Donald J. Trump and President Biden won a landslide primary victory in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday against an opponent who had long since dropped out of the race.
Trump appears to have won 83% of the vote against his former rival Nikki Haley in the Republican primary. Still, even though Haley ended his campaign more than a month ago, he won the votes of more than 155,000 Pennsylvanians in the state, seen as critical to victory in November.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor, does not support Trump withdrawing from the race, and Pennsylvania’s voting remains difficult for Trump to win over his supporters and fully capture Republican voters. It reflected that. In Republican primaries held in Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York earlier this month, Haley won a small but significant protest vote, winning at least 10 percent of the vote in each of the four states.
Mr. Trump has shown little interest in winning Ms. Haley’s support and has made few attempts to reach out to Ms. Haley’s supporters. It remains unclear whether the former president’s decision to avoid a settlement with Haley will matter as November approaches.
“The risk for Donald Trump is that people won’t vote because of their dissatisfaction,” Irma Fralich, co-chair of Women for Nikki and a Pennsylvania resident, told The New York Times last month. “I think I speak for a lot of people in that I’m very frustrated with the choice we have between Biden and Trump.”
On the Democratic side, Biden, who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, won nearly 95% of the vote. Congressman Dean Phillips, who was on the ballot but withdrew from the race last month, received about 5% of the vote.
The results give Biden more support with Democratic voters in Pennsylvania than in other battleground states such as Michigan, where he faces large numbers of protest votes focused on his response to the war in Gaza. It suggests that.
Here are two more takeaways from the Pennsylvania primary.
Progressive Democrats fended off challenges focused on criticism of Israel’s military operations.
Progressive Democratic first-term Rep. Summer Lee fended off a moderate challenger who opposed her criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. Mr. Biden faces protest votes in many states, but Mr. Lee’s campaign was one of the first to question where Democrats stand on the war.
Lee, a progressive Democrat who represents a Pittsburgh-area district, was an early critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed about 34,000 people since the conflict began six months ago. Mr. Lee’s stance on Israeli military operations prompted a major challenge from Babini Patel, a moderate Democrat who opposed Mr. Lee’s approach to the war.
But Mr. Lee’s victory suggests that public sentiment toward the war, especially among Democrats, has changed significantly toward Israel in the six months since the war began.
The Republican who lost to Dr. Mehmet Oz is making a comeback in his second Senate race.
Sens. David McCormick and Bob Casey have won uncontested primaries, making Pennsylvania’s long-awaited Senate matchup official.
McCormick won the Pennsylvania Senate Republican primary unopposed in November, facing Democratic incumbent Casey. McCormick had no rival in the primary, but his victory represents a redemption of sorts after losing his first Senate primary run in the state in 2022.
For Republicans, he has the best chance to unseat Casey, who previously sought re-election and has served as the incumbent for 18 years. He defeated his last Republican opponent in 2018 by 13 points, and a Cook Political Report analysis rates his race as leaning toward the Democratic Party.
Mr. Trump helped thwart Mr. McCormick’s first candidacy after supporting his rival, the famous doctor Dr. Mehmet Oz. In a very close race, Mr. Trump’s support for Dr. Oz and his ferocious attacks on Mr. McCormick were decisive, and Dr. Oz won by less than 1,000 votes.
Mr. McCormick has been backed by Mr. Trump in his upcoming battle with Mr. Casey, and will share the neighboring spot on Pennsylvania’s ballot in November.
