in the military, he said, but other members of his family were in the Navy and the Air Force.
He told The Epoch Times he voted for President Biden “because the alternative is just too frightening.”
“If Trump gets a second term, we won’t recognize this country after it’s over,” he said.
Yet, while Mr. Nieto objected to President Trump’s proposal to carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants, he described immigration as a vulnerability for Democrats.
“I travel a lot to Australia, and they have a very, very strict immigration system,” he said, describing the country’s points-based approach.
“I’d like to see the U.S. adopt something like that,” he added.
—Nathan Worcester
Tennessee Upholds Crossover Voting Law on Eve of Primary
A federal judge dismissed a challenge to a Tennessee law requiring primary voters to be “bona fide” members of the party they choose to vote for on Monday.
The law was passed in 1972 and rarely invoked. However, Senate Bill 0978, passed in 2023, required elections officers to post signs at each polling place on election day informing voters that “it is against the law to vote in a political party’s primary without being a bona fide member of or affiliated with that political party, or to declare allegiance to that party without the intent to affiliate with that party.”
According to the Rhea County Election Commission, the state of Tennessee does not require voters to claim a political party when registering, and they can vote for candidates of either party in a general election. However, a political party must be selected to participate in a primary.
The challenge was brought by the former ambassador and Tennessee politician Victor Ashe, real estate developer Phil Lawson, and the League of Women Voters of Tennessee. They said the law is too vague, fails to define a “bona fide party member,” what it means to “declare allegiance to a party,” or how long that allegiance is required to last.
They claim it opens up the possibility of voter intimidation, complicates voter registration initiatives, and raises concerns that they could face prosecution if officials doubt a party affiliation. They also expressed concern about freedom of choice, as one of the challengers had voted across party lines in previous elections.
U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson dismissed the case, ruling that the challengers lacked standing to sue and finding their concerns of potential injury “too speculative,” according to the Associated Press.
Garrett Floyd, Chairman of Nashville Young Republicans, shared cautious optimism about the ruling with The Epoch Times and said he does not think it will affect his organization’s efforts to get people out to vote.
“I don’t appreciate ‘operation chaos’ where Democrats vote in our primaries to [mess] around, but if there was a hard-line law that prevents people from changing over, then that is really bad,” he said.
“I want all of my friends who vote Democrat to be able to change over at the drop of a hat if they wanted to.”
—T.J. Muscaro
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Economy Comes Last for California Voters
VISALIA, Calif.—California voters appear to be primarily concerned about the southern border, international security, and the trajectory of American society. The economy, while important to many, is generally listed last among the chief concerns.
“I think the economy is doing well,” Shawn Loder, 57, of Visalia, told The Epoch Times, though he theorized that the improvement may be due to people using credit cards for living expenses.
His top concerns, he said, are the southern border and threats posed by China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.
Jackie Griffin, 62, of Fresno, told The Epoch Times that it’s important to vote to ensure a better future for our children and grandchildren.
“The decisions we make now will affect the future of our country,” she said.
“I don’t feel secure,” said Sharon Denham, 80, of Hanford.
“I feel sorry for the people who are coming here,” she said about the southern border. “But we have homeless people here that we need to help first.”
—Lawrence Wilson
‘I’ll Feel More Safe’ With Trump
HANFORD, Calif.–Betty Parsons, 81, of Hanford, has voted for former President Donald Trump in three elections, casting her primary ballot by mail.
For Ms. Parsons, the choice came down to matters of safety and security.
“Trump was having talks with our enemies,” she said, adding that border security and international stability have gone downhill under President Biden. “I’ll feel more safe if [Trump] gets in,” she told The Epoch Times.
—Lawrence Wilson
Colorado Ballot Returns Close in on One Million
Coloradans have so far returned 959,315 ballots ahead of the state’s March 5 primaries, according to new data from Colorado’s Secretary of State.
That’s out of more than 3.7 million active eligible voters in the state.
Democrats have over 100,000 more registered Colorado voters than Republicans. Yet, so far, the vast majority of ballots returned have been for the Republican contest, including from the state’s unaffiliated voters, who can cast a ballot in either of the two main parties’ primaries, but not in both.
Unaffiliated Colorado voters have returned 161,274 Republican primary ballots and just 75,349 Democratic primary ballots out of those processed thus far.
Voters can mail in their ballots or return them to drop boxes. They can also vote in person at early voting locations.
—Nathan Worcester
Rep. Boebert: Original Colorado Supreme Court Ruling Was Election Interference
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who has campaigned with former President Donald Trump ahead of Super Tuesday, on March 4 praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling preventing states from removing him from ballots.
“This is justice for the disenfranchised voters across America,”” she told The Epoch Times. ”The SCOTUS ruling is something that we expected.”
She sharply criticized the four Colorado Supreme Court judges who ruled last year in favor of removing President Trump from the state’s ballots, based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s new decision overturned the Colorado Supreme Court’s narrow 4–3 ruling.
“They were out of line. They were interfering in an election,” Ms. Boebert said.
“In a democracy, you do have the choice to vote for your candidate of choice, and Democrats are the party wanting to remove candidates from our ballots,” Ms. Boebert continued. She also specified that the U.S. is a constitutional republic, not a pure democracy.
—Nathan Worcester
Cato Institute Scholar Says Section 3 ‘Effectively Neutered’ After SCOTUS Ruling
Anastasia Boden, the Cato Institute director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, criticized the Supreme Court’s March 4 ruling that reversed Colorado’s ballot disqualification of former President Donald Trump.
“Today, all nine justices agreed that states have no power to disqualify oathbreaking insurrectionists from federal office, meaning Donald Trump remains eligible to run for president this year.
“But rather than resolving the case narrowly, five justices went on to say that Congress and only Congress can implement Section Three, cutting off other potential avenues for enforcement. The majority’s opinion, like too many cases before it, thus significantly narrows the 14th Amendment’s scope.
“It means that mere congressional dysfunction can lead to flagrant insurrectionists becoming the nation’s Commander in Chief. And yet no judge will be able to do anything about it,” Ms. Boden said.
She added that the March 4 ruling effectively “neutered” Section Three of the 14th Amendment and that “all eyes will be on the other constitutional controversies surrounding former President Trump, like the fate of the several pending criminal cases against him and his claims of total immunity from prosecution.”
—Jacob Burg and Sam Dorman
Former GOP Congressman Urges Trump to ‘Show Humility’ After Ballot Ruling
Former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who is a host on Fox News, implored former President Donald Trump to pump his brakes and “show humility” after the March 4 Supreme Court ruling, expressing concern the former chief executive might not prevail with his immunity appeal.
“I would encourage him to do something that he doesn’t often do, which is show humility because there are other decisions that are coming that he may not agree with,” Mr. Gowdy said on Fox News.
“I don’t think he’s going to win the presidential immunity case before the court,” he added.
While Mr. Gowdy emphasized that the unanimous March 4 ruling was “not a close case,” he suggested that neither will the Supreme Court’s eventual ruling on presidential immunity be, but that it would go in the “other direction” for President Trump and reject his claims to “absolute immunity.”
He urged President Trump to “show a little restraint when you win and show a little restraint when you don’t win” if he ends up losing his immunity appeal when it’s reviewed by the Supreme Court later this year.
—Jacob Burg
Biden Campaign Responds to Supreme Court Ruling: ‘We Don’t Really Care’
Dismissive of the March 4 Supreme Court ruling that reversed Colorado’s ballot disqualification of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign said it was never part of the strategy to beat the former president.
“We don’t really care,” said Quentin Fulks, President Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, in response to the ruling.
“It’s not been the way we’ve been planning to beat Donald Trump,” he told Jen Psaki, President Biden’s former White House press secretary, on MSNBC Live.
“Our focus since day one of launching this campaign has been to defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box. And everything we’ve done since the president announced back in April [2023] that he’s running for reelection is to build an infrastructure and apparatus to do so,” Mr. Fulks said.
—Jacob Burg
Conservative Attorney Calls Colorado’s Disqualification of Trump ‘Flimsy, Partisan Legal Theory’
Conservative attorney and political analyst Gayle Trotter celebrated the Supreme Court reversal of Colorado’s attempt to disqualify former President Donald Trump from its ballot.
“Anyone who cares about democracy should be grateful for today’s unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court. As I predicted, SCOTUS has reversed the absurdly partisan decision of the Colorado Supreme Court,” she said.
Ms. Trotter added that none of the three liberal justices on the high court agreed with Colorado’s position either, leading to a 9–0 ruling in favor of President Trump.
Further, she admonished the few conservatives who supported the efforts to disqualify President Trump from state ballots.
“Finally, it’s worth reflecting on the shameful conduct of a handful of so-called conservatives who argued in favor of a flimsy, partisan legal theory that the United States Supreme Court has definitively rejected by a 9-0 vote.
“No one can rightly claim to be a conservative if they accepted—or, worse still, espoused—such an obviously wrong legal theory. That handful of so-called conservatives has officially disgraced themselves. Today’s result shows how these [people] are not who they claim to be,” Ms. Trotter added.
—Jacob Burg and Sam Dorman
Hillary Clinton ‘Not Surprised’ by SCOTUS Ruling
Hillary Clinton, who lost to former President Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, commented on the Supreme Court’s ruling on her former opponent’s ballot eligibility during a segment with SiriusXM and Mornings with Zerlina. The full interview airs tomorrow on SiriusXM Progress channel 127 at 8 AM EST.
After noting she had not yet read the ruling, she said she was “of two minds.”
“On the one hand, I think the language in the 14th Amendment, section three, should be clear to anybody who pays attention. I don’t think there is any doubt in the minds of fair-minded people that Trump was part of the insurrection that happened on January 6th,” she said.
“On the other hand, I think taking him off the ballot poses all kinds of challenges and frankly gives him a way out of being held accountable at the ballot box. So without talking about the opinion, which I haven’t had a chance to read and study, I’m not surprised that this court would make that decision. And I’m not surprised that ultimately it’s up to the American people to prevent him from ever getting near the Oval Office again,” the former Secretary of State said.
—Nathan Worcester
Former DOJ Prosecutor Says SCOTUS Decision Means ‘Fast Track’ to Trump Immunity Ruling
Neama Rahmani, a former U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) prosecutor, said the Supreme Court ruling indicates an intention to “fast-track Trump-related appeals” and potentially give President Trump a speedier trial in his Washington criminal case.
“The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision isn’t surprising. It was clear from the oral arguments that the justices had concerns with state officials enforcing the 14th Amendment. By making it clear that only Congress can do so, the Court gave Trump a win, but only on procedural grounds.
“The bigger takeaway is that the justices are willing to fast-track Trump-related appeals, so we may get a decision on the presidential immunity case by June, leaving the possibility that his criminal trials happen before the election,” Mr. Rahmani said.
—Jacob Burg and Sam Dorman
Maine Secretary of State Withdraws Trump Disqualification
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has withdrawn her decision to disqualify President Trump from the ballot after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“I have reviewed the Anderson decision carefully. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that individual states lack authority to enforce Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment with respect to federal offices,” the secretary stated. “Consistent with my oath and obligation to follow the law and the Constitution, and pursuant to the Anderson decision, I hereby withdraw my determination that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid,” Ms. Bellows said in a statement.
—Catherine Yang
Harvard Law Professor Criticizes Ruling
Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor and former judicial adviser to President Barrack Obama’s 2008 campaign, reacted to the March 4 Supreme Court ruling in a post on X, calling Colorado’s attempt to disqualify President Trump from its ballot an “absolutely vital ban.”
“Justice Barrett told us what ‘message Americans should take home’ from ruling that, even if Trump’s role in the insurrection we just barely survived disqualifies him under the Constitution from ever holding office again, only congressional legislation under Sec 5 of the 14th Amendment can implement that absolutely vital ban.
“The message Barrett tells us to ‘take home’ from that fiat is that we should just chill because all nine justices agreed that Colorado overstepped what any one state should’ve been able to do,” Mr. Tribe said.
He said he believes the court “should avoid deciding any more than it needs to decide when ruling on a case.”
“To reach out and resolve in advance all sorts of issues that might arise in the future is to take on the role of a super-legislature, not a court of law,” Mr. Tribe said, criticizing the Supreme Court ruling.
—Jacob Burg and Sam Dorman
Supreme Court Proves ‘Divided Nation’ Still ‘Bound by Shared Constitutional Values’, Says Attorney
Jonathan Turley, a conservative attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School, said the Supreme Court had overturned what proponents of the effort to keep President Trump off the ballots called an “unassailable theory.”
“As expected, the Supreme Court has now unanimously rejected what was described for months as an ‘unassailable theory.’ The Court showed a divided nation that we remain bound by shared constitutional values,” Mr. Turley said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“While this ‘unassailable theory’ was given endless and almost exclusive coverage on some outlets, it failed to garner a single vote on the left or the right of the Court. I respect some of the academics who subscribed to this theory, including some who offered important scholarship in support of it. However, many people heard little of the opposing views on many outlets on the historical, textual, and practical flaws in these arguments,” he added.
Mr. Turley emphasized that many Democratic officials, judges, and justices rejected the “theory” from the outset, including some in California, but that Colorado, Maine, and Illinois were “outliers” in this regard.
“Even on the Colorado Supreme Court, three of the seven Democratically appointed justices rejected this theory and opposed disqualification. Now three liberal justices have added their voices against this theory that states can unilaterally disqualify candidates in this way,” Mr. Turley said.
—Jacob Burg and Sam Dorman
What Ruling Means for Maine, Illinois
Besides Colorado, Maine and Illinois had also issued disqualification rulings, which the high court’s decision now overturns.
Maine Secretary of State Shanna Bellows disqualified President Trump late last year, after holding a public hearing on the matter and inviting parties to file supplemental briefs after the Colorado disqualification.
The removal was stayed, appealed in court, and the secretary was ultimately ordered to await the high court’s decision and act accordingly.
In Illinois, the state elections board unanimously voted to keep President Trump on the ballot, and a county judge overturned the order just last week. President Trump sought and was granted a stay on that order pending the Supreme Court’s decision, which the judge has decided to defer to.
—Catherine Yang
Colorado’s Unaffiliated Voters Skew to GOP Primary—More Results Come Later Today
By March 1, 831,705 ballots had been returned ahead of Colorado’s March 5 primaries—and the latest figures will be announced later today.
Of the processed ballots counted so far, 423,961 are for the Republican primary, while just 299,544 are for the Democratic primary.
Colorado permits unaffiliated voters to participate in either the Democratic or the Republican primary, sending them the ballots for both in the mail. Those voters must pick which primary they vote in. Affiliated voters can vote in the primary for the party with which they are registered.
The March 1 statistics show that a stark majority of processed ballots from unaffiliated voters are for the Republican primary—135,629 as against 61,851.
Exit polling after the 2020 presidential election from Edison Research and the New York Times showed that self-described “independent or something else” voters in Colorado favored President Biden over President Trump. 55 percent of them chose the current incumbent, while just 40 percent voted for President Trump.
Any candidate that gets more than 50 percent of the vote in Colorado’s GOP primary will claim all its 37 delegates to the Republican National Convention. Failure to break 50 percent by any candidate will lead to a proportional distribution of the delegates.
—Nathan Worcester
Heritage Foundation Says ‘Activist Courts’ Should Not Take Away Voters’ Right to Choose the President
Conservative think tank Heritage Foundation senior legal fellows Hans von Spakovsky and Charles Stimson released a joint statement after the Supreme Court ruling.
“The Supreme Court justices brought order to what could have become a chaotic election season by shutting down this partisan, anti-democratic, and unconstitutional effort in Colorado. They found a ‘combination’ of constitutional grounds that ‘resolves this case,’ and that explains why the Colorado court got it wrong,” they said.
Further, “Activist courts and partisan bureaucrats should not be able to take away American voters’ right to choose the president. This ruling, which came together with amazing speed for the Supreme Court, should serve as a stern warning that radicals cannot interfere in our election process and, as the justices say in the opinion, ‘nullify the votes of millions and change the election result.’”
—Jacob Burg
Trump Wants to Win Based on ‘My Policies are Better’
While explaining his frustration with what he sees as politically biased court cases against him, President Trump reiterated that he is more focused on winning based on having better policies than President Biden.
He said if he is elected president again, he plans to cut taxes, lower interest rates, and lower inflation.
“You’re going to be able to buy homes again. I mean, you can’t buy a home today [because] the interest rates are so high,” President Trump said.
He also pledged to stop wars, including Russia’s war with Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas. He speculated that Russian President Vladimir Putin might not have had as much money to invade Ukraine without high global energy prices creating demand for Russian oil.
President Trump has previously vowed to keep energy prices lower by increasing domestic oil drilling in the United States.
—Jacob Burg
Trump Compares 14th Amendment Disqualifications to Political ‘Weaponization’ From ‘Third World Countries’
President Trump described his rise in popularity after his recent court cases as paradoxical, saying that “historically a thing like what I’ve been going through would have hurt a political party or a political candidate terrifically.”
Instead, polls showed President Trump with higher support than his GOP rivals throughout his party’s primary, and his numbers have steadily risen since he entered the race.
He also said that after this political “weaponization” through the attempts to disqualify him from state ballots, his support has grown instead of waned.
Still, he admonished the efforts from Colorado, Maine, and Illinois.
“This is for third-world countries. This isn’t for us. Biden ought to drop all of these things, and frankly, he may do better because people would say, ‘wow, that was very reasonable.’”
—Jacob Burg
Trump Says Presidency Would Be ‘Ceremonial Post’ Without Immunity
President Trump said it would have been tough for him to make decisions regarding his administration’s efforts to end terror group ISIS if he had to be worried about being prosecuted by his opponent after leaving office.
“The President shouldn’t have that on his mind and he has to have a free and clear mind when he makes very big decisions. Or it’s going to be nothing more than a ceremonial post. You’ll be president … and you won’t do anything because you don’t want to be hit by your opponent or hit by somebody else,” he said.
—Jacob Burg
Trump Hopes Supreme Court Will Also Grant Him ‘Full Immunity’
President Trump complimented the Supreme Court on its March 4 ruling and said he also hopes the high court will grant him presidential immunity in his appeal to his Washington D.C. criminal case.
He said that without “full immunity,” a president would not be able to make the “right decision[s].”
“If a president doesn’t have full immunity, you really don’t have a president because nobody that is serving in that office will have the courage to make, in many cases, what would be the right decision, or it could be the wrong decision,” President Trump said in his speech at Mar-a-Lago on March 4.
—Jacob Burg
Trump Says Supreme Court Ruling ‘Unifying Factor’
President Trump said the Supreme Court ruling to reverse Colorado’s ballot disqualification of him will “go a long way towards bringing our country together.”
“They worked very quickly on something that will be spoken about 100 years from now, or 200 years from now …. Essentially, you cannot take somebody out of a race, because an opponent would like to have it that way.”
“And it has nothing to do with the fact that is the leading candidate, whether it was the leading candidate or a candidate that was well down on the totem pole, you cannot take somebody out of a race. The voters can take the person out of the race very quickly, but the court shouldn’t be doing that and the Supreme Court saw that very well. And I really do believe that will be a unifying factor,” President Trump said.
—Jacob Burg
Reactions to the Supreme Court 14th Amendment Ruling
President Trump is speaking on March 4 at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, after the Supreme Court reversed a Colorado court’s disqualification of him on the basis of the 14th Amendment.
President Trump called the decision “both unifying and inspirational” in an interview with Fox News Digital, and said he hopes the High Court will also rule in his favor regarding his claims of presidential immunity.
“No president would be able to properly and effectively function without complete and total immunity,” President Trump told Fox News Digital. “Our country would be put at great risk.”
“Today’s decision, especially the fact that it was unanimous, 9-0, is both unifying and inspirational for the people of the United States of America,” the former president added.
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel reacted to the ruling in a statement.
“The effort to kick Donald Trump off of the ballot was pure election interference from the Left, and the RNC was proud to fight in the Supreme Court alongside President Trump’s campaign and other Republican partners to preserve voters’ right to make their voices heard.”
“We look forward to continuing to fight and beat Democrats in court over the coming months,” she added.
The Colorado Republican Party, responding to the ruling, echoed Trump’s “election interference” framing of the attempts to remove him from ballots for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. “Joe Biden and his … allies don’t get to engage in election interference by violating our right to vote for the candidate of our choice,” it said on social media.
Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, a Republican, said on social media that “SCOTUS did their duty. They acted swiftly and UNANIMOUSLY to restore law and order and protect the right of the American people to choose their president.”
President Trump, in an interview on March 4 with the conservative radio host Howie Carr, said he was “honored” by the unanimous Supreme Court decision. “This is for future presidents, this is not for me,” he said. “This is for future presidents, all presidents.”
—Jacob Burg
What to Know About the Supreme Court Ruling
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states do not have the authority to enforce the 14th Amendment’s Section 3 disqualification when it comes to national candidates, putting that “critical” power in the hands of Congress.
“[R]esponsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States. The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court therefore cannot stand,” the per curiam order reads. “All nine Members of the Court agree with that result.”
The justices found that the text of Section 3 itself reinforces this reading, as it allows Congress to “remove” a Section 3 “disability” through a two-thirds vote.
“The text imposes no limits on that power, and Congress may exercise it any time,” the opinion reads.
Read more here.
—Catherine Yang
Utah’s First-Ever GOP Caucus on Super Tuesday
SALT LAKE CITY—Utah Republicans won’t be participating in a state-run presidential preference primary on March 5 but will instead stage “neighborhood caucuses” statewide beginning at 7 p.m. MT on Super Tuesday.
The state’s GOP committee in August opted out of the state-run 5 March presidential preference primary and decided to caucus. Registered GOP voters can find their neighborhood caucus at the Utah Republican Party’s precinct portal.
Democrats, however, will participate in the state-run presidential preference primary on March 5. The GOP’s neighborhood caucus is only for the presidential preference poll. Both parties will participate in the state-run general primary on June 25.
On tap for the early summer preliminaries are inter-party battles among the state’s dominate Republicans—nearly 980,000 registered GOP voters to less than 275,000 registered Democrats—for governor, U.S. Senate, and four House seats.
—John Haughey
Super Tuesday Eve in Maine
PORTLAND, Maine—GOP candidate Nikki Haley’s belated appearance at the Portland Elks Lodge on March 3, may be too late, too late to salvage the embattled candidate’s prospects as the race for the party nomination gets down to the wire.
A total of 20 GOP delegates are up for grabs in Maine’s 2024 primary contest.
The campaign hoped that a stop at a beloved Portland venue on Sunday night would hold out a lifeline and keep the small momentum from Haley’s Sunday sweep of the Washington, D.C., primary going. But the capital has little in common with Portland or anywhere in Maine.
On the streets of Portland on Monday morning, skies were overcast and very few people were about. Enthusiasm for tomorrow’s Super Tuesday contest is not much in evidence in the seafood restaurants, antique shops, and maritime galleries of this coastal city.
–Michael Washburn
What to Look for in North Carolina on Super Tuesday
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—North Carolina will be a battleground state in the 2024 election.
Former President Donald Trump won the state in 2020 by 74,483 votes or 49.93 percent of the vote to President Joe Biden’s 48.59 percent.
The biggest races in the Tar Heel State are for governor, Congress, and attorney general.
The current governor, Rory Cooper, a Democrat, is ineligible to run for a third consecutive term.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is expected to be the GOP nominee despite his history of making antisemitic and other bigoted comments, while the likely Democrat candidate is Attorney General Josh Stein.
Regarding the Congressional races, the North Carolina delegation is set next year, thanks to gerrymandering, to be majority Republican—compared to the current even makeup of seven Democrats and seven Republicans.
In terms of the attorney general race, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) is all but guaranteed to be the GOP nominee as he is the only one in that party’s primary, while the Democrat primary includes Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-N.C.), Marine Corps veteran Tim Dunn, and Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry.
Outside of the races, the chairman of the North Carolina GOP, Michael Whatley, looks set to take the post of chairman of the Republican National Committee.
—Jackson Richman
Jerry Carl, Barry Moore Make Final Appeals in South Alabama
MOBILE, Ala.—Two sitting members of the House are making their last pitches to voters in Alabama’s newly redrawn 1st Congressional District ahead of the state’s Super Tuesday (March 5) primary election.
On March 4, Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Ala.) and Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) are in their respective hometowns on last-minute campaign stops.
Mr. Carl, from Mobile, Alabama, is making a stop at the Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Mobile on the evening of March 4. The church is holding a Lenten event hosted by Bryan, Texas-based anti-abortion campaign 40 Days For Life. Mobile is Alabama’s second most populous city and the seat of Mobile County.
On the morning of March 5, Mr. Carl is planning on voting at the Clearwater Christian Church in Mobile. Mr. Carl is hosting an election night watch party at the TimberCreek Golf Club in Daphne, Alabama.
Mr. Moore, from Enterprise, Alabama, is planning on knocking on doors and speaking with voters on March 4 in and around Enterprise. That city, located in Coffee County, Alabama, is also the hometown of Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.). Mr. Moore previously told The Epoch Times he plans on voting in Enterprise on March 5, then heading back to Washington to rejoin the House when the 119th Congress resumes.
Alabama’s 1st District was redrawn in October 2023, setting up a face-off between Mr. Carl and Mr. Moore. Mr. Carl, who’s served two terms in Congress representing the old 1st District centered on the Mobile area, is being challenged by Mr. Moore, who’s served two terms in the old 2nd District, which spanned much of southeastern Alabama and included Montgomery County.
The new 1st District includes Alabama’s Gulf Coast and so-called Wiregrass region. It splits Mobile County with a newly redrawn 2nd District.
The 1st District now covers every one of Alabama’s southernmost counties bordering the Florida panhandle and Georgia’s western border. The new 2nd District covers the so-called Black Belt region of Alabama, half of Mobile County, and Montgomery County. The maps were redrawn to give black Alabamans a better chance of sending a congressman of their choosing to Capitol Hill.
Whoever wins the GOP primary on March 5 will very likely win the district in November, too.
—Austin Alonzo
What to Expect in North Dakota’s GOP Caucus Today
Republicans in North Dakota will get a chance to vote on the party’s nominee Monday night as they gather around the state for the presidential caucuses, with 29 delegates up for grabs.
President Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will be joined on the ballot by Florida businessman David Stuckenberg and Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley, who recently ended his presidential campaign.
President Trump will see support from North Dakota Gov. Doug Bergum who endorsed the former president after ending his own presidential campaign in December 2023.
While President Trump is favored to win the Peace Garden State’s GOP contest, caucus Chair Robert Harms said a win from Ms. Haley could affect the Super Tuesday races the following day.
“So if something unusual happens in North Dakota on Monday, it could very well influence how some of those other states vote the following day,” Mr. Harms told The Associated Press.
There will be 12 different caucus sites around the state on Monday. The party encourages caucus voters to be paying party members, which costs $50 yearly, but those who do not pay are asked to sign a pledge to affiliate with the party, according to Mr. Harms.
North Dakota is also the only state without voter registration and the caucuses follow the official state voter identification guidelines, which require voters to present a driver’s license.
Candidates must net at least 20 percent of the vote to win any of the 29 available delegates. If a candidate wins with more than 60 percent, they take all of North Dakota’s delegates.
All voting is done in person and on printed ballots, which are also hand-counted. Voting is open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET. Republicans have printed 30,000 ballots for the Monday caucuses and results are expected around 10 p.m. ET.
—Jacob Burg, The Associated Press
Trump to Respond to SCOTUS Ruling
President Trump will speak at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida today at 12:30 p.m. ET, one day before the decisive Super Tuesday primaries.
The former president is expected to remark on the Supreme Court’s March 4 ruling that reversed Colorado’s ballot qualification of him on the basis of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
“BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post shortly after the ruling.
President Trump also won three contests over the weekend, netting delegates in Missouri, Michigan, and Idaho. He lost his first race of the year to Nikki Haley in Washington D.C. on Sunday, getting 33.3 percent of the vote to Ms. Haley’s 62.8 percent.
—Jacob Burg
Supreme Court Reverses Colorado’s Trump Ballot Disqualification
The Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion on March 4 overturning the Colorado Supreme Court’s previous disqualification of President Trump one day before the state’s Super Tuesday primary.
The Colorado court had ruled that President Trump was disqualified from state ballots under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, suggesting that the former president had “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. Constitution in his actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Supreme Court said it’s the role of Congress to enforce Section 3—not the states.
“This case raises the question whether the States, in addition to Congress, may also enforce Section 3. We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency,” the court said in its ruling.
While individual states have the power to decide which candidates can be elected to state offices, the Supreme Court says this does not extend to “federal officeholders and candidates.”
Colorado was not the only state trying to disqualify President Trump from its ballot.
The Maine secretary of state and an Illinois judge had also ruled that the former president could not be on their state’s respective ballots under Section 3. However, the Colorado, Maine, and Illinois disqualifications were all stayed pending a Supreme Court ruling and had not yet removed President Trump from their ballots.
—Jacob Burg
Delegate Math Heading into Super Tuesday
As the GOP primary heads into the decisive Super Tuesday contests, President Trump leads with 244 delegates. Nikki Haley, who finally won her first race over the weekend with the Washington D.C. primary, trails the former president with 43 delegates. The D.C. primary netted Ms. Haley 19 delegates after she beat President Trump with 62.8 percent of the vote.
To clinch the GOP nomination, a candidate needs to win 1,215 delegates. On Super Tuesday alone there will be a total of 865 delegates up for grabs across 15 different states. If President Trump sweeps the Tuesday contests, he would increase his delegate count to 1,109.
Democrats have 1,420 delegates up for grabs on Super Tuesday and 1,928 are required to secure the nomination. However, President Biden is the expected nominee and currently has 206 delegates after winning every contest thus far.
—Jacob Burg
Voting by Mail in California
FRESNO, Calif.—Travis Brown, 46, of Lemoore, Elizabeth Errico, 45, of Fresno, and Joscelynn Errico, 18, of Fresno intend to vote by mail in tomorrow’s primary election.
“I’m not saying Biden is the answer to all our prayers. He’s just the best we have at the moment,” Jocelyn, a first-time voter told The Epoch Times. Elizabeth is an independent who is leaning democratic this cycle. Travis is a registered Republican.
—Lawrence Wilson
Leaning on Trump to Solve Homelessness
FRESNO, Calif.—Homelessness is the biggest issue driving Abraham Moreno Jr., 34, of Parlier, Calif., to vote on Super Tuesday. Mr. Moreno works at Fresno’s Trolley Park. “It’s a big problem. We have a lot of homeless people coming through the park,” he told The Epoch Times.
—Lawrence Wilson
Haley Heads to Super Tuesday With First Win
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley secured her first Republican primary win last night. Her victory in D.C. was not so much of a shocker, but her taking the majority of the votes, and therefore all 19 delegates, was—at least to attendees at the results announcement last night.
When the results were called at about 8:30 p.m. at the Madison Hotel, the small room was silent, then one or two cheered. Someone said, “Really?”
The primary was unique: a D.C. GOP-run three-day event with a single polling location at the Hotel due to the RNC rules and the city’s June primary timeframe.
Ms. Haley invested a lot of resources in D.C.; her team spent three weeks door-knocking and reaching out to the 22,500 registered Republicans in the District, according to Nicole McClure, executive director of the D.C. GOP. Ms. Haley also held a rally at the Madison Hotel on Friday, drawing hundreds.
President Trump’s campaign had no presence at the Hotel.
Click here to read the full story.
—Terri Wu
What to Know About Super Tuesday
The biggest day of the presidential primary calendar may not be so big this year. Here’s what you need to know about the day.
From The Epoch Times