What to Know in Washington: What to Watch on Super Tuesday

Today’s Super Tuesday primaries will put Donald Trump on the cusp of the Republican nomination and launch the longest general election battle in recent US history.

Voters in 15 states are expected to hand Trump a clear victory over his last remaining GOP rival Nikki Haley, effectively blocking her White House bid. The outcome will cement the November rematch with President Joe Biden, a race between two unpopular candidates that polls show the public doesn’t want.

More than 800 Republican delegates are up for grabs today, almost all of which will be awarded to the state winner. That’s good news for Trump: Substantial victories would put him at the precipice of notching the 1,215 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination.

Haley made good on her promise to stay in the race through Super Tuesday. Barring an upset, she’ll face increasing pressure to exit the race, having lost nearly every contest so far by significant margins.

Democrats will be closely watching votes designed to express disapproval with Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war after an “uncommitted” vote effort in Michigan garnered more than 100,000 votes. Still, Biden faces no serious challenges. Rep. Dean Phillips’s (D-Minn.) long-shot bid has gained little traction.

Democratic operatives will be closely watching turnout in North Carolina. Biden’s allies hope a decision to move South Carolina earlier on the primary calendar — a recognition of Black voters’ sizable influence — will energize the key constituency in other Southern states. Stephanie Lai and Akayla Gardner have more on what to watch.

Five states with a total of 115 House districts are holding cycle-opening primary elections today, with uncertainty over incumbents’ survival, the types of partisans who’ll be victorious in lopsided one-party districts, and a high-profile California Senate contest. Greg Giroux has a few reminders of what’s at stake in each of the states as the parties vie to keep or flip control of the narrowly divided Congress.

BIDEN’S AGENDA

• Biden will head to the White House from Camp David around noon, where he’ll convene a meeting around 2:30 p.m. of his Competition Council to announce new actions to lower costs.
• Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will hold a briefing around 1:30 p.m.

CONGRESS’ SCHEDULE

• The House returns at 2 p.m. to debate homeland security, health, and tech measures.
• Senators convene at 3 p.m. to work on nominations.
• For the full detailed agenda read BGOV’s Congress Tracker.

Also Happening on the Hill

Photographer: Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg

House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas)

HOUSE REPUBLICANS will mark up a fiscal 2025 budget resolution on Thursday, a rare step in which the panel takes action on a fiscal framework before the president sends a budget proposal.

• The timing is unusual. Biden plans to send Congress his fiscal 2025 budget proposal on March 11, which is usually the first step of the budget and appropriations process.
• The move to mark up a budget resolution before the president’s proposal—or even before Congress has finished work on fiscal 2024 bills—is an aggressive maneuver by the budget panel. Read more.

JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER Fumio Kishida will address a joint session of Congress on April 11, according to a release from congressional leaders touting the US-Japan security relationship. Read more.

APPROPRIATORS in Congress have allocated up to $10 million to help the National Institute of Standards and Technology set safety standards for artificial intelligence technology. Read more.

FIVE DEMOCRATS urged Biden to reject proposed EPA rules targeting the steel industry, according to a letter signed by Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio), among others. Read more.

Defense & Foreign Affairs

Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

Displaced Palestinians following an Israeli raid in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on March 2.

THE US is trying to increase deliveries of humanitarian aid to Gaza “through as many channels as possible,” including more airdrops, because “the situation is simply intolerable,” the State Department said.

• “People are desperate for food, for water, for medicine,” department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters. “Parents are facing impossible choices about how to feed their children.”
• The comments, days after US and Jordanian forces airdropped about 38,000 meals on Saturday, reflects increasingly open criticism of Israel by the Biden administration. Read more.

THE WHITE HOUSE asked the Supreme Court to block a Texas law that would let the state deport people who enter the country illegally, adding another politically charged case to the court’s election year calendar.

• The filing comes two days after a federal appeals court decision that would let the measure take effect. The Biden administration says the law usurps federal authority. Read more.
• Invasion Clause: Texas officials’ belief they have the power to employ their own solutions at the border hinges on a previously failed argument that migrants are an “invasion.” Read more.

People, Power, and Politics

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Balloon drop at 2016 Democratic presidential convention in Philadelphia.

LOBBYISTS are gearing up for networking events, concerts, parties, and policy discussions at this summer’s presidential nominating conventions, giving them a chance to mingle with political bigwigs.

• The concentration of members of Congress is a big draw for lobbyists and their corporate and industry group clients. Those events paused almost entirely in 2020 during the height of the Covid pandemic.
• Republicans will descend on Milwaukee in July and Democrats on Chicago in August. And many lobbyists have already scoped out venues to connect with political VIPs. Read more.

TRUMP’S pick for North Carolina governor, Mark Robinson, stepped into the public eye with a 2018 gun-rights speech that went viral.

• Rival Republican Bill Graham argues the frontrunner would be “a drag on the ticket” this fall and has “a history of making anti Semitic statements.” Read more.

THE SUPREME COURT was seemingly unanimous in ruling Trump can appear on presidential ballots this year. But a biting opinion by the three liberal justices left little doubt they were piqued at the reach of the court’s ruling.

• Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson blasted their more conservative colleagues, saying the court unnecessarily blunted the constitutional provision that bars insurrectionists from holding public office. Read more.

THE OIL LOBBY is preparing to launch a second round of ads across battleground states against the Biden administration’s strict tailpipe emissions standards on cars and trucks. Read more.

MARK CUBAN called on Biden to go further to rein in prescription drug costs as the billionaire entrepreneur backed the incumbent ahead of a likely rematch against Trump. Read more.

What Else We’re Watching

Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg

CDC Director Mandy Cohen during an interview in Washington, DC yesterday.

AMERICANS should expect another update of the Covid vaccine this fall at about the same time as flu shots are available, CDC Director Mandy Cohen said yesterday in an interview at Bloomberg’s offices in Washington. Read more.

THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION is announcing a final rule curtailing credit card late fees, one of a series of steps to try and drive down everyday costs for households that are weighing on his approval rating as he seeks reelection. Read more.

ALABAMA fertility patients looking to transport embryos out of state risk becoming embroiled in interstate legal disputes after Alabama’s high court ruling last month. Read more.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brandon Lee in Washington at blee@bgov.com; Jeannie Baumann in Washington at jbaumann@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kayla Sharpe at ksharpe@bloombergindustry.com