2024-03-12 21:53:01 ET
March 12 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden has officially clinched the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, with wins in Georgia and Mississippi on Tuesday night, as former President Donald Trump awaits results that could secure him the Republican nomination.
Trump was edging closer to clinching the Republican nomination after he was declared the winner in Georgia and Mississippi. The former president is still awaiting results in Hawaii and Washington.
Biden did not face any major opposition in any of the contests leading to his nomination, except for a push for "uncommitted" in a protest vote over the president's policy toward Israel's war in Gaza.
After earning the necessary 1,968 delegates, the Biden campaign released a video Tuesday on X, with the words "Clinched the nomination" and "Let's go."
"Despite the challenges we faced when I took office, we're in the middle of a comeback: wages are rising faster than inflation, jobs are coming back, consumer confidence has soared," Biden said in a statement Tuesday night, before taking a swipe at his opponent.
"Amid this progress, we face a sobering reality: Freedom and democracy are at risk here at home in a way they have not been since the Civil War. Donald Trump is running a campaign of resentment, revenge and retribution that threatens the very idea of America," Biden added.
Trump, 77, has attacked Biden on his age, foreign policy, inflation and the border. The former president still needs a total of 1,215 delegates to win the Republican nomination, with 161 Republican delegates up for grabs Tuesday night. During the primaries and caucuses, Trump faced as many as eight candidates -- including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis -- who have since dropped out of the race.
Earlier Tuesday, a Republican group -- opposing the former president -- announced it would spend $50 million in six swing states to keep him from winning in November, calling Trump "too dangerous and too unhinged to ever be president again."
Biden, 81, is also facing opposition from within his own party with age being the biggest issue.
"He was forced on us by the establishment, but he is manifestly not the same man that he was even three years ago, and that has made him less optimally fit for the office, if not simply unfit," Liano Sharon, a Democratic National Committee member from Michigan, said in an interview , while others tout his State of the Union address as proof he is ready for a second term.
"The Biden campaign got one of the most impressive opportunities at a reset with the State of the Union," said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League.