SOUTHWICK — Joseph Biden and Donald Trump widened their leads in the presidential nomination races on March 5, and voters in both Massachusetts as a whole, and Southwick in particular, placed themselves firmly in the front-runners’ corners.
Both major-party candidates in the 2020 presidential election cruised to wide victories in the 2024 “Super Tuesday” vote. Biden, the incumbent president, took 83% of the vote in the statewide Democratic primary, and better than that locally, winning Southwick and surrounding towns. Trump, the former president, captured 60% of the statewide Republican vote, and even better, well over 70%, in Southwick.
Republican Nikki Haley’s 37% statewide result in Massachusetts was among her stronger results of the day, which saw presidential primary elections in 15 states from Alaska to Virginia. She won only one of those contests, with 49.9% of the vote in Vermont. In the wake of a disappointing Super Tuesday, Haley dropped out of the race the next day.
The other five candidates on GOP ballots, all of whom had dropped out of the race before voting began, got only a smattering of votes — in some towns, none at all. The showings of 1% or less for Ryan Binkley, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Asa Hutchinson and Vivek Ramaswamy were consistent with Massachusetts’ statewide results.
Trump had at least double Haley’s support in all three Southwick precincts. In all, town Republicans voted 975 for Trump, 361 for Haley, 19 for DeSantis, 15 for Christie, 13 for no preference, 2 for Ramaswamy, 1 for Binkley and none for Hutchinson.
Two challengers to Biden, Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, made little impact, with shares under 5% in the statewide race and similarly low totals locally. Southwick Democrats voted 483 for Biden, 49 for no preference, 29 for Phillips, 20 for Williamson.
The primary election for U.S. representative, state senator, state representative and several other elected regional offices is Sept. 3. The general election is Nov. 5.