Biden and Trump set for presidential rematch in 2024 election after clinching parties' nominations
US president Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump have clinched their parties' presidential nominations with decisive victories, setting up a general election rematch of the 2020 contest.
Neither Biden, a Democrat, nor Trump, a Republican, faced major opposition.
But the magnitude of their wins gave each man the delegate majority he needed to claim his party's nomination at the summertime national conventions.
There is no longer any doubt that the November election will feature a rematch that few people want to see.
At 81, Biden is already the oldest president in US history, while the 77-year-old Trump is facing decades in prison as a defendant in four criminal cases.
Their rematch - the first featuring two US presidents since 1912 - will almost certainly deepen the nation’s political and cultural divides over the next eight-month.
Biden celebrated the nomination while casting Trump as a serious threat to democracy, saying the 45th president “is running a campaign of resentment, revenge, and retribution that threatens the very idea of America.”
Biden continued: “I am honoured that the broad coalition of voters representing the rich diversity of the Democratic Party across the country have put their faith in me once again to lead our party - and our country - in a moment when the threat Trump poses is greater than ever.”
Trump, in a video posted on social media, celebrated what he called “a great day of victory.”
“But now we have to get back to work because we have the worst president in the history of our country,” Trump said of Biden.
“So, we're not going to take time to celebrate. We'll celebrate in eight months when the election is over."
Both candidates dominated Tuesday's primaries in swing-state Georgia, deep-red Mississippi and Democratic-leaning Washington.
Voting was taking place later in Hawaii's Republican caucus.
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Trump is facing 91 felony counts in four criminal cases involving his handling of classified documents and his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, among other alleged crimes.
He’s also facing increasingly pointed questions about his policy plans and relationships with some of the world's most dangerous dictators.
Trump met privately on Friday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has rolled back democracy in his country.
Biden, who would be 86 at the end of his next term, is working to assure a skeptical electorate that he’s still physically and mentally able to thrive in the world’s most important job.
Voters in both parties are unhappy with his handling of immigration and inflation.
And he's dealing with additional dissension within his party’s progressive base, furious that he hasn’t done more to stop Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Activists and religious leaders in Washington encouraged Democrats to vote “uncommitted” to signal their outrage.
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