Democratic primaries: who is Jason Palmer, the first candidate to beat Joe Biden?

Joe Biden may have won all the states at stake on Tuesday during the “Super Tuesday” Democratic primaries, but a small, irreconcilable territory resisted him: American Samoa, a Pacific archipelago located more than 4,000 kilometers southwest of 'Hawaii and won by an illustrious unknown, Jason Palmer.

According to American media projections, it is this entrepreneur who, with 51 votes to 40 for Joe Biden, won the majority of the six delegates (out of 4,749) who were at stake for the inauguration of the Democratic presidential candidate of november.

“Finally something unusual and unexpected for this boring Super Tuesday,” political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia told X. “P.S: I have no idea who it is,” he added, however, to talk about Jason Palmer.

“It is an honor to announce my victory in the American Samoa presidential primary. Thank you to the incredible community for your support. This victory demonstrates the power of our voices. Together, we can rebuild the American dream and shape a better future for all,” the person said on X.

“I found out I won because my phone started blowing up with friends and campaign staff texting me,” he also said in an interview Tuesday evening. as reported by the Associated Press news agency.

The 52-year-old candidate said he campaigned on his own savings. He thus provided nearly 500,000 euros. “You can't take this money with you when you die, but you can change the world while you're still here,” he explained.

Jason Palmer is a resident of Baltimore, near Washington in the state of Maryland, and has worked in several companies and NGOs related to technology and education, indicates AP. He campaigned remotely, according to his statements, by organizing public meetings by Zoom, and never visited the Samoa islands. The lucky candidate nevertheless had three people working in the field “full time”, according to a campaign official.

The candidate, who launched his candidacy in November, acknowledges on his campaign website that he has “very little chance of winning”. He focused his campaign on “renewal” and towards youth. “America cannot look to the future by seeking refuge in the past,” it is written on his campaign website, directly opposing the age of the two main contenders. “It’s time to pass the torch,” he also said.

Last year, Jason Palmer participated in the "Lesser-Known Candidates Forum" hosted by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, alongside 18 other Democratic U.S. presidential candidates who lack national recognition.

This is not the first time American Samoa has delivered such a surprising result in the Democratic caucus. In 2016, the main candidates for the Democratic nomination for the presidential election, namely Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, did not collect a majority of delegates. In 2020, it was former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg who won the territory, the only victory of his campaign against Joe Biden.

Also read: Joe Biden caught up in questions about his mental faculties

Due to the status of a territory and not a state of American Samoa, the approximately 40,000 inhabitants of this archipelago will not be able to vote in the presidential election.

The American Samoa Republican primary will take place on Friday. After the federal capital Washington and the state of Vermont, this could well be one of the last opportunities for Nikki Haley to record a victory against Donald Trump.