President Joe Biden performed mostly as expected on Super Tuesday, but he did suffer the embarrassment of enduring his first primary loss. Entrepreneur Jason Palmer defeated the incumbent president in American Samoa with 56% of the vote.

Biden could only garner 44%. That meant he only took two of the island’s delegates to Palmer’s four.

CNN was caught flatfooted when news of Palmer’s victory emerged. The network posted shots of other Democratic candidates but only had a generic face to represent the eventual winner.

The Democrats have finally selected a challenger who could replace Biden as their nominee should the president withdraw. Jason Palmer just defeated Biden in American Samoa’s primary making him the defacto leading challenger for the Democrat nomination. pic.twitter.com/tR5VqvQmcL

— @amuse (@amuse) March 6, 2024

Fox News also struggled with identifying the victor. Anchor Bret Baier announced, “We just have a call now in American Samoa. President Biden will lose to Jason Palmer, a self-described entrepreneur and investor.”

Baier paused momentarily before adding, “I don’t even know who Jason Palmer is. But he is now the winner.”

One user posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Biden succumbed to “a guy named Jason Palmer, who has less than 4K followers” on the platform.

This was not Biden’s first taste of defeat in American Samoa. During the 2020 primaries he was cast aside by voters as well when they handed billionaire candidate Michael Bloomberg his lone victory with 175 votes in his favor. 

Tulsi Gabbard finished second with 103 votes, Bernie Sanders gathered 37 and Biden ended up fourth with 31.

Palmer thanked his supporters in a posting on X, formerly Twitter.

He said he was “honored to announce my victory in the American Samoa presidential primary. Thank you to the incredible community for your support. This win is a testament to the power of our voices. Together, we can rebuild the American Dream and shape a brighter future for all.”

Palmer told the Associated Press that winning the island’s Super Tuesday primary by only 11 votes came as a shock. 

He did not know he had won until his phone “started blowing up with friends and campaign staffers texting me.”

To call his campaign nontraditional would be an understatement. Palmer has never stepped foot on the island, but campaigned through Zoom town hall meetings. 

He said he carefully listened to residents’ concerns, and apparently it paid off.

Palmer is a businessman from Baltimore, Maryland. Residents of U.S. territories may vote in primaries but are not officially represented in the Electoral College.