Biden and Trump set for 2020 rematch after winning party nominations

US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump secured their parties' presidential nominations with impressive wins in another round of key primaries, setting the stage for a gruelling 2020 rematch between them in November.

Biden, 81, won the Democratic presumptive nomination on Tuesday after easily clinching the presidential primaries in Georgia, as the number of delegates in his kitty crossed the halfway mark of 3,933 pledged delegates. A total of 1,968 delegates were required to win the Democratic nomination for the 5 November presidential election.

Four states — Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, Washington — one American territory and Democrats living abroad held their primaries on Tuesday. Biden will formally be declared as the party’s nominee during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

Trump, 77, reached the 1,215 delegates necessary with an allocation of delegates from Washington state. He will be officially nominated at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this July, marking the third consecutive time that he will lead the Republican Party in a presidential election.

The rematch, long anticipated, but hardly clamoured for, is broadly expected to mirror the 2020 campaign, though Trump will run this time under the spectre of 91 felony charges, scheduled to become the first former American president to go on trial in a criminal case on 25 March in New York, on charges that he falsified business records to hide hush money payments to a porn star.

Other charges are related to allegations that he plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat; played a lead role in the 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, and illegally took classified documents from the White House.

This will be the first presidential rematch since 1956, when Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower once again defeated Adlai Stevenson, his Democratic opponent from four years prior.

Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 November elections, an outcome still challenged by the Republican leader, and has faced only nominal opposition to become the Democratic nominee.

Trump has defeated several Republicans in primary elections, including Indian-origin former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Other candidates, including Trump’s former vice-president Mike Pence, dropped out months ago for lack of voter support.

Biden said he is honoured to become his party’s presumptive nominee and warned of another Trump presidency. “I am honoured that the broad coalition of voters representing the rich diversity of the Democratic Party across the country has put their faith in me once again to lead our party — and our country — in a moment when the threat Trump poses is greater than ever,” Biden said in a statement after he secured a majority of the delegates.

In a post on X, Biden celebrated his status as his party’s presumptive nominee, calling it “a time of choosing” in a new campaign video. “Today’s a day, a call to action,” Biden says in a voiceover.

Vice-president Kamala Harris celebrated Biden's nomination on Tuesday and forecast how the president's campaign will look to take the fight to Donald Trump in the general election. “Now, the general election truly begins, and the contrast could not be clearer. Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and our fundamental freedoms,” she said.

With his State of the Union speech last week, Biden passionately presented our alternative vision, she said. “We will reduce costs for families, make housing more affordable, and raise the minimum wage,” she added.

Trump’s campaign posted a video on X of the former president after he clinched the nomination. “This was a great day of victory. Last week was something very special – Super Tuesday – but now we have to get back to work because we have the worst president in the history of the country. His name is Joe Biden, sometimes referred to as crooked Joe Biden, and he must be defeated,” Trump said in the video.

Democratic National Convention (DNC) chair Jaime Harrison said this year’s election will decide the future of democracy. “Donald Trump is running a campaign focused on revenge, retribution, and his own self-interest. President Biden is running a campaign focused on what makes our country so great: the American people. President Biden understands that our freedoms, our democracy, and the very future of our country are at stake – and once again, he will meet this moment and bring Democrats together this November,” he said.

“America spoke, and today Joe Biden has become the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States. We have arrived at this moment because millions of Americans made their voices heard, choosing Joe Biden's vision of freedom and progress for all Americans,” said DNC committee chair Minyon Moore.

Despite persistent concerns from voters that his age limits his ability to perform the duties of the presidency, the party apparatus rallied around Biden.

Trump remains very popular with the Republican voter base, which has propelled him to victory in primary after primary over well-funded rivals. His campaign for a second term in the White House has zeroed in on stricter immigration laws, including a pledge to "seal the border", and implement "record-setting" deportations.

Trump has also vowed to fight crime, boost domestic energy production, tax imports, end the war in Ukraine, and resume an "America first" approach to global affairs.