CINCINNATI — Former President Donald Trump has won the Ohio presidential primary, inching one step closer to a general election rematch with incumbent President Joe Biden in November.
Trump won the GOP primary, Decision Desk HQ projects. The 77-year-old has won every primary thus far minus Vermont, where former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley narrowly won. Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Cincinnati native Vivek Ramaswamy were also on the Ohio ballot but previously dropped out of the race.
The former president is also expected to easily win his primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Kansas on Tuesday.
Trump visited Dayton just days before the election, rallying in support of U.S. Senate hopeful Bernie Moreno. At the rally, Trump's focus was on Biden and the general election.
"Joe Biden is a great threat to our democracy," Trump said on Saturday. "He's a tremendous threat to our democracy."
Biden himself easily won the Democratic primary in Ohio. His only opponent, Dean Phillips, dropped out of the race earlier this month.
The election sets the stage for a repeat of the 2020 presidential election. Trump won Ohio in 2020 with 53% of the vote. In the Tri-State area, he won every county but Hamilton, where Biden had 57% of the vote.
While Ohio has been consistently red in recent elections, the Associated Press reports that voters' decisions on abortion rights and legalizing marijuana show the state could be more competitive than previously believed.
The 2024 general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
