Why AP isn’t using ‘presumptive nominee’ to describe leading presidential candidates
By ROBERT YOON
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump are the front-runners for their respective parties’ presidential nominations. But The Associated Press won’t yet call them their parties’ “presumptive nominees.” AP only uses that term once a candidate has won the number of delegates needed to win a majority vote at the national party conventions this summer. That point won’t come until after more states have voted. For both Republicans and Democrats, the earliest it could happen is March. Trump defeated former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, one week after he notched a commanding win in the lead-off Iowa caucuses. Biden won as a write-in candidate in New Hampshire.