Trump has clinched GOP nomination. These Republicans will spend $50M opposing his election

There’s no question. The 2024 presidential election will feature a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump after both candidates amassed enough delegates Tuesday to secure their partys’ nomination. Here are three things to know, now that the general election has gotten underway.

A near historical general election campaign

With more than 235 days until the Nov. 5, general election, this year’s presidential election cycle will be one of the longest in modern history.

On Tuesday, Biden and Trump officially secured the requisite amount of delegates to snag their respective party’s nomination, following contests in Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington.

The only other time when both major parties wrapped up their nominating contests more quickly was in 2000, when Democrat Vice President Al Gore and Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush both seized their respective parties’ nominations March 9 — 243 days before the November election, according to the Pew Research Center.

Summary of Tuesday’s primary results

On Tuesday, Biden and Trump raked in delegates in primaries in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington, and a caucus in Hawaii.

In Georgia, Trump secured 56 delegates with nearly 85% of the vote. Although they’ve suspended their campaigns, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson also appeared on the ballot, winning 13.2%, 1.3%, 0.2%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively. Biden scored 108 delegates with 95% of the electorate voting in his favor. Marianne Williamson had 3% of the vote and Dean Phillips 1.8%.

In Mississippi, Trump won 40 delegates with 93% of the vote, while Biden picked up 35 delegates, uncontested.

In Washington, Trump earned 74% of the vote, winning 43 delegates. Biden secured 92 delegates with 87% of the vote.

In the Hawaii’s Republican Caucus, Trump raked in 13 delegates with 97% of the vote.

GOP group launches anti-Trump campaign

Despite Trump’s overall success, results from other primary contests, such as in South Carolina, where Haley scored nearly 40% of voters, and in Georgia, where more than 70,000 voted against the only active campaigner, sheds light on an opposition movement within the Republican party.

A GOP group — Republican Voters Against Trump — has launched a $50 million campaign showcasing former Trump voters making the case for why they won’t support him in November. The campaign features first-person video testimonials from more than 100 former Trump voters, including South Carolinians.

One of those South Carolinians, includes Donald Lewis, an Independent of Charleston, who said the last Democratic president he voted for was Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Lewis said while he voted for Trump in 2016, he did not in 2020, mostly because of the way Trump handled the pandemic.

“Formerly logical Republicans have lost their minds,” Lewis said. “Charleston is pretty good indication that when you know the truth, your decision (on who to vote for) becomes pretty clear. How can anyone support a man who sides with Russia and talks about dictators as admirable people? In effect, what (Trump) has done is poisoned the concept of free and fair elections in the U.S..”

Lewis also said issues surrounding the 2020 election, particularly claims that the election was stolen from Trump and the Jan. 6 insurrection, has solidified his decision to, again, not support the former president in 2024.

“If Trump disappeared off the face of the earth tomorrow, there are people who will continue to say, ‘Well, he told us that (the 2020) election was stolen,’ and for the life of me, I can’t understand how intelligent people have fallen for the con and the pressure that’s being exerted, clearly, from the higher ups in the Republican Party.”

John Conway, RVAT’s director of strategy, said the campaign against Trump first began in 2020, where more than 1,000 former Trump supporters vowed to revoked their endorsement of the former president.

“We’ve been cultivating these Republican voices who want to see the direction of the Republican Party move away from Donald Trump, and who find him to be unfit to be president of the United States,” Conway said. “Republican voters need to hear from voters like themselves that it’s okay to vote against Trump in 2024. You can still be a Republican and vote for Joe Biden, you can still be a Republican and reject Donald Trump.”