Trump wins in Nevada, primary custom made for him Politics

It was a contest made for Donald Trump, and he predictably won it Thursday night, as Nevada Republicans cast nearly all of their votes in the Silver State’s caucuses to advance Trump as the 2024 presidential nominee.

With 1% of the vote, the Associated Press called the race the most lopsided victory for Trump, who had 98% of the vote. The feat was made easier by the fact that his only competition was a nominal opponent who was not even registered on the GOP primary ballot.

Most of Trump’s primary foes – including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – had already dropped out of the race before this week and endorsed Trump, his main rival. Nikki was the former governor of South Carolina. Haley was not on the ballot for Thursday’s caucuses, instead opting to compete in the primary earlier this week where no delegates were awarded.

Trump’s only competition on Thursday was Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley, who had 2% of the vote when Trump was declared the winner.

While Nevada has long held caucuses, the process has been criticized as exclusionary because it requires people to meet and vote during an hour-long event in one evening.

Opponents argue that it attracts party activists and radicals, and excludes those whose jobs or family obligations make it difficult for them to attend caucuses.

The state decided to move to state-run primaries and allow early voting and mail-in voting. But the state Republican Party, angered by the change, launched its own rebuke, holding a primary that made no sense, followed by a party-run caucus that allocated all of Nevada’s delegates to the Republican National Convention.

The arrangement was widely seen as a plan to boost Trump, whose dedicated supporters are believed to be more willing to make the effort to vote in the caucuses.

Haley, resisting the $55,000 fee to attend the caucuses, was hoping to score a big win in the primaries last Tuesday – winning their attention, if not the delegates’ attention, as she heads into the February 24 primary. She was headed to her home state of South Carolina.

Instead, Haley suffered a humiliating performance, with “None of These Candidates” – an option offered to Nevada voters in both the primaries and general elections – receiving 63% of the vote compared to 30% won by Haley. Happened.

It’s unclear why so many people didn’t turn out to vote for anyone Tuesday, even though Haley was the only active candidate left on the ballot. But it was a sign to Haley that a large majority of Nevada Republicans wanted her out of the race to clear the way for Trump.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump won the Virgin Islands Republican caucus, with 74% of the vote and 24% voting for Haley.