Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is focusing her attention on the upcoming primary in her home state of South Carolina later this month, as well as on Super Tuesday in early March.
Haley is playing down the significance of this week’s primary and caucus in Nevada, stating they weren’t a priority for her campaign. She also accused the caucus of being “rigged” in favor of former President Donald Trump.
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Haley made her remarks on Wednesday, a day after she suffered a significant defeat, losing by a more than two-to-one margin to the “none of these candidates” option in Nevada’s state-run GOP presidential primary. This contest was exclusively open to registered Republican voters.
Trump, who is the clear front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination as he seeks a third consecutive term in the White House, was not listed on Tuesday’s ballot. Despite this, voters participating in the state-run Republican nominating contest were unable to write in Trump’s name, but they had the option to vote for “none of these candidates.”
On a primary day in Las Vegas, Trump supporters interviewed by US Newzs indicated that they were voting for “none of these candidates.” Despite Haley’s presence on the ballot, the former two-term South Carolina governor, who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, chose to ignore the Nevada primary.
Haley did not actively campaign in Nevada before the primary and has not visited the state since speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference in late October. Haley’s campaign manager, Betsy Ankney, informed reporters on Monday that they hadn’t invested any resources or effort into Nevada. Ankney stated, “In terms of Nevada, we have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada. So Nevada is not and has never been our focus.”
Speaking with US 11 Los Angeles during a visit to Southern California on Wednesday, Haley emphasized that her campaign had made a strategic decision months ago not to allocate any time or resources to Nevada, as they deemed it not worth the investment. She stated, “We knew months ago that we weren’t going to spend a day or a dollar in Nevada because it wasn’t worth it. And so we didn’t even count Nevada. That wasn’t anything we were looking at.”
Hours earlier, as the votes were being tallied on Tuesday night, the former president used his Truth Social network to criticize Haley.
Related Post: Haley loses the Nevada Republican primary even though Trump wasn’t on the ballot
“Bad night for Nikki Haley. Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada to ‘None of These Candidates.’ Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!” he asserted.
Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita alleged, “More embarrassment coming in South Carolina…the @NikkiHaley Delusional Tour continues,” in a social media post.
Although Trump’s name wasn’t on the primary ballot, it will appear on Thursday in a presidential caucus organized by the Nevada GOP.
The confusion surrounding the existence of two competing contests dates back to 2021 when Democrats, who then held both Nevada’s governor’s office and the legislature, passed a law transitioning the presidential nominating contest from traditional caucuses to a state-run primary.
The Nevada GOP raised objections, but their legal attempt to halt the primary was dismissed last year. In an unexpected turn, the judge permitted the state Republicans to conduct their caucuses, offering all 26 delegates for contention.
The state GOP decreed that candidates who appeared on the state-run primary ballot would be ineligible to participate in the caucuses.
Haley, along with some other Republican presidential candidates who have since dropped out, perceived the Nevada GOP as overly aligned with Trump and opted to bypass a caucus they felt was biased toward the former president.
Both Michael McDonald, chair of the Nevada GOP, and the state’s two representatives on the Republican National Committee are staunch supporters of Trump.
“We decided early on that we wouldn’t shell out $55,000 to a Trump-associated entity just to partake in a process that was skewed in favor of Trump,” Ankney argued on Monday.
Haley asserted on Wednesday, “Nevada—it’s such a scam. They were supposed to hold a primary. Trump manipulated it so the GOP chairman—who’s been indicted—would organize a caucus.”
“We were aware from the beginning that it was rigged,” Haley argued.
In response, McDonald claimed that Haley “is not a genuine serious candidate.”
“The reality is she didn’t make an appearance. She didn’t campaign in Nevada and neither did ‘none of the above,’ and ‘none of the above’ emerged victorious,” stated the Nevada GOP chair to US Newzs Digital.
Looking forward, Haley reiterated, “Our focus is on South Carolina, Michigan, and Super Tuesday.”
Michigan is set to hold its primary on Tuesday, February 27, just three days following the South Carolina Republican primary. A week later, on Super Tuesday, fifteen states, including California and Texas, host their contests.
Haley’s two campaign stops in California on Wednesday marked her first visits to any of the Super Tuesday states thus far. This shift to the Golden State seems to serve as a signal for Haley as she resists calls from some Republicans to withdraw from the race and abandon her challenging pursuit of the nomination.
The trip also encompassed a series of fundraising events. As initially reported by US Newzs Digital on Wednesday, Haley collected $1.7 million in fundraising during her two-day visit to California.