Joe Biden, although winning most of the Democratic primary contests on Super Tuesday, lost the American Samoa to Jason Palmer.
Palmer, a relatively unknown and obscure candidate, secured 56% of the vote.
Joe Biden is losing to a guy that nobody’s heard of and that CNN doesn’t even have a picture of in the American Samoa caucus tonight pic.twitter.com/p1xmkkoSlg
— Jasmine Keith (@Jasmine_Keith1) March 6, 2024
News anchors were surprised by the results, with Fox News’ Bret Baier saying, “I don’t even know who Jason Palmer is. But he is now the winner.”
While the outcome will likely have little effect on the rest of his campaign, the loss does mark Biden as the first incumbent president to lose a primary race since 1980.
Palmer told the Associated Press in an interview, “I found out that I had won because my phone started blowing up with friends and campaign staffers texting me.”
“I have been campaigning remotely, doing Zoom town halls, talking to people, listening to them about their concerns and what matters to them,” he stated.
Speaking to CNN, Palmer said Democrats are “sleepwalking into a Trump election,” noting that he is therefore “running to energize young voters and also center-left, center-right people with a positive vision of what we can do in the next four years.”
He then called for Biden to “pass the torch to the next generation of Americans.”
Palmer qualified for the presidential ballot in 16 states.
