(USNewsMag.com) – Former President Donald Trump moved closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination after a sweeping victory in Nevada’s primary caucus.
Since he announced his bid for the White House in November 2022, Trump has been the front-runner for the GOP nomination. He was the only major candidate to appear on the Nevada caucus ballot, so his victory on Thursday, February 8th, was certainly not a surprise to the Nevada GOP, who unified around the former president.
The last remaining challenger to Trump is former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who did not appear on the caucus ballot. Although registered Republican voters could vote in either the caucus or the state primary election, candidates had to choose between participating in one or the other.
Haley and other major candidates who have since dropped out all decided against participating in the caucus because they viewed Nevada’s GOP as already favoring Trump. After the results came in, she said the Silver State’s contest was “such a scam” and accused Trump of rigging the state by encouraging Republicans to form a caucus and reject the primary, which she participated in and embarrassingly lost to the option of “none of these candidates” on the ballot. Even if Haley won, the 26 delegates for Nevada were only obtainable through the caucus.
Michael McDonald, Chair of the Nevada Republican Party, openly endorsed Trump and described Haley as “not a real serious candidate.” McDonald said “the fact of the matter” is that Haley didn’t bother to campaign in the state, noting how she was beaten by “none of the above” for that reason. Haley said her campaign “knew months ago” that they weren’t planning to “spend a day or a dollar” in the state because they felt “it wasn’t worth it.”
Trump won over 99% of the caucus vote, calling it a “tremendous turnout.” The former president was accompanied by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum during the victory speech, who was running in the race himself and dropped out a few months ago and is rumored to be a potential running mate for Trump.
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