VA Super Tuesday Results: Biden, Trump Claim Election Victories

Updated at 10:30 p.m.

VIRGINIA — President Joe Biden is projected to win the Democratic presidential primary in Virginia, while former President Donald Trump is the projected winner of the Republican primary, according to unofficial election results.

"Virginia Democrats sent a loud and clear message: we are unequivocally behind President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris," said Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker in a statement. "Virginia Republicans did the same as it pertains to Donald Trump. President Biden and Vice President Harris have fought tooth and nail to build an economy that works for everyone and save American democracy from the fascist, destitute bigot that Virginia Republicans just pledged their allegiance to."

Just before 10:30 p.m. Trump spoke to his family, supporters and TV cameras at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.

"This has been a day we have been waiting for, I want to thank my family, I have a great family," he said.

Trump reiterated talking points on immigration, crime, and the state of the U.S. economy.

“He’s the worst president in the history of our country,” Trump said of Biden. … "They want open borders and open borders are going to destroy our country.”

Success will bring unity to the country, he added. "Our country was coming together and now we have a very divided country."

Mitch Landrieu, 2024 national co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign and former New Orleans mayor, told MSNBC that people will turn away from the former president's extremism.

"The president brings people together and Trump splits people apart," Landrieu said. "It’s going to be really a clear choice and I think people are going to pick going forward rather than going backward."

The Associated Press called the Democratic primary race for Biden at 7:09 p.m. and the Republican race for Trump at 7:25 p.m. Democratic Biden and Republican Trump are the favorites to win their parties' nomination, setting up a potential rematch of the 2020 election in November 2024.

Polls closed in Virginia at 7 p.m. on Super Tuesday as 16 U.S. states and territories cast their votes for 2024 presidential primary candidates. Results are starting to come in from the Virginia Department of Elections.

(See live vote results as they come in at the bottom of this story. Patch has embedded the Democratic and Republican primary vote tables below.)

Biden is seeking a second term and faced Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips. Before Super Tuesday, Biden is the front-runner with 206 delegates garnered so far.

A Democratic candidate needs 1,969 delegates to win the nomination for president. There are 1,421 delegates up for grabs on Super Tuesday, including 99 in Virginia. The Democratic National Convention will be held from Aug. 19 to 22.

About half of Virginia GOP primary voters had at least a four-year college degree, and about 6 in 10 of them supported Nikki Haley over Donald Trump, compared to just a quarter of those without degrees, according to early exit polls, The Washington Post reported.

The Virginia Republican primary ballot includes Trump, Chris Christie, Ryan Binkley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. All of these candidates have dropped out, except Trump and Haley. Trump is leading in the Republican Party with 247 delegates to former Haley's 43 delegates to date.

A Republican candidate needs 1,215 delegates to win the nomination for president. Virginia has 48 delegates up for grabs of the 874 delegates being awarded in Super Tuesday's Republican primaries. The Republican National Convention will be held from July 15 to 18.

Trump's team expects him to win the Republican nomination by March 19 as the former president could win all Super Tuesday primaries, the Washington Post reported. Haley has confirmed she will stay in the race through at least Tuesday. She won the District of Columbia GOP primary on Sunday, 62.8 percent to 33.3 percent from Trump.

Virginia has become less of a swing state and more of a left-leaning state in recent years, as blue population centers like Northern Virginia have seen growth. Virginia overall went 54.1 percent for Biden and 44 percent for Trump in 2020. The state favored Democrat Hillary Clinton with 49.7 percent over Trump's 44.4 percent in 2016. Former President Barack Obama gained more votes over Republican opponents in 2008 and 2012. The last time a Republican won Virginia was 2004, when former Republican President George W. Bush faced Democrat John Kerry.

The latest poll released by Roanoke College's Institute for Policy and Opinion Research on March 1 says Biden would win Virginia's vote in the general election with 47 percent over Trump's 43 percent.

However, in the Republican primary, the poll found Nikki Haley has a 10-point lead among independents, which means she could win several of Virginia's 48 delegates.

"Ahead of Super Tuesday, it’s not too surprising that former president Trump is likely to win the commonwealth’s Republican primary," said David Taylor, director of Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College. "Among Virginians that self-reported a likelihood of voting on Tuesday, Trump holds an eight-point lead over former ambassador Nikki Haley, but based on what we’ve seen in the past, I would expect actual voter turnout to be lower than what our poll found."

Super Tuesday comes days after the Supreme Court decided Monday to restore Trump to the ballot in several states that eliminated the former president from the ballot. While the states' measures sought to disqualify Trump based due to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack, the Supreme Court decided Congress, not the states, could have that power, the Associated Press reported. Another effort in Virginia to remove Trump from the ballot was denied by a federal judge in January.

At a rally Saturday night in Richmond, Trump asked supporters to vote on Super Tuesday to send a clear message. “We win Virginia,” if voters come out, Trump said, WTOP reported. “We win it 100%. It’s over — the election would be over.”

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin did not attend the rally, as his office said he had a previously scheduled family commitment. Youngkin said he wouldn't endorse a primary presidential candidate but would support whoever the nominee would be, USA Today reported in November. Trump endorsed the businessman for governor in 2021, and Youngkin was seen as a potential presidential nominee, but did not run. During the 2023 Virginia state elections, Youngkin's party saw a setback as Democrats took the majority in the House of Delegates and maintained Virginia Senate control.

Live Virginia primary 2024 vote counts: