Biden, Trump win Kentucky, Oregon primaries as presidential nominating season nears its end

By JONATHAN J. COOPER
Associated Press

President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, piled up more delegates Tuesday as both presumptive nominees won primaries in Kentucky and Oregon.

The symbolic decisions provide a few more delegates to the national conventions and a gut check on where the Democratic and Republican bases stand toward their standard-bearers as the presidential nominating season nears its end.

Even after they secured the nominations and their rivals dropped out, Biden and Trump have continued facing dissent from within their own parties. Biden has faced protest votes over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war while Trump is still seeing thousands of people voting for long-vanquished rival Nikki Haley.

That trend continued Tuesday in Kentucky with about 18% of the Democratic vote going to “uncommitted” with roughly 80% of the vote counted. In the GOP race, Haley was winning about 6%.

After Tuesday, eight presidential nominating contests will remain: Democrats in Idaho, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Virgin Islands, and both parties in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Voters in Kentucky, Oregon, Georgia and Idaho also held state primaries Tuesday to choose nominees for the U.S. House and other contests.

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the prosecution of Trump in a 2020 election interference case, defeated challenger Christian Wise Smith in the Democratic primary. The judge in the case, Scott McAfee, also won his election.

In Oregon’s Multnomah County, home to Portland, the progressive district attorney who took office during the social justice movement of 2020 is being challenged by a candidate vowing to be tough on crime.

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Cooper reported from Phoenix.