A few hundred red-clad campaign workers and supporters have gathered at a conference hotel just outside Greensboro. Wine and drinks are sold, as are caps and t-shirts.
The election vigil for gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, a tall black man who is often described as the South’s equivalent of Donald Trump, is held here.
Hearty applause spreads an hour after the state’s polling stations close and the results roll up on the television screen. Voters have voted roughly in line with Super Tuesday forecasts – no super surprises.
No victory for Nikki Haley
Republican voters cast ballots in primaries in 15 states on Super Tuesday. At half past five Swedish time, Donald Trump had won over Nikki Haley in eleven states out of eleven counted. In the remaining four, counting of votes is underway or the polling stations have not yet closed.
In the Democratic primaries, Joe Biden wins and in the Republicans, Donald Trump pulls more and more away from Nikki Haley.
At the vigil, the evening’s winner, Mark Robinson, stands at the podium and thunders about how the state’s economy should flourish through further investment in education.
“And we will remove gender issues from school,” he says.
Mark Robinson is controversial. A politician cast in the same mold as Trump – who made disparaging statements about homosexuals and women.
Mark Robinson has been called the Donald Trump of the South. The Republican candidate for governor gives a victory speech after the primary election in North Carolina. Photo: Agaton Strom
Steve Bergstrom, leader of the Republican Party in the state’s most populous area, Wake County, explains Mark Robinson’s allure among voters.
“Many grassroots movements support him – voters like a candidate who speaks his mind and doesn’t sound like a politician. Which is filterless.”
That voters reward this sounds familiar. According to Sunshine Hillygus, the political science professor at Duke University, this is because large groups of voters still feel a sense of distance.
“We see an increasing number who do not identify with the politicians. One risk is that in the future we will lose the middle and only have active parts on the more extreme edges,” she says.
Many observers therefore highlight the primary election in North Carolina as an election with a large signaling effect.
Political science professor Sunshine Hillygus reminds that there are still large groups of voters who feel distanced from politicians. Photo: Agaton Strom
If a diversified state with a good economy elects a Mark Robinson in the primary, it can be interpreted as Trump copies can emerge without being perceived as threats or challengers to the model. Candidates who could become Trump’s future heirs.
The position right now
The Republican who gets it together 1215 delegates becomes the party’s presidential candidate:
Donald Trump 373
Nikki Haley 47
The Democrat who gets it together 1968 delegates becomes the party’s presidential candidate:
Joe Biden 430
(Previous candidates have given up their election campaigns.)
Nikki Haley, who has positioned herself as a clear opposite to Donald Trump – and Joe Biden – is Super Tuesday’s big loser.
No forecast pointed to victory in any state. And so it has been. However, there was a glimmer of hope that it would be close in the tiny state of Vermont, but even there she is a clear second with just over two-thirds of the votes counted.
“If she can’t win in her own state, South Carolina, what is she going to win,” asks volunteer Leslie Cleveland at Mark Robinson’s vigil.
Another question hangs in the air. If – or rather when – Nikki Haley gives up her candidacy, what will happen to the Republican voters who cannot imagine voting for Donald Trump. Could their votes go to the Democrats instead? Wake County Republican Steve Bergstrom doesn’t think so.
“We believe that the voters will stand behind the Republican candidate – and everything points to the fact that it seems to be former president Donald Trump,” he says.
Earlier this week, the US Supreme Court ruled that individual states may not prevent presidential candidates from running for office. Three states – Colorado, Illinois and Maine – have stopped Donald Trump from doing just that. Even with this obstacle removed, however, four other lawsuits remain.
Steve Bergstrom waves it away and reminds that the presidential candidate was not significantly affected by the law.
“Trump has been adept at using the media, so I think he will use the legal processes to his advantage.”
