In Tuesday’s Nevada Republican primary, Donald Trump emerged victorious despite not being listed on the ballot.
Instead, voters chose the ‘none of these candidates’ option over Trump’s primary opponent, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Haley refrained from campaigning in the state, citing allegations of election manipulation in favor of Trump.
The contest concluded at 9:01 p.m. PST, with 60.4 percent of voters opting for no candidate and 33.2 percent supporting Haley, based on roughly half of the vote tallies.
The Associated Press projected that this option would surpass Haley in the primary, which did not allocate delegates to the upcoming Republican convention.
Trump supporters interviewed by Fox News at polling stations indicated their preference for “none of these candidates.”
Despite being listed on the ballot, the former two-term South Carolina governor and subsequent U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, Nikki Haley, disregarded the Nevada primary.
Haley refrained from engaging in campaign activities in Nevada before the primary and has not visited the state since her speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference in late October.
Betsy Ankney, Haley’s campaign manager, informed reporters on Monday that they had not allocated any resources or efforts towards Nevada. She emphasized that Nevada was not, and had never been, their focal point.
As the vote count progressed, the former president utilized his Truth social network to criticize Haley.
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“A bad night for Nikki Haley. Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada to “None of These Candidates.” Watch, she’ll soon claim victory!” he argued.
Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita indicated Haley’s home state, where the next significant contest in the GOP nominating calendar takes place on Feb. 24.
“In yet another twist of embarrassment unfolding in South Carolina, LaCivita asserted in a recent social media update that the ‘@NikkiHaley Delusional Tour’ persists.
Although Trump, the dominant frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination as he pursues his third consecutive White House bid, was absent from the primary ballot, his name is set to appear on Thursday in a presidential caucus organized by the Nevada GOP.
The confusion stemming from the presence of two conflicting contests traces back to 2021, when Democrats, then in control of both Nevada’s governor’s office and the legislature, enacted legislation transitioning the presidential nominating contest from traditional caucuses to a state-administered primary.”
Last year, the Nevada GOP contested the primary’s continuation but faced rejection in their legal endeavor. However, the judge overseeing the case permitted state Republicans to conduct their own caucuses, offering access to all 26 delegates.
The state GOP mandated that candidates listed on the state-managed primary ballot were ineligible for participation in the caucuses. Haley and other former Republican presidential candidates perceived the Nevada GOP’s allegiance to Trump as excessive and opted out of a caucus they felt favored the former president.
Michael McDonald, chair of the Nevada GOP, along with both Republican National Committee members from the state, are staunch supporters of Trump.
“We made the decision early on that we were not going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity that, you know, to participate in a process that was rigged for Trump,” Ankney argued.