The latest on the Michigan primaries and 2024 campaign

A few hours after President Joe Biden’s campaign released a statement late Tuesday in the president’s name about his Michigan victory — which did not mention the uncommitted protest vote in the state — a senior campaign adviser sent an unprompted message overnight that addressed the matter directly.

The campaign’s initial statement was met with considerable criticism by supporters of the protest movement.

“That is what he is working towards,” the adviser added, pledging that “we will earn their votes between now and November.”

President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on February 23.

If the Democratic voters of Michigan – and a handful of other swing states – are feeling uncommitted in November, Joe Biden could lose reelection.

Tuesday’s primary – in which tens of thousands of Democratic primary votes cast protest ballots over the president’s support for Israel – made clear that he faces a battle for his own coalition and political base that he must win if he is to defeat likely Republican nominee Donald Trump.

The stakes could not be higher since there’s a good chance that the candidate who captures Michigan in the fall will return to the White House for a second term.

But while Biden can seek to mitigate his issues with the state’s thousands of suburban Arab American voters, his chances of easing his vulnerabilities may depend on something that may be out of his power – the return of peace to the Middle East and the end of Israel’s operation in response to the Hamas terror attacks last October.

Read Collinson’s full analysis about how Tuesday’s primary made it clear that Biden faces a battle for his own coalition.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on February 27, in Washington, DC. 

Vice President Kamala Harris applauded the Michigan Democratic presidential primary results on Tuesday.

“This election is a fight for our most fundamental freedoms. These primary results make clear the people of Michigan are ready for this fight,” Harris said.

“Michigan has been a national model in proving that when freedom is on the ballot, freedom wins,” she said.

Her statement did not mention the “uncommitted” movement against the Biden-Harris campaign — and neither did the statement issued by President Joe Biden after the win.

President Joe Biden meets with UAW members during a campaign stop at a phone bank in the UAW Region 1 Union Hall, in Warren, Michigan on February 1.

President Joe Biden celebrated his win in Tuesday’s Michigan Democratic presidential primary in a statement while issuing a stark warning that Republican frontrunner Donald Trump “is threatening to drag us even further into the past as he pursues revenge and retribution.”

 Still, Biden noted, “For all of this progress, there is so much left to do.”

“Donald Trump is threatening to drag us even further into the past as he pursues revenge and retribution. He proudly brags that he is the reason Roe v. Wade was overturned in this country,” Biden wrote. “Because of Donald Trump, women’s lives are at risk, doctors face the prospect of criminal penalties for doing their jobs, and families desperately trying to have children are having access to fertility treatments ripped away. Now, Donald Trump wants to ban abortion nationwide – including here in Michigan.”

Conspicuously absent in Tuesday’s statement is any explicit mention of the organized movement, backed by a coalition of Arab American and Muslim American voters in the state, to vote “Uncommitted,” in protest of the Biden administration’s support for Israel in Gaza.

“I want to thank every Michigander who made their voice heard today. Exercising the right to vote and participating in our democracy is what makes America great,” Biden said.

Pramila Jayapal speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on January 18.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the leader of House progressives, said the number of “uncommitted” votes in Michigan is a major warning sign for President Joe Biden in November.

Jayapal says there is “still a little bit of time to change this dynamic.” But she added: “It has to be a dramatic policy and rhetorical shift from the president on this issue and a new strategy to rebuild a real partnership with progressives in multiple communities who are absolutely key to winning the election.”

Organizers of the movement to vote “uncommitted” had hoped at least 10,000 people would cast their vote for the cause, a nod to the 10,700-vote margin that delivered the state to Donald Trump in 2016. They had far surpassed that goal just before 11 p.m. Tuesday night.

One of the leading voices in the campaign to vote “uncommitted,” former Democratic US Rep. Andy Levin, said the early numbers show a “historic” result. He said he felt the effort was a success in conveying people’s anger to the president.

Levin’s message to voters who are mad about the war in Gaza was: “Don’t stay home, don’t stay home. Go out and shake your fist. Go to the ballot box and tell the president you’re mad otherwise, he won’t know.”

CNN’s Arit John and Dianne Gallagher contributed to this post.

Democratic primary voters who opted to be “uncommitted” to pressure President Joe Biden to more forcefully address the crisis in Gaza had hoped to get 10,000 or more votes to send that message.

By 10:45 p.m. ET Tuesday, the count was at nearly 40,000 “uncommitted” votes, and results are still coming in.

When former President Barack Obama ran for reelection in 2012, more than 20,000 Michigan primary voters supported “uncommitted.” Nonetheless, Obama easily won the Democratic primary with more than 89% of the vote and went on to win the general election in Michigan.

It’s hard to remember now, but Obama vs. uncommitted was a meme during the 2012 primary, when Republicans were confident he could be defeated.

In Kentucky in 2012, only 58% of Democratic primary voters supported Obama. “Uncommitted” got more than 40% of the primary vote. In more than half of Kentucky’s counties, “uncommitted” got more votes than Obama did.

In West Virginia in 2012, more than 40% of primary voters chose a federal inmate over the incumbent president. There were similar stories in Oklahoma, Alabama, and Louisiana.

Was it embarrassing? Yes. Did it keep Obama from ultimately winning reelection? It did not.

Granted, Obama was probably never going to be competitive in Kentucky or West Virginia, or any of the red states where he suffered these primary embarrassments.

Today, Biden very much needs to win as many votes as he possibly can in Michigan if he’s to win the election in November, assuming it’s against former President Donald Trump.

This means Biden will need to find a way to energize and convince the younger voters, progressive voters, and Muslim voters who might want to send him a message.

President Joe Biden speaks at the North American International Auto Show in September 2022 in Detroit, Michigan.

President Joe Biden is the only Democratic candidate to earn any delegates so far after he cruised to victory in Michigan on Tuesday. The party will use the results of the state’s primary to allocate their delegates to the national convention.

Here is the CNN Democratic delegate estimate from Michigan as of 10:35 p.m. ET. 

Total pledged delegates won to date:

At least 1,968 pledged delegates are required to win the Democratic nomination. 

This post has been updated with the latest numbers.

Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, on February 17.

Former President Donald Trump is already looking ahead to a potential general election matchup in November with President Joe Biden as he continues marching toward the GOP nomination. 

After winning Michigan’s Republican primary on Tuesday, Trump called into the state’s GOP watch party to celebrate.

“I just want to thank everybody, you’ve been so incredible. The numbers are far greater than we even anticipated,” Trump said on the call, according to a transcript provided by the Trump campaign. 

The Michigan Republican primary was the first of two contests this week that will award the state’s 2024 presidential delegates for the party. Trump is favored to rack up more delegates Saturday when the Michigan GOP gathers for a convention.

The final polls in Michigan closed just over an hour ago, but the two projected winners are already clear. 

CNN has projected President Joe Biden will win Michigan’s Democratic primary and former President Donald Trump will win the state’s Republican primary.

Biden is on a glide course to the Democratic nomination for a second term, while the former president barrels toward the GOP nod for the third straight election.

Trump’s win further shuts the door on former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s hopes of building momentum ahead of next week’s Super Tuesday contests, when more than one-third of the party’s delegates are at stake.

Here’s a look at the latest vote tally:

Republican presidential primary, with about 22% of the estimated vote in:

Democratic presidential primary, with about 22% of the estimated vote in:

Here’s what else to know:

Nikki Haley.

After losing the Michigan Republican primary, Nikki Haley now faces the most consequential week of her campaign to date.

Haley is not going anywhere for now: she told CNN’s Dana Bash that she would “absolutely” compete through Super Tuesday no matter what happens in Michigan and her aides have reiterated that commitment as they point to her busy schedule in the coming week.

But the stakes couldn’t be higher for Haley, who has repeatedly pointed to Super Tuesday as a critical date, noting that by then voters in 21 states and territories will have cast their ballots.

Tomorrow, Haley will be in Utah, one of the 10 Super Tuesday states that she has or will visit since the South Carolina primary. The pressure on Haley in these states is two-fold. She needs to win over voters and raise new campaign cash.

Haley had her most successful fundraising month in January, but it’s not known how much cash the campaign has on hand. Her campaign also suffered a major blow this week when the Koch political network announced that it would stop spending to boost Haley’s campaign and instead focus on key down-ballot races this fall. 

In this April 2022 photo, Kristina Karamo speaks at a Save America rally at the Michigan Stars Sports Center in Macomb County, Michigan.

A Michigan court has affirmed the removal of Kristina Karamo as the state’s Republican Party chair, in a move that could settle a bitter leadership dispute just days before the party’s convention this weekend.

In a preliminary injunction issued Tuesday, Kent County Circuit Court Judge J. Joseph Rossi said Karamo was properly removed from her position on January 6, when Michigan’s GOP state committee voted to oust her, and that any actions she has taken since then on behalf of the party were “void and have no effect.”

Tuesday’s ruling, a copy of which was published by NBC News, also prevents Karamo from representing herself as chair of the Michigan Republican State Committee or conducting business on behalf of the party.

 Tuesday’s development was a victory for Pete Hoekstra, a former ambassador and representative who has been recognized by the Republican National Committee and former President Donald Trump as the rightful chair of the Michigan Republican Party. 

The Michigan GOP is set to hold its convention on Saturday, when it will allocate the state’s delegates for the Republican National Convention. Karamo had planned a rival convention, potentially complicating the process.

 CNN previously reported that under Karamo’s leadership, the Michigan GOP suffered from internal strife and lackluster finances. A CNN investigation published in late 2023 found the party’s financial problems had become so bad that an internal report revealed the state party had a net income of just $71,000 over a nine-month period that ended with it $600,000 in debt.

Rep. Debbie Dingell.

Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell told CNN’s Jake Tapper that President Joe Biden should sit down with the Arab-American community in Dearborn, in the wake of the “uncommitted” vote results in the state.

She said that while some in the community could vote for former President Donald Trump and many voters may stay home, others may ultimately vote for Biden.

“A lot of people are going to know what the choice is and that choice is going to help them make their decision that they don’t want to see somebody who’s called them poison or vermin or wants to ban them from this country elected either,” Dingell said.

“We’ve watched too many innocent people die there. Gaza is in terrible shape,” Dingell said.

“But I think he does need to sit down with this community when feelings are quite so raw.”

Rep. Dean Phillips, the long-shot Democratic candidate, told CNN that the “uncommitted” vote in Michigan is just one of President Joe Biden’s problems ahead of November. 

He added that the “most ominous numbers” are Biden’s approval rating, deficits in polls in battleground states and the worry from voters that the president is too old.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign slammed both President Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s projected victories in Michigan’s primary elections, saying the early results point to weak general election candidates.

Haley’s campaign said Trump was to blame for a “fractured and divided” Republican party in the key swing state.

Trump’s win further shuts the door on the former South Carolina governor’s hopes of building momentum ahead of next week’s Super Tuesday contests, when more than one-third of the party’s delegates are at stake.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Drake Enterprises, an automotive parts manufacturer, on September 27, 2023, in Clinton Township, Michigan.

Former President Donald Trump has been laying the groundwork for a 2024 general election battle over the working-class voters who helped propel him to the White House in 2016, but favored President Joe Biden in 2020.

Trump’s campaign believes it can drive a wedge between Biden and organized labor. It has made appealing to union members a key part of its strategy to win over working-class voters, especially in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — all three of whom broke for Biden in the 2020 election after backing Trump four years earlier.

While in Michigan, Trump has argued that the influx of migrants would negatively effect union workers. During his September visit to a nonunion shop amid the autoworker strike he lamented that Biden’s policies encouraging a move to electric vehicles was threatening their jobs. 

The United Auto Workers endorsed Biden in January — Trump responded by calling the organization’s president Shawn Fain a “weapon of mass destruction.” 

Trump later met with Teamsters union leaders and members in Washington, DC, which angered one executive board member, who denounced Trump as “a known union buster, scab, and insurrectionist.” Biden is expected to meet with the Teamsters next month. 

Trump’s share of the vote of union households fell from 48% in 2016 to 37% in 2020, according to CNN exit polls. The recent Fox News survey from Michigan found Biden leading Trump 53% to 41% among union households. Regaining that support could prove key to turning Michigan red again in 2024.

Onto Chicago.

That’s the message leaders of Michigan’s anti-war movement are sending to the White House.

“We’re going to Chicago,” said Abraham Aiyash, the Democratic floor leader of the Michigan House of Representatives. “We’re going to be at the Democratic National Convention – pushing and growing this anti-war movement.”

As results were coming in Tuesday night, leaders of the grassroots movement urging voters to choose “uncommitted” instead of President Joe Biden on the Michigan primary ballot said they were just beginning their efforts.

As of about 9:45 p.m. ET, less than an hour after the final polls closed, more than 23,000 people voted “uncommitted” — a sign that President Joe Biden has an important challenge from a key voting bloc in the state, CNN anchor Jake Tapper said.

It’s not clear exactly how many of the Michigan Democratic voters who voted “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s primary did so to make a statement about President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, but the early estimated vote counts show the Biden campaign has work to do before the general election.

Key results will come from Dearborn, Michigan, where much of the Arab American community is, CNN’s John King said. The next question for the Biden campaign is how many of those “uncommitted” voters will still refuse to vote for the president in November.

“In a place where you have people who are mad at their frontrunner, did they come home? Do they stay home or do they find someplace else, that would be the third party,” King said.

In 2020, nearly 146,000 Muslim Americans voted in the general election in Michigan, according to an analysis by Emgage, a group working to grow Muslim Americans’ political power. Biden won the state by 150,000 votes.

An enthusiastic crowd has gathered at Adonis, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, where supporters of the movement urging voters to check “uncommitted” are celebrating what they see as one early measure of progress — getting President Joe Biden’s attention.

While some vocal supporters of this movement say they will never vote for Biden, and intend to leave their ballots blank in November rather than vote for Biden or Donald Trump, others are more pragmatic and hope their protest votes prompt a policy change from the administration.

Even as the votes were still being counted Tuesday night, organizers of Listen to Michigan deemed their campaign a success.

“We demand President Biden to take action now — bring a permanent ceasefire,” said Layla Elabed, the campaign manager for the group. “A vote ‘uncommitted’ was a humanitarian vote.”

She said the effort was just beginning, with plans to keep pressure alive on the president in the eight months until the November election.

President Joe Biden will win Michigan’s Democratic primary, CNN projects.

Former President Donald Trump will win Michigan’s GOP primary, CNN projects, and defeat Nikki Haley as he continues to march toward the Republican presidential nomination.

The former president has swept all 2024 GOP nominating contests to date.

State Republicans have opted to award their delegates partially through the primary and partially through a party convention held Saturday.

Only 16 of Michigan’s 55 Republican delegates will be awarded based on the results of the primary, with the remainder awarded by votes at the party convention.

Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event at Wings Over the Rockies Exploration of Flight museum on February 27, 2024 in Centennial, Colorado. 

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday defended her decision to stay in the GOP primary race as her opponent Donald Trump is again expected to win in Michigan.

Trump beat Haley by large margins in Iowa and New Hampshire, before cleaning up in Nevada, where Haley didn’t appear on the ballot, and in the US Virgin Islands – and most notably last week in Haley’s home state of of South Carolina where voters had elected her twice as their governor.

“America is blessed to be a democracy let people vote. Now in the next week, we’re going to watch 20 states and territories vote,” Haley said, referring to Super Tuesday on March 5. “Let’s let that happen.”

Tonight, Nikki Haley’s campaign will be closely monitoring both the Republican and Democratic primary results in Michigan, campaign officials said.

They believe a big story will be President Biden’s potential challenges among key voting blocs, which will be demonstrated by the number of voters who choose “uncommitted” over Biden, a campaign official said in describing the Haley campaign’s thinking.

While campaign officials do not expect that those uncommitted voters – driven primarily to vote against Biden’s position in the Israel-Hamas war — would be fertile ground for Haley, they do believe a large showing of those voters will highlight Biden’s weakness, and underscore Haley’s argument that she, not Trump, is the best choice on the Republican side to defeat him in November.

And while the campaign watches both sides of the primary tonight, Haley is going to keep her campaign alive regardless of the Michigan outcome, a campaign official pressed.

Haley has repeatedly said before these early contests that she will keep her campaign alive no matter what the results bring – with the campaign set on competing a week from today on Super Tuesday.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said her opponent Donald Trump is to blame for recent Republican losses in Michigan, a key battleground state.

She added that “ever since Donald Trump became president, they’ve lost the governor’s mansion. They’ve lost the state House. They’ve lost the state Senate.”.

She said the trend of unenthusiastic Republican voters is a result of Trump not being able to pull voters into the party. On the campaign trail, Haley has argued that Trump won’t be able to win the general election.

“You’re seeing the same thing, whether you look at all the early states — Donald Trump didn’t get 40% of any of the Republican primary vote. It is a problem,” Haley said. “He’s not bringing people into the party he’s pushing people out of the party.”

Nikki Haley.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley attempted to hedge expectation on Tuesday ahead of tonight’s Michigan GOP primary, acknowledging former President Donald Trump’s “advantage” in the state where she has spent little time campaigning.

Haley noted to CNN’s Dana Bash that Trump campaigned in Michigan for eight years, whereas she campaigned in the state for the past two days following her loss last week to Trump in South Carolina, a state which twice elected Haley its governor.

She sought to tie past Republican losses in Michigan to Trump, and argued Trump has not been “bringing people into the party. He’s pushing people out of the party.” Asked how she hopes to fare tonight, Haley said, “Obviously, we want to do well,” without offering specifics. 

“I mean, that’s the focus of this and all the Super Tuesday states is let’s just keep going and running through the tape as much as we can,” she added, committing to stay in the race through Super Tuesday on March 5.

A volunteer holds a "Vote Uncommitted" sign outside of a polling station at Oakman School in Dearborn, Michigan, on Tuesday, February 27.

As numbers from Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary roll in, there is a third option receiving results — President Joe Biden, Dean Phillips and “uncommitted.”

The campaign urging voters to vote “uncommitted” — instead of Biden or Phillips — is aimed at sending a message to the president’s administration and the Democratic Party about their handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

If thousands of Michigan Democrats vote “uncommitted” on Tuesday, it would be the clearest sign yet that Biden’s handling of the conflict in Gaza could cost him critical votes in November. Arab and Muslim Americans make up a substantial voting bloc in Michigan, a key battleground state. 

In 2012, the last time there was an incumbent Democrat on the ballot, “uncommitted” received about 10% of the vote. President Barack Obama was the only candidate on the ballot.

But, organizers of the campaign said they drew inspiration from the state’s 2008 Democratic primary when “uncommitted” came in second place to Hillary Clinton with more than 40% of the vote. Clinton’s rivals at the time — Barack Obama and John Edwards — had removed their names from the Michigan ballot after the Democratic National Committee punished the state for moving up its primary.

The Biden campaign is fully aware of how bright a spotlight is on the “uncommitted” vote effort in Michigan heading into tonight’s primary.

Here’s how campaign officials will spin the uncommitted votes that are cast tonight, no matter what the number: An uncommitted vote is not necessarily an anti-Biden vote. In other words, some voters who vote uncommitted tonight still want President Biden to win – and Donald Trump to lose — in the general election. Campaign officials are pointing to some organizers behind the uncommitted efforts who have said precisely this.

For all of the Biden campaign’s emphasis on the efforts they are making to listen to the frustrations and anger voiced by Arab-Americans, progressives, younger voters and others on the Israel-Hamas war, the campaign is also stressing that Michigan is a large and diverse state with many other constituencies that they are working to win over. Union voters are key among them — Biden traveled to Michigan last month to meet with UAW members — as are Black voters and women.

Sen. Gary Peters heads to the floor of the Senate for a vote on Capitol Hill on February 11, in Washington, DC.

Sen. Gary Peters, the chair of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm who hails from Michigan, downplayed the progressive-led effort to vote “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s primary as a form of protest over President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.  

“I’m not sure what we’ll see tonight, we’ll be watching that number. But it’s certainly not unusual for people to vote uncommitted,” Peters told CNN, ticking off the number of uncommitted votes in previous cycles, including when Barack Obama was president and ran unopposed. 

Asked if he harbors any concerns about cracks in Biden’s coalition, Peters said: “No, no, I don’t see that. But we’ll continue to hold that together and continue to be strong. You know, if you look at former President Trump — he has an opponent taking 40% in primaries away from him. To me that’s more significant.”

However, others in the party have expressed concern about the organized “uncommitted” effort — led in part by Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — even as they say they respect the views of voters and acknowledge it’s imperative for Biden to hear out their concerns in a key battleground state.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the other Michigan senator, said on CNN earlier today she thinks the campaign to urge voters to vote uncommitted is “certainly not helpful.”

And one House Democrat told CNN there is “massive” frustration inside the party over the effort, worried it could backfire if it winds up helping get Trump elected. “The president is weak enough without hobbling him more with a concerted campaign against him,” the lawmaker told CNN.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests during a campaign stop at Drake Enterprises, an automotive parts manufacturer, on September 27, 2023 in Clinton Township, Michigan. 

Former President Donald Trump is expected to win the Michigan Republican primary over Nikki Haley handily tonight, but his team will be looking for clues to help inform a general election rematch with President Joe Biden.  

Trump won the state in 2016 but lost it to Biden in 2020. 

In a recent Fox Poll of Michigan registered voters, Trump received 47% support to Biden’s 45% in a hypothetical 2024 presidential matchup of Michigan registered voters — a result that was well within the margin of error.

Many of Trump’s allies believe a victory in Michigan will be the key to the pathway back to the White House, and his campaign is discussing how to build out their operations on the ground in the critical swing state. 

Trump’s team will be closely watching voter breakdown tonight — specifically how Trump does with moderates, which so far have leaned away from the former president. In recent contests, Trump has also underperformed with suburban voters, a group that will be critically important if he is going to win back Michigan in the fall. 

Some of Trump’s advisers hope his dominant wins in early contests will help move some voters from these core voting blocs in his direction.

A volunteeer holds a "Vote Uncommitted" sign outside of a polling station at Maples Elementary School in Dearborn, Michigan, on Tuesday, February 27.

One of the central questions of the 2024 campaign is whether President Joe Biden can make voters see the November election as a stark choice against Donald Trump — or whether the race merely becomes a referendum on policies of the Biden administration.

A critical test of that balance comes tonight — at least for Biden — when his foreign policy faces the scrutiny at the ballot box from Michigan voters. But even as the Biden campaign and the White House keep a close eye on the number of people who vote “uncommitted,” advisers acknowledge an even bigger challenge is motivating those who didn’t vote at all today.

The Democratic contest was not competitive, so it’s difficult to read too much into the turnout, but one prominent Detroit pastor said today he worries about the overall disinterest in the race among younger voters and many Black voters: “Apathetic voters don’t go out and vote uncommitted – they just stay home.”

One Michigan Democratic voter is pushing back against a campaign to vote “uncommitted” over President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, arguing that Donald Trump would be worse.

John Elwing pointed to the 2017 temporary travel ban Trump instituted on seven majority-Muslim countries. 

Elwing also said he’s voting for Biden because “he actually cares about people. He isn’t doing it for his own pocket and everything isn’t about him.” 

Another voter however, Evan Bagwell, told CNN he voted for Biden in 2020 and doesn’t see himself supporting him this time around over his handling of Israel and Gaza. 

A voter checks-in to cast their ballot in the Michigan primary election at McDonald Elementary School on February 27 in Dearborn, Michigan.

It’s 8 p.m. ET and most polls in Michigan’s presidential primary elections are closing. There are some counties that will be open for another hour, until 9 p.m. ET, because of split time zones.

Former President Donald Trump is coming off another win over the weekend in South Carolina — the home state of his rival for the nomination, former Gov. Nikki Haley.

President Joe Biden, the incumbent, is on the ballot in the Democratic primary. The party’s contest was moved up this year due to changes in the primary calendar.

The political landscape: Democrats are strongest along the heavily populated stretch of communities in eastern Michigan. They also do well in Ann Arbor and Lansing, where the University of Michigan and Michigan State University are, respectively. In western Michigan, the historically conservative area around Grand Rapids has become more Democratic in recent years. The Detroit-area counties of Macomb (home of the original blue-collar “Reagan Democrats”), Oakland and western Wayne remain key battlegrounds. 

Michigan’s population is rapidly growing older. It was the 29th oldest state in 2001, but the 14th oldest by 2021, according to the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics. The share of residents aged 55 and older is expected to increase by 14% between 2021 and 2050.

That demographic trend is spurring growth in the state’s health care industry — both for workers and facilities, said Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association.

Health care is already the state’s largest employer, with more than 500,000 jobs at the end of 2023. But there are at least 27,000 job openings in hospitals for workers at all levels. One rural hospital recently had to temporarily close its cafeteria because of a lack of staff, Peters said. Many nurses and other clinicians are also approaching retirement age, which increases the pressure to hire.

The need will only grow as more Michigan residents hit their senior years.

“Those folks who are headed off to their retirement days, they are the ones who demand more health care services,” Peters said, noting that outpatient clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, rehab and skilled nursing facilities and specialty doctors’ offices and other providers are all expanding.

Donald Trump’s campaign issued a memo arguing their calculations show the former president will earn the number of delegates needed to become the Republican nominee by March 19 at the latest.

That estimate is way ahead of schedule compared to other years.

Winning the GOP nomination requires at least 1,215 out of 2,429 delegates awarded as part of the primary process. In years without an incumbent, like Republicans are experiencing in 2024, the winner frequently does not hit the magic number until May or even June.

In 2016, in his first of three White House runs, Trump had enough delegates on May 26.

Here’s a look at the cumulative GOP delegates awarded in each primary contest:

Learn more about delegates and how Republicans chose their nominee.

A Democratic voter uncommitted to President Joe Biden rallies outside of a polling location as a car drives past at Oakman Elementary School on February 27 in Dearborn, Michigan.

The highest-ranking Muslim and Arab American lawmaker in Michigan said votes for “uncommitted” instead of Joe Biden on the Democratic primary ballot on Tuesday will be a reflection of the frustration of a substantial voting bloc in the state.

The Listen to Michigan campaign urges voters to vote for “uncommitted” to send a message about the president’s handling of the war in Gaza.

While some Muslim Americans say they won’t vote for Biden in the general election unless there is a major policy change, Michigan Democratic state Rep. Abraham Aiyash emphasized “this is not a vote against the president.” Instead, he said, it is a “vote for reaffirming” principles of human rights.

He said they want to see “moral clarity” in foreign policy. Aiyash said they are calling for a permanent ceasefire, more humanitarian aid, a reconstruction of Gaza and conditions and restrictions to be set on US aid to Israel.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks as she meets with voting rights leaders on Tuesday in Washington, DC.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced new steps aimed at protecting voting rights and amping up voter registration ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

“We have often discussed that voting is a fundamental freedom that unlocks all the other freedoms,” Harris said at a roundtable of voting rights leaders at the White House Tuesday

The vice president laid out what she called “a four-part strategy to protect the freedom to vote,” focused on expanding voter information campaigns, promoting voter participation for students, protecting election workers, and fighting voter suppression laws across the country.

Among the steps in the strategy are:

The announcement comes as advocates have sounded the alarm over voting rights in the country following a raft of voting restrictions enacted in key states after the 2020 election sparked unfounded claims of a stolen election from Trump and his allies. Last year alone, at least seven states enacted 10 restrictive voting laws, according to the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s law school.

Katie Wood.

As Michigan voters head to the polls on Tuesday in the state’s presidential primary, GOP candidate Nikki Haley is already making her pitch to Colorado voters ahead of Super Tuesday next week.

Katie Wood, a registered Republican, said watching Haley continue her run for president gives her “hope for the future.” 

Rick Watkins, a Republican from Douglas County, Colorado, said, he also plans to vote for her and that he hopes “there’s an upset, but I don’t know that there will be.”

Stephanie Hewitt, from Lakewood, Colorado, is an Independent but said she typically votes for Democrats. She said she would be voting for Haley in the primary because she is “running as a disrupter” and she likes her “courage and determination to not play business as usual in politics.”

Nancy Pierzchala, who lives in Denver and came to the event with her young son Cameron, is a registered Democrat but wanted to stay informed and learn more about Haley’s candidacy. She said she loves that Haley is a “consensus builder and very pragmatic.” If it came to Biden v. Haley in the general election, Pierzchala said Haley would “a hundred percent” have the advantage. 

Auto jobs aren’t as dominant in Michigan as they once were, and the state – which holds its Republican and Democratic primaries on Tuesday – has lost many of the automotive jobs it once had to other parts of the country. Two of the Big Three companies, GM and Chrysler, went bankrupt in 2009 and needed federal bailouts to survive.

That took a bite not only out of employment, but out of auto wages, as the United Auto Workers union agreed to deep concessions, including a lower tier of wages, to help keep all three companies alive. But that helped drag down wages in the state overall.

The state’s median household income was higher than the national average until 2000, according to the Growing Michigan Together Council, a group formed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to develop solutions to Michigan’s challenges. The state’s median income declined relative to the US level over the past five decades.

Today, the median household income in the state was just under $67,000 in 2022, compared to just under $75,000 for the US, according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau.

However, following a six-week strike last fall at GM, Ford and Stellantis, the United Auto Workers union won immediate pay increases of at least 11% for its members. Pay for members is expected to rise more than 30% during the life of the contract, which expires in 2028.

While jobs in the state’s auto and parts plants have stabilized in recent years, jobs in the manufacturing sector overall have edged up by 4.5% since the end of 2020. But that still hasn’t recaptured jobs lost in that sector during the first year of the pandemic. Overall employment in the state in December was up 9.6% from the end of 2020, but still off 0.5% from December of 2019, on the eve of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Michigan also faces serious challenges as automakers plan to shift to electric vehicles, or EVs

A sign directs voter to an early voting site on February 17, in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Before Americans pick a president in November, they get to pick the candidates in a series of primaries and caucuses. It’s a wonky process that has evolved throughout the country’s history and continues to evolve today.

Here are key things to know before the polls close in Michigan’s presidential primary:

What is a primary? It’s an election to select candidates, usually for a particular political party, to appear on the general election ballot.

Who is running in the primaries? For Republicans, former President Donald Trump has long been the front-runner, but former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is still in the race. For Democrats, President Joe Biden in the incumbent.

Who can vote in a presidential primary? It varies by state. For example, some states have open primaries — including Michigan — meaning anyone can take part in the primary, even if they aren’t registered party members. Other states have closed primaries, meaning you have to join the party in order to vote. Primaries are generally conducted in polling places like any other election. That’s different from caucuses, which are more like neighborhood meetings. People show up and lobby for their candidates.

How is the nomination ultimately determined? Voters cast ballots for candidates, but they’re really selecting delegates for the party conventions, which take place over the summer. Delegates can either be apportioned through a winner-take-all system, meaning the top candidate in a state’s primary gets all of that state’s delegates, or they can be apportioned proportionally to the primary election results.

Get up to speed on the presidential primaries.

Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Nikki Haley

The Republican presidential primary season has been one long slog for the past month and half.

Just three states – Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – have had caucuses or primaries in which both Donald Trump and Nikki Haley were on the ballot. The small number of nominating contests allowed the candidates to camp out and provide individual attention to each state.

Tuesday’s Michigan primary marks a major pivot away from that model. Neither candidate has been able to pay too much attention to the Wolverine State, which makes it a good testing ground for how the GOP primary process will unfold as the campaign becomes nationalized over the next three weeks.

This is likely very good news for the former president. Trump is the massive favorite in Michigan. Recent polling has been limited, but he led Haley 72% to 27% among likely GOP primary voters in a CNN/SSRS poll conducted at the end of last year. That lead was larger than his advantage in any of the final surveys leading up to the aforementioned three early nominating contests this primary season.

Now, Haley was able to close the gap with Trump in New Hampshire and South Carolina after polls had previously shown her well behind. Even three weeks out from the Palmetto State primary, polls had Haley down by 35 points, but she lost by 20 points after weeks of campaigning.

Read more about why Michigan’s primary is key.

In this 2021 photo, a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L goes through assembly at the Stellantis Detroit Assembly Complex-Mack in Detroit.

Few states are as closely associated with a single industry as Michigan and autos, which is holding its Republican and Democratic primaries today. But auto jobs aren’t as dominant in the state as they once were. Michigan has lost many of the automotive jobs it once had to other parts of the country.

Jobs in the state’s auto plants, parts factories and corporate offices shrank by 35% since 1990, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And those jobs make up only 3.7% of the jobs in the state, roughly half what it was in 1990. Today, more than four times as many workers in Michigan have jobs at one of the state’s hospitals than at an auto assembly plant.

Some of the auto jobs disappeared because of automation. Some evaporated as auto plants moved to Mexico since the passage of NAFTA and as some auto manufacturing shifted to nonunion plants in Southern states.

With cars far more technologically complex today, many tech jobs in the state focus on serving the auto industry, along with traditional support industries like trucking and other suppliers that don’t show up as auto parts makers.

Take a look:

 A resident votes at an early voting site on February 17, in Marshall, Michigan.

Voters are headed to the polls Tuesday in Michigan’s presidential primary election.

Former President Donald Trump is looking to further cement his GOP front-runner status as he faces rival Nikki Haley again after winning in her home state Saturday.

President Joe Biden is aiming to have a strong showing in a state that was key to his 2020 win. There’s a campaign by a group of Arab American Democrats, however, to push for an “uncommitted” vote in the Democratic primary to send a message to Biden about his response to the conflict in Gaza.

Here’s what we know about voting and how delegates will be allocated in the race for the nomination:

Rep. Alabas Farhat.

Michigan state Rep. Alabas Farhat is voting “uncommitted” in today’s primary to send a message to President Joe Biden to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and urge him to live up to his campaign promises from 2020.

Farhat said that there are thousands of Michiganders who are watching the atrocities overseas with horror and anguish. They’re watching “their loved ones dying, children starving to death and they’re hearing the screams of parents who are holding their children, their lifeless children,” he said. He said the coalition wants to see an effort toward restoring humanitarian aid and lasting peace.

Farhat added that the push to vote uncommitted during the primary will probably not impact Biden winning, but those involved are building a diverse coalition to show the White House that there is a unified message calling for a ceasefire.

“The message though is that a plurality of voters, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Gen Z voters are coming together — African American voters are coming together in a coalition to tell the president that, ‘Hey, we want — we want to see you call for the ceasefire. We want to see our White House reflect the values that we know it should reflect,’” Farhat said.

Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on February 22.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley offered harsh criticism of former President Donald Trump, saying if he clinches the GOP nomination it “is like suicide for our country.” 

When making the case that he can’t win a general election, Haley has often pointed to Trump’s mounting legal troubles, which include 91 criminal charges for matters surrounding his handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Following Trump’s $355 million civil fraud verdict earlier this month, Haley claimed the RNC could possibly become the “piggy bank” funding the former president’s legal fees.

Despite losing in four states to Trump, Haley has doubled down on questioning his electability. During an interview with CNN’s Kate Bolduan on Tuesday morning, the former South Carolina governor highlighted that while the former president won in early states, “he did not get 40% of the Republican primary vote.” 

“You can’t win a general election without the 40%,” she said, referring to her share of the vote in the South Carolina GOP primary.

Who lives in Michigan, the state casting votes in tonight’s primary election? Here’s the breakdown on education rates, the rural population and income levels across the Great Lakes State.

As former President Donald Trump marches toward the GOP presidential nomination, he is juggling a busy election calendar and multiple legal events related to the four criminal indictments he faces.

Here’s a look at how his colliding calendar is shaping up so far:

Sen. Richard Blumenthal speaks to reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal dismissed concerns over the potential weakness of President Joe Biden’s electoral coalition — which has faced challenges amid concerns from Arab Americans and progressives over the administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. 

His comments come ahead of today’s Democratic primary in Michigan where there has been an organized effort, including by Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian American, to send a message to the Biden campaign by urging voters to vote “uncommitted.”

Blumenthal’s emphasis on a potential pause in the fighting in Gaza, which Biden said could possibly be reached as early as the end of this upcoming weekend, illustrates the ongoing political ramifications of the war.   

Blumenthal also added that he’s “very concerned” about a government shutdown, pointing to its possible catastrophic consequences. “It takes people focus on the real end game here which is not unnecessary and frivolous riders to prove a point or make a political stunt,” he said. 

President Joe Biden’s political operation has expanded its financial advantage over former President Donald Trump’s campaign as the two men hurtle toward an expected general election confrontation, recent filings show.

Biden’s campaign entered February with nearly $56 million cash reserves in his main campaign committee compared to a little more than $30 million in the coffers of Trump’s equivalent account. That’s an increase from the $46 million the president had stockpiled at the end of last year, while Trump’s cash position shrank from the $33 million his campaign had reported at the close of 2023.

Biden’s early money lead could prove consequential in what’s expected to be a close and bruising campaign with both candidates unpopular with the broader electorate.

Haley, who is vowing to remain in the race to Super Tuesday, started February with just shy of $13 million in cash reserves after spending more than she raised in January, new filings show.

Here’s how those figures compare:

A man votes in Detroit on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are expected to win handily in their respective contests, but there will be lessons to learn for both. 

Here’s what to watch for in Michigan:

The first ballot test of Biden’s Israel strategy: Biden’s support for Israel – whose war in Gaza has killed roughly 30,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry – has enraged American progressives, many of them Jewish, and Arab Americans. The Michigan city of Dearborn is home to one of the largest Arab American communities in the US. That anger is fueling a statewide movement among Democratic critics of Israel for voters to mark “uncommitted” on their ballots. Just how committed are Michigan Democrats to Biden? Tuesday will tell.

A fractured and confusing GOP process: The split process of awarding delegates between a Michigan Republican primary on Tuesday and a state party convention on Saturday is the result of Republicans’ reaction to Democrats’ decision to shake up the party’s presidential nominating calendar after the 2020 election — demoting Iowa and New Hampshire, moving South Carolina and Nevada to the forefront and placing Michigan third in its new lineup.

Tests for Biden, Trump: Biden is banking on an endorsement from the United Auto Workers union, support from Black voters, and a stronger Democratic infrastructure — with an electorate energized by an abortion rights battle delivering Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her party victories up and down the ballot in 2022. Trump, meanwhile, is hoping to re-engineer the White working-class coalition that helped him break down the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin in 2016.

Read more about what to look out for ahead of the Michigan presidential primaries.

President Joe Biden on Monday pointedly explored a new line of attack against his once-and-likely-future opponent Donald Trump, mocking Trump’s age as Biden tries to turn the tables on one of his greatest political liabilities.

Firing back against critics who say his own age is a liability in the upcoming election, 81-year-old Biden told Seth Meyers, “You got to take a look at the other guy,” referring to the 77-year-old Trump.

During the interview on NBC’s “Late Night,” Biden said voters should not just consider how old a candidate is, but “how old (their) ideas are.”

Biden’s comments about Trump’s age could mark a notable shift in the president’s messaging strategy, coming just days after Trump won the South Carolina Republican primaries in another step toward grabbing his party’s presidential nomination. The two men have not often attacked each other over their age and Trump has previously said he doesn’t believe Biden is too old to run for reelection. Instead of attacking Biden directly over his age, Trump instead tries to paint Biden as “incompetent,” and “cognitively impaired,” which he argues is not solely about the president’s age.

Stickers for people who cast their ballot are seen in Dearborn, Michigan, on Tuesday.

The economy is the major issue in the minds of many Michigan voters, with 93% saying it’s an important factor in deciding their vote for president, according to a Fox News survey of registered voters earlier this month. It’s a higher priority among Republicans than Democrats.

Overall, voters trust former President Donald Trump to do a better job on the economy than President Joe Biden by 53% to 42%, the survey found.

More than half of Democratic primary voters in Michigan think the national economy is “good” or “excellent,” and two-thirds feel that way about their state economy, according to a Washington Post-Monmouth University poll conducted in December. But 90% of Republican primary voters say the national economy is “poor” or “not so good,” and 85% feel the same way about the Michigan economy.

Primary voters in both are more positive about their own financial situation. Just over half of Republicans and 69% of Democrats say their personal finances are “good” or “excellent,” the poll found.

Some 58% of GOP voters say their finances are “stable” or “improving,” while 42% feel they are “struggling to remain where they are financially.” Among Democratic voters, 76% say their financial situation is “stable” or “improving,” while 23% feel they are “struggling.”

Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event in Bloomington, Minnesota, on Monday.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley argued Monday that former president Trump will fail to win a general election by alienating Independents and Republicans who support her bid, calling on voters to act before the “sinking ship” sails off. 

Asked by CNN which states she can definitively win, Haley said: “We have 21 states and territories that are getting ready to happen. Why don’t we wait and see what happens?” 

Pressed if she could name a single state that she could win, Haley pointed to Americans who are turned off by the idea of another general election between Trump and Biden and the 39.5% of voters who backed her, not Trump, in South Carolina. 

Trump beat Haley in her home state on Saturday pulling 59.8% of the vote as Michigan voters take their turn at the polls Tuesday. Haley, who has 10 fundraisers planned ahead of Super Tuesday, said she’ll stay in the race as long as “we think that there’s an option.”

“If I’m not an alternative in this race, I think that Donald Trump will lose. It’s that simple,” Haley said.

A sample ballot for the Republican party presidential primary is seen in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Tuesday.

Former President Donald Trump is appearing on Michigan’s Republican primary ballot Tuesday after a judge last year dismissed a lawsuit that tried to use the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” to remove him from it.

The ruling marked a major victory for Trump as he fends off lawsuits in key states that argue he fueled the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and is therefore disqualified. Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump’s appeal from the Colorado Supreme Court, which ruled that the former president is no longer eligible to serve. The justices’ questions suggested they may support putting Trump back on the ballot. It is expected to deliver a ruling soon.

The 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, says US officials who take an oath to uphold the Constitution are banned from future office if they “engaged in insurrection.” But the Constitution doesn’t say how to enforce the ban, and it has only been applied twice since 1919, which is why many experts view these challenges as a long shot.

Supporters of the campaign to vote "Uncommitted" hold a rally in Hamtramck, Michigan, on Sunday.

President Joe Biden is the heavy favorite to win tonight’s Democratic primary in Michigan. But that hasn’t stopped those who believe he should be pushing harder for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas from organizing a vote for “uncommitted.”

That is, a vote in the primary for “uncommitted” is a protest vote against Biden’s handling of the conflict in Gaza. It’s not clear how well this effort will do, but a high percentage of support could suggest general election trouble for Biden in the Wolverine State.

Take a look at the 2020 Republican presidential primaries: President Donald Trump romped to wins everywhere with 94% of the vote nationally, but his weakest region (or census subdivision) by far was New England. He was under 90% of the primary vote in all those states and even came in with less than 80% in Connecticut. In the general election, all the New England states swung against Trump by about 2 to 4 times as much as the swing against him nationally compared with 2016.

In the 2012 Democratic presidential primaries, we saw a somewhat similar phenomenon. President Barack Obama won about 90% of the vote nationally. He got below 60% of the primary vote in a line of states from Oklahoma to Arkansas to Kentucky to West Virginia.

All four were among the six states that swung the most toward the Republican candidate on the presidential level from 2004 to 2012.

It’s not exactly clear what a low level of support tonight for Biden would be. Still, he got over 95% of the vote in South Carolina and nearly 90% in Nevada. If he falls significantly short of those levels, it could be ominous.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan on February 17.

Former President Donald Trump is looking to continue his march to the Republican presidential nomination with a win in the Michigan GOP primary on Tuesday.

A victory there would make him 6-0 in nominating contests so far. Only 16 of Michigan’s 55 Republican delegates will be awarded based on the results of the primary, with the remainder awarded by votes at a party convention on Saturday.

Remember: It takes 1,215 of 2,429 delegates to win the Republican nomination (learn more about the process). It takes 1,968 of 3,934 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.

Here’s a look at CNN’s latest GOP delegate estimate ahead of Michigan’s primary:

Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell told CNN Tuesday morning that President Joe Biden should not “fear anything” in the Wolverine State’s primary, despite the effort from activists to get Michiganders to vote “uncommitted” on the state’s Democratic primary ballot.

She noted there are “communities that are hurting” in Michigan, where Arab and Muslim Americans make up a key part of the electorate, but said, “Joe Biden understands that they’re hurting, and he’s going to have to spend time with them and listen to them.”

Asked how much damage those efforts could have on Biden’s reelection campaign, Dingell told CNN’s John Berman she has “a very different attitude than everybody else does.” 

“I think she has raised issues that are very important to her,” she said, referring to fellow Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlalib, a prominent backer of the “uncommitted” effort. “We’re talking about the issues that matter to a community that matters, and I think they’re being addressed, their voices are being heard and that’s why it’s good to have a state like Michigan be an early primary.”

Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Monday.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is looking to stay “competitive” in Tuesday’s Michigan primary, she told CNN, following a string of losses in early-voting states to GOP front-runner and former President Donald Trump.

The former South Carolina governor acknowledged that she wishes she could have “spent more time in Michigan,” but amid the pressure to also campaign in other states, “you go and hit as many places as you can.”

Haley has vowed to stay in the race in order to provide Republican voters with an alternative to Trump. She has continued to strike an upbeat tone about her prospects, even though Trump remains far ahead in public polling in remaining states and Haley’s campaign was dealt a significant blow over the weekend when the influential network associated with billionaire Charles Koch announced it will no longer financially back the former South Carolina governor.

Haley on Tuesday reiterated her vow to continue going into the Super Tuesday primaries on March 5.

“We’re focused on the Super Tuesday states going forward. I’m not going to stop when 70% of Americans say they don’t want Donald Trump or Joe Biden. We’re going to give them an option,” Haley said.

President Joe Biden is set to make a rare trip to the US-Mexico border on Thursday, setting up a split screen with 2024 rival former President Donald Trump, who has made Biden’s handling of illegal immigration a centerpiece of his reelection effort.

Trump is expected to give remarks at Eagle Pass on Thursday, according to a source familiar with his plans.

During his visit, Biden is expected to meet with US Border Patrol agents, law enforcement and local leaders in Brownsville to discuss the need for a border agreement, according to a White House official. Brownsville and Eagle Pass are about 300 miles apart.

Biden’s visit comes as he considers sweeping executive action to restrict migrants’ ability to seek asylum at the US southern border if they crossed illegally. Biden has repeatedly lambasted congressional Republicans for failing to pass a bipartisan compromise spending package that included significant concessions on border policy as he tries to flip the script on the GOP, which has slammed Biden over the border throughout his presidency — including impeaching his Homeland Security secretary over his handling of the border.

The failure of the package came in large part due to opposition from Trump, who hopes to wield the border as a political cudgel against Biden.

Michigan Democrats and Republicans will both have nominating contests this week, but their processes for allocating delegates will be quite different.  

On Tuesday, Michigan will hold a state-run presidential primary. Democrats will use the results of this contest to allocate their delegates to the national convention.

The Republican process is expected to rely on a combination of the primary results and the outcome of a GOP convention set to be held on Saturday. 

The Michigan Republican delegate allocation will happen on Saturday in two steps: 

An attendee holds a Nikki Haley sign at a campaign event in Troy, Michigan, on Sunday.

After spending tens of millions of dollars competing in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign and her allies have little advertising booked in the weeks ahead as the pace of the White House race dramatically accelerates.

Haley’s campaign has spent just $471,000 advertising in Michigan, the state hosting its primary on Tuesday, according to AdImpact data. The lead super PAC supporting her campaign, SFA Fund, filed a report with the FEC indicating it would spend $500,000 on digital ads also targeting Michigan, but the group has not reserved any TV airtime there.

The minimal effort from Haley’s network in Michigan contrasts sharply with the expensive campaigns her team waged in previous nominating contests. Haley and her allies spent about $37 million advertising in Iowa, about $32 million advertising in New Hampshire and more than $16 million advertising in South Carolina.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s campaign has spent just $42,000 in Michigan, on radio ads in the immediate run-up to Tuesday’s vote. 

And Haley, Trump and their allies currently don’t have any ad time booked beyond tomorrow, with the high-stakes slate of Super Tuesday contests looming on March 5.

Haley’s network could be especially hard-pressed to compete across several states holding their nominating contests that day, some with large, expensive media markets like California and Texas, as she seeks to cut into Trump’s commanding lead.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley ripped into former President Donald Trump on Monday for what she says is him running a self-centered campaign, accusing him of “turning the Republican Party into his own playpen,” as his legal fees mount.

“He puts $60 million of his own campaign contributions towards his personal court cases, and now the Republican Party, he is replacing the head of the Republican Party with his daughter-in-law and he is replacing the director of operations with his campaign manager,” Haley said at an event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Monday.

As CNN reported Monday, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel is stepping down from her role on March 8. Trump endorsed North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley to take over her and backed his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as co-chair. Chris LaCivita, Trump’s co-campaign manager, will serve as RNC chief operating officer while continuing in his current role, as CNN previously reported.

“Donald Trump’s not watching out for the Republican Party. He’s not watching out for America. He’s watching out for himself,” Haley said.

A man hands out fliers on Monday outside the Islamic Center of Detroit to ask voters to vote 'uncommitted' in the Michigan primary.

In 2020, Layla Elabed, a Palestinian American activist and longtime Michigan Democrat, backed Joe Biden for president. But like many Arab Americans, she feels betrayed by his response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the rising civilian death toll. Biden would need to curtail US military aid to Israel and call for a permanent ceasefire before she could even consider supporting him in November, she said.

And as for Tuesday’s Democratic primary in Michigan, she’s leading the charge to convince Democrats to vote “uncommitted.” Elabed is the effort’s campaign manager and the sister of Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman in Congress.

The Listen to Michigan campaign was launched less than three weeks ago by Elabed and other Arab American activists in the Wolverine State. It’s a last-minute effort to send a “clear, sharp message” to Biden, his administration and the Democratic Party to address the concerns of the coalition that helped him win in 2020, Elabed said.

Since its launch, the effort has been endorsed by progressive groups such as Our Revolution and more than three dozen current and former state and local leaders, including Tlaib and former US Rep. Andy Levin. Volunteers have contacted more than 100,000 voters in the state, according to organizers.

The president’s reelection campaign has responded to the Listen to Michigan effort by emphasizing Biden’s domestic accomplishments, framing the general election as a binary choice between Biden and former President Donald Trump and stressing that the administration is listening to people’s concerns and open to future conversations.

Why this matters: If thousands of Michigan Democrats vote uncommitted Tuesday, it would be the clearest sign yet that Biden’s handling of the conflict in Gaza could cost him critical votes in November. Arab and Muslim Americans make up a substantial voting bloc in Michigan, a key battleground state.

Read more about the campaign for the “uncommitted” vote.

The influential network associated with billionaire Charles Koch will no longer throw its money behind former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary and will instead focus on key Senate and House races, the group announced in an email to staff obtained by CNN.

Americans for Prosperity Action’s endorsement in November was a significant boost for Haley as she sought to become the leading alternative to former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary. The conservative group, which pledged to back a single contender in the GOP presidential primary for the first time in its history, deployed its vast resources and standing army of activists on behalf of the former United Nations ambassador.

But while the race has come down to Haley and Trump, the former president remains the dominant front-runner after a strong victory in Haley’s home state on Saturday.

Americans for Prosperity President and CEO Emily Seidel emphasized that AFP Action is still standing with Haley, even if it’s no longer spending to boost her campaign, writing in the email that she “has shown us again and again that we made the right decision in supporting her candidacy and she continues to have our strong endorsement.”

Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow said this morning that she is “conflicted” about the “uncommitted” vote effort in her home state’s primary election today, protesting President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

“People now are hurting,” Stabenow told CNN, explaining that voters in Michigan have “every right to” express their feelings about the Middle East conflict.

“There’s a lot of pain. We need to hear that,” she added. “We need to understand that.”

Stabenow hedged however, that the “uncommitted” vote could pose problems for the fall general election — but did not go as far as saying it that could cause Biden to lose Michigan to Donald Trump in a November match-up.

To hold onto Michigan in 2024, the Biden campaign has to “be there. They have to show up. They are showing up,” she said.

Heading into Michigan’s primary election on Tuesday, Donald Trump has so far completed his sweep of early voting states.

On Saturday, the former president defeated Nikki Haley in South Carolina, where Haley was twice elected governor. The victory has all but ended the race — even as Haley insists that she will keep battling at least into next month.

Here are some takeaways from South Carolina’s primary over the weekend: