Baltimore businessman celebrates defeating Biden in American Samoa
Jason Palmer tells 'Jesse Watters Primetime' he actively campaigned by satellite in South Pacific territory's caucus.
The Baltimore businessman who upset President Biden in Super Tuesday's American Samoa caucus reflected Wednesday on his shocking win and is ready to debate.
"Now that I've beaten Joe Biden, it's time for RFK Jr. and I to get on the debate stage together,"Jason Palmer said on "Jesse Watters Primetime"
Host Jesse Watters said he would pass the message along to Kennedy, who appeared moments before Palmer on the show. A virtual unknown before Super Tuesday, Palmer was suddenly a familiar name at the White House on Wednesday.
JASON PALMER HANDS BIDEN FIRST 2024 LOSS
After being pressed by Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy after no public comment by Biden on the upset, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, "We congratulate Jason Palmer on his win last night."
Palmer told Watters he did not campaign on-site in American Samoa, but called it a beautiful place he plans to visit in the future. The candidate, however, did have a campaign presence in the territory, as he hired three local residents with campaign experience, including a person named Miracle and another named Dorian whom he called "fantastic."
"[We organized] virtual town halls, a beach cleanup [and were] really talking to people about what their key issues were. And those key issues actually lined up with things on my platform already," he said, citing the need for additional education resources and a focus on health care.
Palmer said the U.S. territory only has one antiquated hospital, and that many Samoans want to go to school for health care but their sole post-secondary institution is a community college.
Democratic presidential candidate Jason Palmer poses for a photo in Washington. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Jason Palmer's 56%-44% victory made Biden the first incumbent to lose a primary/caucus contest since Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., won 11 states plus the District of Columbia against President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
A total of 351 ballots were read aloud inside a bowling alley in the capital of Pago Pago late Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Both Palmer and Biden came away with three delegates each from the territory, which lies about 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii, sharing maritime borders with the Cook Islands and the independent nation of Samoa.
VOTERS IN PAGO PAGO SNUBS BIDEN TWO CAUCUSES IN A ROW
American Samoa has a record of presidential caucus upsets, as in 2020, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's sole victory occurred there – as he and Samoa native Tulsi Gabbard were the only two candidates to come away with convention delegates.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton beat both Sens. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, Barack Obama, D-Ill., in American Samoa.
When asked about his future campaign plans and whether he will make a play for larger delegate caches, Palmer said he will "compete vigorously" in Arizona, where he will make border security a top issue.
FILE - The harbor at Pago Pago, A.S. in July 2002. (AP Photo/David Briscoe)
"Immigration is the number one concern for Americans, and I'm about ready to come out with a 12-page plan for how we can solve immigration, which I'd be happy to go into," he said.
Palmer explained that his plan centers around, among other initiatives, "surging" border judges to adjudicate the near-decade-long backlog of immigration and asylum cases, which have led untold amounts of migrants to be released essentially on their own recognizance.
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