Final (unofficial) results of March 12, 2024 election night tally and “What’s Next?”

Both presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump have apparently clinched their party’s nomination. Neither will officially become the nominee until the national conventions vote this summer. The Republican National Convention will be July 15-18 in Milwaukee. Democrats will convene in Chicago August 19-22. Twenty delegates will arrive at the Democratic convention as “uncommitted” following protest votes in Michigan, Minnesota and Hawaii against Biden’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas.

The Biden-Trump rematch is expected to be the most expensive and nastiest in modern political history, as two incumbent presidents face off for a second time this fall.

Based on when the candidates’ last major challenger dropped out of the race, the 2024 matchup between Biden and Trump — which a lot of Americans don’t want any part of — will be tied for the longest general election campaign in the past half-century. George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry also began 244 days before Election Day. Bush and Democrat Al Gore started a slightly fewer 243 days before the election.

The big difference this year is that so many voters do not like their choices. The latest polls show that nearly one-third of adults (30%) said that neither Trump nor Biden would do a “better” job leading America. Past polling that has shown that both Biden and Trump have significantly higher unfavorable ratings than favorable ratings. This has given rise to calls for changes in the nomination procedures, which may play out in future years. Many voters say they may choose to stay home this year.

In Mississippi’s statewide results, Roger Wicker (about 62%) defeated his major challenger Ghannon Burton (about 25%) in the US Senate Republican Primary. Wicker will run against Ty Pinkins, who was uncontested in the Democratic primary