Biden and Trump win Louisiana primary contests

WASHINGTON —  President Biden and former President Trump won Louisiana’s primary elections Saturday, collecting more delegates after they had already clinched their parties’ nominations.

Biden also appeared in Missouri’s Democratic primary; results are not expected to be reported until next week.

Biden and Trump have already beaten their major competitors. But the primary races are still closely watched by insiders for turnout and signs of protest voters.

In the case of Biden, some progressives are casting protest votes to register their anger with his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. More than 30,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, have been reported killed by Gaza authorities since Israel launched its offensive. A protest movement by Arab American communities in Michigan has spread to several other states.

Trump has locked up his third consecutive Republican nomination. But he faces dissent from people worried about the immense legal jeopardy he faces and those critical of his White House term, which ended shortly after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection mounted by his supporters and fueled by his false claims of election fraud.

Saturday’s primary was the Missouri Democratic Party’s first party-run presidential contest since a new law took effect in August 2022. Louisiana’s primaries, meanwhile, come almost four years after the state was the first to postpone its primaries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.