Tipsheet

Here's Who Won the Nevada Republican Primary. It Wasn't Nikki Haley.

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  February 07, 2024 5:30 AM

I stand corrected: Nikki Haley didn’t win the Nevada primary last night. Even with Trump not on the ballot—the former South Carolina governor could not win. If you were registered as a Republican before January 9, voters could cast ballots in the primary, held last night, and the upcoming caucus, which will be held this Thursday between 5-7:30 PM local time 8-10:30 PM EST. 

The primary wasn’t the contest where delegates would be allocated, something the Nevada Republican Party made quite clear months in advance. Haley was on the ballot with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence, both of whom dropped out of the race months ago. Even though this primary meant nothing, it would ensure a Haley win, albeit a symbolic one, right? Nope. Another ballot option, ‘none of these candidates,’ got the most votes last night. The ‘none of the above’ option clinched 62.9 percent of the vote compared to Nikki’s 30.8 (via Politico): 


Nikki Haley suffered a major embarrassment in Nevada on Tuesday, finishing far behind “none of these candidates” in a presidential primary in which Donald Trump didn’t even compete. 

Haley’s second-place drubbing to the disembodied alternative on the ballot came in an otherwise no-stakes primary that will not award delegates to the Republican Party’s presidential nominating convention. Trump is expected to romp in the contest that will award delegates, the party-run caucus later this week. 

For Haley’s allies, Tuesday’s setback — she has not yet won a single state in the presidential primary — was already the subject of heavy pre-spinning. Some Trump loyalists in the state had actively encouraged his supporters to mark “none of these candidates” to protest her.  

“Trump’s supporters will follow that man through the gates of hell,” said Chuck Muth, a former Nevada Republican Party executive director and conservative activist and writer. 

Haley’s loss to “none of these candidates” is not unprecedented. It happened in a Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2014. 

[…] 

The state party prohibited candidates who participated in the state-run primary from also running in the party-run caucus, so Haley’s campaign effectively ignored the state and dismissed its process as “rigged for Trump.” She chose to spend the week campaigning in her home state of South Carolina ahead of its Feb. 24 primary and hopscotching between wealthy California enclaves to raise money and rally ahead of its March 5 Super Tuesday primary. 

What a humiliating loss and a massive sign that this campaign should fold up shop before an inevitable South Carolina beatdown occurs on February 24.