ST PAUL, Minn. — Super Tuesday can be traced back to the year 1976, when the term first emerged during the race between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. In the 1980's the idea took off with more states joining in, hoping to play a bigger role in the presidential race. Fast forward to 2024, and 16 states including Minnesota are participating in Super Tuesday this year.
This major election event is often a make-or-break day for presidential candidates.
"The decision to join the Super Tuesday was basically aimed at making Minnesota more influential,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said. "Local leaders wanted to make sure that candidates visit Minnesota, the candidates care about Minnesota, because it's a Super Tuesday state."
But political commentator Brian McClung says those presidential visits really didn't happen this year.
"We got one visit out of this, Nikki Haley last Monday, and that has really been just about it for Minnesota,” McClung said.
The biggest reason? McClung says the races haven't been close this time around. Most years, at least one of the parties would have a handful of candidates in a close race heading into Super Tuesday, but this year McClung says both parties have had a clear frontrunner for months.
"Donald Trump won't be able to win enough delegates from the contest on Tuesday to formally win the nomation, but in all likelihood he is going to sweep the Super Tuesday states," McClung said.
McClung thinks Nikki Haley could have a decent showing in Minnesota, she did visit the state last week, and Minnesota republicans have a history of breaking away from the national trend.
Eight years ago, Donald Trump finished third in the state's caucus polling behind Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
"I don't think that means Nikki Haley is likely to win Minnesota on Tuesday but she could perform better here than in a number of states," McClung said.
Besides Minnesota, the two states with the most delegates, California and Texas, are also hosting primaries on Super Tuesday. More than a third of all delegates are up for grabs this year.
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