After beating President Joe Biden in U.S. territory of Samoa, Democratic presidential candidate Jason Palmer has had an upset with U.S. President Joe Biden, who was expected to win in all states on Super Tuesday. He is behind Jason Palmer, who is nearly 30 years younger in U.S. territory of Samoa. In the Democratic Caucus in Samoa on the 5th (local time), Palmer won 51 votes out of 91 valid votes and Biden won 40. Palmer told the Associated Press in an interview that “my friends and campaigners texted me and my cell phone started popping and I knew I had won.” According to The Hill, a political media outlet, Palmer is a Quaker living in Baltimore and has worked for Microsoft, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Newmarket Venture Partners, and Caplan Education. He is 52 years old and 29 years younger than President Biden. He said he had never visited the area before the caucus. “I campaigned remotely and held town halls over Zoom and listened to people’s concerns and important matters,” Palmer said. According to campaign finance records, he spent more than $500,000 on his campaign. “I can’t take that money when I die, but I can change the world while I’m alive,” Palmer said. On the eve of the caucus, Palmer posted on X (former Twitter) that “It’s past time for Washington, D.C., to wait for a president who will be an advocate for American Samoa.”
The outcome will not affect Biden’s nomination for the Democratic presidential nomination. U.S. territory of Samoa, a small island in the South Pacific with fewer than 50,000 residents, has only six delegates at stake. Palmer won four of them while Biden won two. Meanwhile, U.S. residents are allowed to vote in the primaries, but have no representation in the electorate. U.S. territory of Samoa has been an upheaval scene before. In the 2020 Democratic primary, billionaire Michael Bloomberg was the only winner in the region.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
