Zoom meetings and beach clean-ups: how unknown Jason Palmer upset Biden in the American Samoa primary | US elections 2024

IIn less than 24 hours, Jason Palmer went from being a relatively unknown Baltimore businessman to defeating a sitting president in the U.S. primary caucuses. Since then, he has been profiled in newspapers, interviewed on major news networks, and has been the subject of internet memes about him all over the world.

Joe Biden’s campaign team may have expected to win every Democratic race on Super Tuesday, but if they did, they weren’t considering American Samoa. Of the 91 votes cast in the territorial caucuses, Mr. Palmer received 51 votes to Mr. Biden’s 40.

Palmer’s victory comes despite the tiny South Pacific islands, with fewer than 50,000 residents and more than 7,000 miles from Washington, D.C., accounting for just six of the 1,968 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination. We will secure three of them. He denied Biden a total victory.

On Wednesday, American Samoa Democratic Party Chair Tia Reed congratulated the Palmer campaign on its victory, explaining that a focus on local issues ensured the outsider’s victory.

“The Palmer campaign has invested in local organizers and digital advertising buys, which we believe contributed to the registration and turnout results,” Reed said.

Palmer’s advertisements were spread across local social media, and handmade banners were seen hanging in front of cars and family homes.

“Everyone I talked to had seen that ad,” Reed said.

Mr. Palmer was perhaps the only Democratic candidate to campaign in this territory. He told The Associated Press that he has not traveled to American Samoa but hosted a Zoom town hall event to “talk to people and listen to their concerns and what’s important to them.” .

Mario Arias, Mr. Palmer’s campaign manager, told the Washington Post that he hired a local staffer and helped plan local events such as beach clean days.

“Based on the information we gathered from the local community, they just wanted to be heard,” Arias said.

Palmer himself told the New York Times that he was able to connect with local residents by focusing on local issues such as improving access to health care and climate change.

“Presidential campaigns investing locally in our territories not only benefits their respective campaigns, but also promotes community awareness of our caucuses and events,” said Reed. To tell.

Super Tuesday is not a popular event in the area, and Reed said the highlight was “the level of participation and awareness among the youth.”

“The majority of caucus attendees who remained throughout the day were high school students. We hope they leave with a better understanding of what will happen in the caucuses and primaries as we head into the November general election.” Well, that’s a success for me.”

Reed also said there is still a lack of awareness about the presidential primary across the community.

“As residents of U.S. territories, we can’t vote in the general election, so I think there’s still a disconnect with the presidential caucuses and primaries.”

Palmer has said throughout the campaign that he voted for Biden four years ago and believes voters deserve a younger candidate. He said Tuesday that he would next focus his campaign on the Arizona primary in July.

American Samoa has also been the site of some unexpected victories. In the 2020 Democratic primary, billionaire Michael Bloomberg achieved the only victory in the region.

Reed, chairman of the American Samoa Democratic Party, said he remains neutral on the selection of candidates and that the party as a whole will support whoever is ultimately chosen.

“We look forward to the American Samoa delegation joining us at the Democratic National Convention in August, where we will celebrate our party’s nominees.”