Nikki Haley notches first win in bid for GOP presidential nomination, upsets Trump in DC primary:- WASHINGTON—Nikki Haley beat Donald Trump in the Republican primary on Sunday in Washington, D.C. It was her first win, but she still has a long way to go to get the 2024 GOP presidential nod.
Nikki Haley notches first win in bid for GOP presidential nomination, upsets Trump in DC primary
Haley, who used to be governor of South Carolina, won all 19 conference delegates and more than 62% of the votes from the few Republicans in DC who showed up for the three-day primary. There are now more than a dozen elections on “Super Tuesday” where she is running against Trump. Trump is likely to win those races, but the surprise outcome in Washington could be a sign that things will get better for her campaign.
Haley said, “Let’s do it,” on the social media site X, which used to be Twitter. “Thanks, DC! We fight over every inch.
She wrote in another post, “Republicans who live closest to the chaos in Washington know that Donald Trump has brought nothing but chaos and division for the past eight years.” We need to start winning again so that our country can move forward!”
Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokeswoman for Haley, said, “It’s not surprising that Republicans who are closest to the dysfunction in Washington are rejecting Donald Trump and all of his chaos.” She also said, “Nikki Haley is the first woman in U.S. history to win a Republican primary.”
Trump wrote on his Truth Social website that he “purposely stayed away from the D.C. Vote because it is the ‘Swamp'” and doesn’t matter. “The really big numbers will come on Super Tuesday,” he said.
The Trump team had already made fun of Haley’s win in Washington, D.C., which they called a “swamp” of bad politics.
In a statement, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and DC insiders that want to protect the failed status quo.” She also said, “The swamp has claimed their queen.”
Approaching Super Tuesday
No one from the Republican Party can be seen in Washington, D.C. A city with almost 680,000 people had a little more than 2,000 people vote in the GOP primary.
Trump had already beaten Haley in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, where she was born and raised.
GOP strategist Doug Heye said, “Trump supporters can whine about “the swamp” all they want, but a lot of people who worked for Trump and know him and his administration best turned him down.”
Only 19 of the 2,429 Republicans from D.C. are going to their national conference in Milwaukee from July 15th to 18th.
The Associated Press reports that Trump started the day with 244 delegates, while Haley only had 24. For the former president to get the nod, he needs 1,215 delegates. On Super Tuesday, 845 of those delegates will be available.
There aren’t many Republicans in Washington, D.C., but the caucuses got some attention because the Trump campaign is said to have made threats against lobbyists, a group of voters.
Politico said that people working for Trump told politicians that “if they don’t vote in this Sunday’s primary, they won’t get access should the former president end up back in the White House.”
The Trump campaign has been threatening to shun Haley’s donors, so she spoke out against the harsh tactics the day before she won in the nation’s capital.
According to Haley, this election is about politicians who want people to join their group, not those who want to scare them or kick them out. “Do we want that from our leader?” These people will mostly tell you “no, that’s enough for now.”