COLUMBUS, Ohio — Donald Trump is projected to win the Republican presidential primary in Ohio Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press.
Trump, who already clinched the GOP presidential nomination heading into Ohio's primary, was running against Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy who were all listed on the ballot in the Republican contest.
The former president surpassed the 1,215-delegate threshold needed to become the presumptive Republican nominee.
He'll formally accept the nomination at the Republican National Convention in July, by which point he could be in the remarkable position of being both a presidential candidate and convicted felon.
Trump has been indicted in four separate criminal investigations and his first trial, which centers on payments made to a porn actress, is set to begin March 25 in New York City.
Trump's victory in the GOP primary ushers in what will almost certainly be an extraordinarily negative general election campaign that will tug at the nation's already searing political and cultural divides. He'll face President Joe Biden in the fall, pitting two deeply unpopular figures against each other in a rematch of the 2020 campaign that few voters say they want to experience again.
Trump and Biden have for weeks been focused on the general election, aiming their campaigns lately on states that could be competitive in November rather than merely those holding primaries.
Thirty-eight percent of Americans viewed Trump very or somewhat favorably in a February poll conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs, compared to 41% for Biden.
Trump on Saturday rallied in Ohio, which has for several years been reliably Republican after once being a national bellwether in presidential elections. Trump won the state by about 8 percentage points in 2016 and 2020. But there are signs the state could be more competitive in 2024. Last year, Ohio voted overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights in its constitution and voted to legalize marijuana.
📺 10TV+ is available for free: Stay up to date on what's happening in your community with a 24/7 live stream and on demand content from 10TV — available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV.
📧 Subscribe to the Wake Up CBUS newsletter featuring the best stories, personally curated by members of our staff and delivered via email by 6 a.m., Monday through Friday.