The decision by the Alabama Supreme Court last month raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics and prompted an outcry from patients and other groups. Three major IVF providers paused services.

The new law protects providers from lawsuits and criminal prosecution for the “damage or death of an embryo” during IVF services.

Republicans in the state Legislature proposed the lawsuit immunity as a way to get clinics reopened. They refused, however, to take up a bill that would address the legal status of embryos.

The state’s three major IVF providers paused services after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling last month.

The decision prompted an outcry from groups across the country. Patients in Alabama also shared stories about having upcoming embryo transfers abruptly canceled and their paths to parenthood put in doubt.

“I’m just elated to get these ladies back on schedule,” said Republican Sen. Tim Melson, the bill sponsor.

The state Supreme Court ruled that three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a storage facility could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.” The ruling, treating an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful death statute, raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics.

Republicans in the GOP-dominated Alabama Legislature looked to the immunity proposal as a solution to clinics’ concerns. But they have shied away from proposals that would address the legal status of embryos created in IVF labs.

House Democrats proposed legislation last week stating that a human embryo outside a uterus can not be considered an unborn child or human being under state law. Democrats argued that was the most direct way to deal with the issue. Republicans have not brought the proposal up for a vote.

Lawmakers pushed the immunity proposal as a way to address clinic’s immediate concerns and get them open. But they did not take up any legislation that would address the legal status of embryos.

“I think there is too much difference of opinion on when actual life begins. A lot of people say conception. A lot of people say implantation. Others say heartbeat. I wish I had the answer,” Melson said. Melson, who is a doctor, said lawmakers may have to come back with additional legislation but said he said it should be based on “science not feelings.”

The court ruled that three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed when a hospital patient got into the storage unit at a fertility clinic and dropped the embryos could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.” The ruling, treating an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful death statute, raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics. A fourth couple filed a similar wrongful death lawsuit last week.

The court ruling recognizing embryos as children drew a backlash and patients saw appointments abruptly canceled or their paths to parenthood put in doubt.

The bill says that “no action, suit, or criminal prosecution for the damage to or death of an embryo shall be brought or maintained against any individual or entity when providing or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization.” The immunity would be retroactive but would exclude pending litigation. Civil lawsuits could be pursued against manufacturers of IVF-related goods, such as the nutrient-rich solutions used to grow embryos, but damages would be capped and criminal prosecution would be forbidden.

Dr. Michael C. Allemand with Alabama Fertility said Tuesday that the legislative proposal would allow the clinic to resume IVF services by returning “us to a normal state of affairs in terms of what the liability issues are.”

He said the past weeks have been difficult on patients and staff as procedures have been postponed.

“There’s been some truly heart-wrenching conversations that have taken place,” Allemand said.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a group representing IVF providers across the country, said the legislation does not go far enough. Sean Tipton, a spokesperson for the organization, said Monday that the legislation does not correct the fundamental problem, which he said is the court ruling “conflating fertilized eggs with children.”

House Democrats proposed legislation that would put in state law or the state Constitution that a human embryo outside a uterus cannot be considered an unborn child or human being under state law. Democrats argued that was the most direct way to deal with the issue. Republicans have not brought the proposals up for a vote.

Republicans are also trying to navigate tricky political waters — torn between widespread popularity and support for IVF — and conflicts within their own party. Some Republicans have unsuccessfully sought to add Louisiana-style language to ban clinics from destroying unused or unwanted embryos.

State Republicans are reckoning with an IVF crisis they partly helped create with anti-abortion language added to the Alabama Constitution in 2018. The amendment, which was approved by 59% of voters, says it is state policy to recognize the “rights of unborn children.”

The phrase became the basis of the court’s ruling. At the time, supporters said it would allow the state to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade were overturned, but opponents argued it could establish “personhood” for fertilized eggs.

During debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, state Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, said lawmakers were attempting to play “lawsuit whack-a-mole” instead of confronting the real issue — the implications of personhood-like language in the Alabama Constitution.

“The real solution to this is determining the definition of a child and having a real conversation about the implications of some of the decisions we’ve made,” England said.

Hochul is slated to attend as a guest of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Manhattan-Bronx Democrat. Last year, Espaillat brought Mayor Adams as his guest to the State of the Union.

In a statement, the governor said much in New York hinges on federal action, including “addressing immigration and border security” after Republicans upended a bipartisan deal to secure the southwestern border.

Hochul apparently would be the first sitting New York governor to attend a State of the Union speech since at least the early ’80s. She is the first woman to serve as New York’s governor, and Espaillat said he thought it would be fitting to bring her at the start of Women’s History Month.

“She also has been a strong visionary for the state,” Espaillat said by phone, praising her work to help secure federal funding for families.

Hochul, a Democrat, has fostered a warm public relationship with Biden, and she is set to serve as one of his campaign surrogates in his expected general election race with Donald Trump.

Though she has at times directed public criticism toward the White House over the city’s migrant crisis, she has had a far gentler touch than Adams on the issue.

The Democratic mayor was removed from the president’s surrogate squad last year after saying Biden had “failed” New York.

The State of the Union offers a chance for the 81-year-old president to turn popular perceptions as he tilts into campaign mode and tries to dispel widespread concern that he is too old for another term.

Polls show Trump leading Biden.

New York politicians sent an array of messages through their State of the Union guests.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, the Democrat who won a special election on Long Island last month, invited the parents of Omer Neutra, a member of the Israeli Army who was taken hostage in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and remains missing.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, an Albany Democrat, invited Billie Jean King, the trailblazing tennis legend.

And Sen. Chuck Schumer of Brooklyn, the Democratic majority leader, invited a 25-year-old Ukrainian soldier who lost one of his legs below the knee after he was injured by a landmine. The soldier came to New York City this winter for medical treatment.

Schumer said he hoped the presence of the soldier, Andrii Chevozorov, would bring attention to the need for American weapons and equipment in Ukraine, which is losing ground to Russia’s invasion. 

Legislation to provide more U.S. aid to Ukraine has been held up by House Republicans.

Schumer told the Daily News he was bringing Chevozorov to “make a point” to the Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

“If he doesn’t put the bill on the floor, he will regret it next year and the year after,” Schumer said, warning of the Ukrainians’ plight. “One of the American leaders told me that if we don’t give them armaments, Russian tanks could be at the border of Poland in a year.”

Chevozorov is expected to wear his uniform to the speech.

Trump has been working for months to turn back primary challenges and get Republicans behind his comeback campaign for the White House after four years out of power.

That goal was sealed after he scored a sweeping victory in the Super Tuesday primaries.

President Biden was already the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee even before he brushed off nominal primary challenges to his reelection bid.

Now, Biden hopes to utilize Thursday night’s State of the Union address to kick off his presidential campaign against Trump, a contrast he hopes will rally voters behind him despite concerns about his age and other potential political weak spots.

Here are some takeaways:

What will Joe say in SOTU?

Biden has a rare national platform to make his opening argument to Americans for why he deserves four more years in the White House.

Look for Biden to boast about his achievements and to pitch himself as uniquely qualified to lead the country and the world through a challenging period — and paint a sharp contrast with the chaos under Trump.

The stakes are quite high.

With voters on both sides of the aisle concerned about Biden’s age, any perceived gaffe could harden pre-existing opinions that he is just too old to serve.

On the other hand, Biden has the opportunity to cut through the political noise and demonstrate his often-underrated political skills.

Who benefits from the general election matchup being set?

Pundits have been puzzled by the persistently high number of Americans who did not believe that Biden and Trump would actually be their parties’ candidates for the White House.

Democratic strategists in particular believe that Biden could benefit from the matchup between the two men now being set in stone.

Team Biden believes that Democratic voters may start focusing on Trump, a candidate many of them loathe and is perhaps the biggest motivator for them to get behind anyone running against him.

Can Trump rally Republican critics who backed Nikki Haley?

For Trump, the immediate challenge is to win over Republicans who supported Nikki Haley in the just-completed primary fight.

“Clearly there are a quarter to a third of the people who voted in the Republican primaries … who simply won’t accept him or don’t wan’t him back in the White House,” Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political analyst, said on CNN.

If past is prologue, Trump will likely seek to project strength with the Republican base as way to bring “traditional Republicans” back in the fold, Sabato added.

But Republican strategist Doug Heye noted that it won’t be a cakewalk for Trump, given that he deliberately sought to push away Haley supporters by declaring them “permanently banned” from his MAGA movement.

“That is dumb,” Heye told the News. “Anyone wearing a ‘Permanently Banned’ T-shirt is unlikely to return to the fold of the person insulting them.”

It appears that Trump’s mounting legal woes may not be the massive political headache they once seemed certain to pose.

So far, Trump’s indictment on 91 felonies and his four looming criminal trials have not damaged his political standing.

If anything, he has succeeded in using the trials to rally his supporters behind the idea that he is being unfairly targeted by liberal prosecutors.

Can Biden unify a fractured Democratic coalition?

The incumbent president has a unity problem of his own.

Biden is facing serious dissatisfaction with Democratic voters, some of whom are disenchanted over his handling of the economy or blame him for the influx of migrants across the southern border and into northern cities.

The most visible split is over Biden’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. Critics have mounted modestly successful campaigns to register opposition to the war in states like Michigan, where 13% of Democrats shunned him to vote for “uncommitted” delegates.

Polls show Biden suffering from relatively low approval with Latinos, Blacks and young voters, all key portions of the Democratic base.

That’s a flashing danger sign for the incumbent. But it’s also an opportunity for Biden to win back voters who traditionally back the Democrat in the end.

Sabato notes that the White House needs to do a much better job communicating his policy achievements on issues like the economy and abortion rights.

“They have got to use the campaign and the State of the Union address to make it clear what they have actually done,” he said.

The lawsuit, filed by Nassau County in federal court on Tuesday, marks a major escalation in a public battle between the county’s Republican executive, Bruce Blakeman, and the Democratic state attorney general over the transgender sports ban.

Last week, James issued a statement threatening legal action against the county over the order, declaring it “transphobic and blatantly illegal” and instructing Blakeman to “immediately rescind” it. Her office also penned a cease-and-desist letter to Nassau County.

But before James went to court, Blakeman sent the first legal shot, filing a 12-page lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York that said James’ cease-and-desist letter “violates the constitutional rights of biologically girls and women who are a federally recognized protected class.”

The complaint cited the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection, and argued the order conferred protections to women and girls seeking fairness in athletics. The reach of Blakeman’s order would be limited to county-run facilities.

The complaint seeks a declaratory judgement asserting that the county order is legal.

In a statement responding to the lawsuit, James’ office said: “Our laws protect New Yorkers from discrimination, and the office of the attorney general is committed to upholding those laws and protecting our communities.”

“This is not up for debate: the executive order is illegal, and it will not stand in New York,” said the statement.

Because James’ actions had been limited to a cease-and-desist letter and a press statement, it was not clear that Blakeman’s complaint had presented a controversy demanding intervention by the courts, said John Barrett, a constitutional law professor at St. John’s University.

“The jurisdiction of the court begins with actual cases and controversies,” Barrett said. “This complaint may be more in the nature of a press release or a political position than a serious commencement of litigation.”

A plaintiff in the lawsuit is the father of a female 16-year-old volleyball player who, the complaint claimed, could be subject to “risk of injury by a transgender girl” if transgender females are allowed to participate in girls youth sports.

When Blakeman announced the ban two weeks ago, he could not cite for reporters any examples of transgender women or girls creating competitive disadvantages in athletics in Nassau County.

Blakeman said the county wanted to “get ahead of the curve.”

At a news conference Wednesday, Blakeman added: “It is coming to Nassau County — it is coming to all communities.”

He said courts have held that the “government can take appropriate, reasonable legal action to protect the citizens even if the harm has not actually been done yet.”

Gov. Hochul, a Democrat, issued a statement last month saying that Blakeman was seeking to “score cheap political points by putting a target on the backs of some of our state’s most vulnerable children.”

Barrett said the lack of concrete examples of harm in Nassau County’s lawsuit could hinder it by raising a question of legal standing.

“All of this is pretty abstract, and that kind of imaginary non-actual, non-concrete injury interest is usually a constitutional problem,” Barrett said. “It’s usually a basis for a court to conclude: We don’t have judicial power here.”

Susan Hazeldean, a Brooklyn Law School professor, agreed that Nassau County had not been harmed. She said she did not see a legal basis for the claim and that it appeared to be aimed at getting positive publicity.

But Hazeldean added that the state may not seek to dismiss Nassau County’s lawsuit. Instead, the complaint may simply serve as a starting gun for arguments in court about the ban’s legality.

“Presumably the State of New York believes that the executive order is unlawful and wants to see it enjoined,” the professor said. “I assume they’re going to want to make that clear to the court.”

The outgoing Senate GOP leader, who famously called Trump “morally and practically responsible” for the violent attack on the Capitol, said in a statement that it was time for Republicans to unite behind the party’s presumptive nominee.

“Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for president of the United States,” McConnell said in a statement. “It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”

McConnell’s announcement came after Nikki Haley suspended her campaign the day after Trump won a sweeping victory in the Super Tuesday primaries.

McConnell, 82, last week announced he will step down as Republican Senate leader after the fall elections.

“I look forward to the opportunity of switching from playing defense against the terrible policies the Biden administration has pursued to a sustained offense geared towards making a real difference in improving the lives of the American people,” McConnell said.

He bragged about working with Trump during his first term in the White House, especially in remaking the federal judiciary and installing three conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices.

McConnell did not mention Trump’s effort to overturn his loss in the 2020 election, an effort that culminated with the violent Jan. 6 attack by a mob of Trump supporters.

McConnell harshly denounced Trump for engineering what he called an attack on American democracy and the Constitution.

But the iconic leader of the GOP establishment opposed Trump’s impeachment over his incitement of the attack. He effectively blocked Trump’s conviction in the Senate, a decision that opened the door to Trump’s dramatic political comeback.

Trump has viciously derided McConnell for years, branding him an “old crow,” a Republican in name only and worse.

The former president also used anti-Asian nicknames to abuse McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who served as his own transportation secretary but quit after Jan. 6.

After nearly two decades as GOP Senate leader, McConnell says he will step down when the new Congress begins next January.

His two top lieutenants are vying for his spot, but Trump may seek to handpick a more pliant acolyte to the powerful position.

McConnell has said he will serve out the remainder of his term, which runs through the 2026 elections. But some predict he will retire sooner.

Gov. Hochul is deploying 750 members of the Guard and 250 state and MTA police officers to subway stations to inspect passengers’ bags following a spate of violent incidents across the system.

“No one heading to their job or to visit family or to go to a doctor’s appointment should worry that the person sitting next to them possesses a deadly weapon,” Hochul said Wednesday beside MTA Chairman Janno Lieber in front of a giant system map at the MTA’s Rail Control Center.

“They shouldn’t worry about whether someone’s going to brandish a knife or a gun.”

The random checks will fall well short of the body scans and pat downs of airport-level security. Straphangers are already familiar with how this will work — cops at tables performing random bag checks have appeared at subway turnstiles from time to time in the 22 years since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Transit officials said the state support would simply allow for more such spot checks throughout the system, and that the National Guard, MTA police or other state law enforcement won’t be patrolling the trains.

The additional law enforcement power is one of a slate of state actions Hochul hopes will reduce crime underground — a “five-point plan [to] rid our subways of violent offenders and protect all commuters and transit workers,” as she put it.

“I am sending a message to all New Yorkers — I will not stop working to keep you safe and restore your peace of mind whenever you walk through those turnstiles,” she said

Besides the bag checks, the five initiatives include a $20 million plan to beef up the number of clinical teams responding to people in mental distress on subways from two to 10 systemwide.

Another of Hochul’s five initiatives is her support for the MTA’s plan to install surveillance cameras inside conductor and train-operator cabs. That initiative is a direct response to the slashing of MTA conductor Alton Scott, who narrowly survived a random assault last week when he stuck his head out of his cab as his train stopped at a Brooklyn subway station.

“If a camera had been positioned in Alton Scott’s conductor cabin last Thursday, we probably would have already apprehended the person who slashed his neck,” Hochul said.

“Today I’m directing the MTA to install cameras in every single conductor cabin, as well as [on] platforms that face the cabins,” she added.

No platform-mounted camera caught Scott’s attacker last week either.

MTA officials have stated that the station had multiple working surveillance cameras, but none were pointed at the conductor’s mid-platform position when Scott’s late-night A train pulled into the Rockaway Ave. station in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Transit brass declined to comment Wednesday on how many other stations might need upgrades to their camera coverage, citing security concerns.

Transport Workers Union Local 100 has long opposed putting cameras in conductor and operator cabs, citing privacy concerns. The MTA said last week it will install the cameras anyway.

A Local 100 spokesman said Wednesday that the union will support the installation so long as the cameras are solely for safety purposes, and are not used to support disciplinary cases against union members.

Hochul’s fourth initiative is proposed legislation to ban anyone convicted of an assault on transit from the system for three years. Currently the law allows a ban only on those who are convicted of assaulting a transit worker.

Her fifth initiative is improved coordination between MTA officials and district attorneys and police. That initiative will include regular meetings to discuss subway crime, the first of which is scheduled for next week.

As part of that fifth initiative, Hochul said, the MTA will hire a new “criminal justice advocate to assist the victims of crime in the system,” and develop a system to “flag recidivist offenders” to district attorneys.

NYPD brass and MTA leaders blame the uptick in crime on repeat offenders.

“One percent of subway arrestees, according to the NYPD, are responsible for well over 20% of the crime,” MTA boss Lieber said. “We need to have a collaboration with the [district attorneys] so they have that full information.”

The NYPD is fighting a 15.5% jump in felony assaults at city subway stops and trains.

Police have counted 97 such assaults in the subway system this year as of Sunday, 13 more than in the same period of 2023.

Misdemeanor assaults — slaps, punches and other relatively minor attacks — are down 3.9% for the year, with 249 misdemeanor assaults as of Sunday, 10 fewer than the 259 that had occurred by this time last year.

NYPD brass has said grand larcenies — property theft and pickpocketing — are the main thing pushing crime rates up in the subway system. Those crimes are up 17.8%, from 163 reported incidents last year to 192 this year.

There have been three homicides on the transit system so far this year, up from one this time last year.

The most recent was two weeks ago, when a man was fatally shot two weeks ago while on board a southbound B train in the Bronx.

On Tuesday, police arrested a man for allegedly stabbing a passenger onboard an uptown A train in what cops described as a hate crime.

Arrests in the system are up 45% over last year, according to police, with 3,261 arrests so far as of Sunday, up from 2,243 last year.

Earlier Wednesday, Mayor Adams — who did not join Hochul at her announcement — said NYPD officers will also be increasing bag checks in the subway system.

Neither the mayor nor transit officials would say at which stations the ramped-up bag checks will take place. An Adams administration spokesperson said there will be 94 NYPD bag screening teams deployed to 136 stations each week.

“They’re going to be a seven-day-a-week operation,” NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper said in a Wednesday morning appearance with Adams on CBS New York.

Adams said the checks will be “random” and that the Police Department won’t engage in any “profiling.”

“People who don’t want their bags checked can turn around and not enter the system,” he said.

The governor’s plan to put National Guard soldiers in the subway system was met with alarm from civil libertarians.

“This plan is whiplash inducing. The city only recently trumpeted safety data,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

“These heavy-handed approaches will, like stop-and-frisk, be used to accost and profile Black and Brown New Yorkers, ripping a page straight out of the Giuliani playbook,” she said, comparing Hochul to the former Republican mayor.

Albert Fox Cahn, head of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, expressed specific concern about the use of the National Guard.

“We shouldn’t militarize the MTA when crime rates are falling and budgets are contracting,” he said in a statement.

“I fear how many New Yorkers will be wrongly arrested or hurt before we recognize that soldiers have no place on the streets of democracy.”

After being crushed from coast to coast on Super Tuesday, the former UN ambassador urged Trump to work to earn the support of her and the coalition of mostly moderate and suburban Republicans who backed her campaign,

“It’s now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those who did not support him,” Haley said. “This is now his time for choosing.”

Haley spoke the morning after Trump rolled to an impressive victory on Super Tuesday, winning 14 out of 15 states including giant California and Texas and running up the score with about 80% of the vote in many primary states.

“The time has now come to suspend my campaign,” Haley said. “Although I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in.”

Haley doubled down on her unshakable support for a muscular foreign policy and aid to Ukraine, which many fellow Republicans want to abandon in the face of a Russian invasion.

She leaves the race with wins in tiny, deep-blue Vermont and Washington, D.C. along with respectable showings of more than 40% in independent-minded New Hampshire and about the same in her home state of South Carolina.

Haley quoted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, another trailblazing female politician: “Never just follow the crowd.”

Haley threw in the towel after spending the last several weeks ramping up her once-tepid criticism of Trump.

She has slammed the twice-impeached, four times-indicted ex-president as unelectable and a danger to democracy, barbs that spurred Trump to angrily deride her as a Republican in name only and worse.

Haley refused to commit to backing Trump in the general election even though she joined other GOP candidates in signing a pledge to endorse the eventual party nominee.

In what amounted to a concession speech Wednesday, Haley softened those attacks significantly, suggesting she may be laying the groundwork to endorse Trump at some point.

“I wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America’s president,” she said. “Our country is too precious to let our differences divide us.”

Haley was the first major candidate to challenge Trump after he announced his run for a third straight Republican nomination.

She was later joined by heavyweights like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a raft of other candidates including Sen. Tim Scott, ex-N.J. Gov. Chris Christie and upstart entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

But Trump effectively cleared the field by eviscerating DeSantis with months of withering attacks. None of the other candidates really caught fire with the GOP voters, many of whom had backed Trump twice before.

Trump cleaned up with a big win in the Iowa caucuses, where Haley fell short of DeSantis in third place. Haley also fell short in New Hampshire, a state that looked like her best shot at an upset.

That set up a blowout win for Trump in South Carolina, a result that effectively delivered a knockout blow to Haley even though she soldiered on through Super Tuesday.

With Trump rolling to very lopsided wins over Haley in delegate-rich states from coast to coast, there were few signs that Republican voters are having second thoughts about handing the nomination to the man who lost to Biden last time.

Trump was poised to declare victory yet again from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida while Haley remained behind closed doors at her home in South Carolina.

Here are several takeaways:

Trump steamrolls from coast to coast

Trump won in big states and small, in the Deep South and Northeast and pretty much everywhere in between.

The MAGA leader strengthened his already vice-like grip on the GOP nomination race by sweeping to wins even in potentially problematic states like Virginia and Massachusetts, which boast more independent-minded and better-educated Republican electorates.

The vast Super Tuesday map with elections in 15 states, including sprawling powerhouses like California and Texas, always favored Trump, who commands legendary loyalty among the Republican base.

But Haley might have hoped that she could bolster her standing with affluent voters in places like Colorado, northern Virginia or suburban Houston. That simply didn’t happen, at least not in the numbers she needed to trip up Trump.

The only state Haley had won on Super Tuesday was tiny, deep-blue Vermont, which awarded her 17 delegates — the fewest number of delegates assigned by a state holding elections on Super Tuesday.

What will Nikki do now?

As the results rolled in, the biggest outstanding question of the night was how or if Haley would respond to the punishing defeats.

Haley’s campaign gave no suggestion whether she would make a statement Tuesday night or perhaps Wednesday morning.

With Super Tuesday done, Haley will need to decide whether to stay in the race against Trump even as any chance of derailing his march to the nomination seems to have slipped away.

Haley has no campaign events scheduled, a big change from previous primary nights when she had laid out plans to compete in future contests.

The former UN ambassador has recently ramped up attacks on Trump as unelectable and has said she’s not sure if she will endorse Trump if he is the GOP nominee.

The Biden-Trump rematch starts now

A surprising number of voters in both parties have stubbornly clung to the belief that someone other than Trump or Biden will be the nominees.

After Super Tuesday, they can forget about it.

Trump is on track to come close to a majority of Republican delegates after sweeping to big wins. Ditto for Biden.

So the president and the former president are all but assured of being nominated by their parties’ conventions in the summer, regardless of the political parlor games suggesting they could somehow be replaced.

Biden cruises to easy wins

President Biden rolled to easy wins in all the Super Tuesday primaries that were declared.

The Democratic incumbent was running up the score from coast to coast against nominal opposition from Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minnesota) and Marianne Williamson.

Biden was expected to face some protest write-in votes in Minnesota over his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza, but not on the same scale as the 13% who voted for uncommitted delegates in Michigan last week.

The president was watching the results from the White House where aides said he was working on Thursday’s State of the Union address, which will double as a kickoff for his general election campaign against Trump.

As of 11:13 p.m., Trump had won 12 states on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. Biden had picked up 14 Super Tuesday victories. There were more than 2,000 delegates up for grabs across the two parties.

Trump has steamrolled through the GOP primary, and is seeking to push his lone remaining rival, Nikki Haley, out the race. She had not spoken publicly about Tuesday’s results and did not have a public election night party.

She did score one surprise victory Tuesday, knocking off Trump in Vermont, according to The AP.

A win by Haley in any state would mark a major upset, but the Vermont victory did not change the trajectory of the race. Haley was seeking to score enough delegates to forestall Trump’s national primary victory, which could come as soon as next week. The longer Haley remains in the race, the more resources the Trump campaign must expend on the primary. It is unclear if Haley would endorse Trump if she drops out in the coming days.

Despite the Vermont drama, the broader Super Tuesday results confirmed the expectation going into the day: Biden and Trump are on the cusp of a rerun of the 2020 election.

In the Democratic primary, Biden has had to fend off protest votes from some Americans upset with his handling of Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza.

Biden said the Super Tuesday results crystallized the choice America faces.

“Are we going to keep moving forward or will we allow Donald Trump to drag us backwards into the chaos, division, and darkness that defined his term in office?” Biden said in a statement late Tuesday, asserting that Trump is “driven by grievance and grift, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people.”

11:13 pm: Biden and Trump win California 

The delegate-rich Golden State went the way of most of the rest of the map on Tuesday, with Biden and Trump both emerging victors, according to The AP.

11 pm: Biden loses American Samoa

Jason Palmer, a Baltimore resident who campaigned by Zoom call, beat Biden in the tiny Pacific territory of American Samoa, hauling in a reported 51 caucus votes, according to The AP.

10:45 pm: Nikki Haley beats Trump in Vermont

Nikki Haley salvaged a win over Trump in Vermont, The AP projected.

Haley edged out Trump by a narrow margin by rolling up a 3-1 win in Burlington, the biggest city in the deep-blue state.

It’s Haley’s second victory of the nomination quest after a win in the Washington, D.C., primary.

10:30 pm: Trump trashes Biden in Super Tuesday victory speech

Trump celebrated his win by trashing President Biden as he looked ahead to a near-certain general election rematch against the man who beat him in 2020.

“He’s the worst president in the history of our country,” Trump said. “It’s sad to see what’s happening.”

The former president slammed Biden in a rambling speech for mishandling the economy and the situation at the southern border.

“Our country is very divided,” Trump said. “In some ways we’re a Third World country.”

“This is the worst invasion. No country has ever seen anything like it,” he added.

Trump promised a crowd of supporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate that he would win back the White House.

“We’re going to take back our country,” Trump vowed.

9:24: Biden and Trump win Minnesota

The Associated Press said Biden and Trump took home victories in Minnesota. Trump has now won 10 states so far this evening.

9:09 pm: Biden and Trump pick up delegates in Colorado

In Colorado, Biden and Trump both won, according to the Associated Press. The state’s top court had knocked Trump off the ballot, but was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s the westernmost state called so far.

9 pm: Vermont’s GOP race too close to call

In the only competitive state so far, the Republican race in Vermont was too close to call. Trump had a 2-point lead with about half the vote in, but most of the vote had not been reported in Burlington, Vermont’s largest city and the home of the flagship state university. Haley could score a large haul of votes from the city.

9 pm: Biden and Trump win Texas

Biden and Trump both notched victories in delegate-rich Texas, according to the Associated Press. The AP called the victories as soon as polls closed in West Texas. Shortly after, The AP also called Arkansas for Trump.

8:49 pm: Trump wins Massachusetts

The 45th president hit New England turbulence in Vermont, but Massachusetts — which has some Republican strongholds outside the Boston area — went for Trump, according to the Associated Press. The AP called the race with little of the vote counted, suggesting Haley was not competitive in the Bay State.

8:45 pm: Biden and Trump win Alabama; Biden wins Arkansas

The president and his predecessor scored wins in Alabama, according to the Associated Press. Biden also scored a quick AP victory call in Arkansas.

8:27 pm: Biden wins Massachusetts, Maine; Trump wins Maine

The Associated Press has called Massachusetts for both Trump and Biden. Trump also won Maine, The AP said.

8:16 pm: Trump and Biden win Oklahoma.

Both Trump and Biden picked up victories in the Sooner State, according to the Associated Press. Early results showed both candidates romping.

8:05 pm: Trump and Biden roll in Tennessee

Trump wins the Tennessee primary as expected with the Associated Press projecting him as the winner just after polls close.

Biden also won.

7:45 pm: Trump projected to win North Carolina

Trump is projected as the winner of the North Carolina Republican primary, according to the Associated Press.

Biden won the Democratic contest.

7:25 pm: Biden and Trump projected to win Virginia

Trump is projected by the Associated Press as the winner the Republican primary in Virginia. President Biden, meantime, has also won Virginia.

Trump was running up wide margins over Haley in Virginia, which was considered one of the former South Carolina governor’s best chances for an upset.

7:05 pm: No immediate calls for Trump in Virginia, Vermont

There was no immediate call of the Republican primaries in Virginia and Vermont by major networks as polls closed at 7 pm. The two states were considered among the best possibilities for Haley to pull off upsets of former Trump.

NBC News noted that Trump was leading in Virginia.

An immediate call for Trump in either state would have signaled a looming landslide over Haley in the remaining 13 primary states with results rolling in later Tuesday night.

6:50 pm: Haley has no public schedule

Haley’s schedule on Super Tuesday is a blank slate, raising questions about her future plans in the Republican presidential primary.

The former South Carolina governor has no events on her public schedule and did not respond to inquiries about whether she plans to speak after results are announced.

Haley has said she plans to stay in her long-shot race against Trump for as long as she can be “competitive.”

That sounds a lot less definitive than what Haley said about Super Tuesday in recent weeks, which was that she was 100% going to stay in the race until the biggest raft of primary states went to the polls.

5:50 pm: Biden wins Iowa’s Democratic race: The AP has called Iowa for Biden in the first primary result of the night. The election was held by mail beginning last month; Biden scored more than 90% of the vote, according to incomplete results.

Tuesday morning: Taylor Swift told her Instagram followers to vote in Super Tuesday states, but did not say who they should support. She endorsed Biden in 2020.