Biden will win Hawaii Democratic caucuses, CNN projects
By Eric Bradner and Ethan Cohen, CNN
(CNN) — President Joe Biden will win Hawaii’s Democratic presidential contest Wednesday, CNN projects, continuing his march to the party’s 2024 nomination.
Biden bested four other candidates — including Jason Palmer, the little-known entrepreneur who on Tuesday won the American Samoa caucuses; self-help guru Marianne Williamson; and Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who dropped out of the race earlier Wednesday.
Voters also had the option to choose “uncommitted,” a signal that they’re expressing displeasure with Biden without backing any alternative. That option received 29% of the vote – a higher percentage than what other protest votes have received in Democratic contests this cycle. But in raw numbers, it represented 455 votes out of 1,563 cast in the contest.
A high-profile effort in Michigan to get voters to choose “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary, largely over the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, took 13% – or more than 100,000 raw votes. In the Minnesota Democratic primary on Super Tuesday, “uncommitted” got 19% – or more than 46,000 votes.
There were 22 delegates to the Democratic National Convention at stake in Hawaii on Wednesday. According to CNN estimates, Biden will win 15 of them, with seven of the state’s delegates going to the Democratic National Convention uncommitted.
Hawaii’s Democratic contest was a firehouse primary — one run by the state’s Democratic Party, rather than the Hawaiian government. There were two hours of voting available at locations around the state. Hawaii’s 2020 primary, which Biden won, was conducted entirely by mail, but party officials in January announced the switch to the cheaper option of holding a one-day contest without mail-in voting this year.
Hawaii’s Republican caucuses are scheduled to take place on March 12.
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