HALE OF A MESS
‘Bad night for Nikki Haley,’ Trump boasts as she loses Nevada primary to ‘none of these candidates’ & Biden wins Dems
Nikki Haley's biggest competitor in Nevada's primary was a 'none of these candidates' ballot option
DONALD Trump has mercilessly mocked Nikki Haley after she lost the Nevada primary to the "none of these candidates" option on the ballot.
Haley suffered a stunning defeat in the GOP contest, while President Joe Biden stormed to victory in the Democratic Party's state primary which was also held on Tuesday night.
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More than 42,500 people selected the "None of these candidates" option with 86% of the estimated vote counted.
Haley has received 20,799 votes and is languishing at 30.8%.
She is more than 30 points behind the "None of these candidates" option.
So far, more than 67,500 votes have been counted.
Haley received less than 10,000 votes in Clark County, which is home to Las Vegas and the state's most populous county.
Mike Pence and Tim Scott, who have already suspended their presidential campaigns, look set to come in third and fourth place.
Pence picked up more than 2,700 votes in the contest.
The results have been mocked by Donald Trump, who is storming to the Republican Party's presidential nomination.
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"A bad night for Nikki Haley," he gloated on Truth Social after the result was called.
"Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada to 'None of These Candidates.'
"Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!"
Trump was not on the ballot as he is taking part in Nevada's caucus on Thursday.
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The former UN ambassador claimed she put in little effort to campaign in Nevada.
She said she was going to “focus on the states that are fair” after alleging the caucus was rigged for a Trump win.
Before the Nevada primary results came in, Haley on X, formerly known as Twitter, "Even on our worst days, we are blessed to live in America."
While Trump opted out of Tuesday's primary, he will run in Nevada's caucuses on Thursday, which Republicans will use to allocate delegates to the national convention.
The confusing double vote comes after Nevada's electoral system was plunged into chaos.
Democratic lawmakers in the state passed legislation to switch the caucuses to a primary following delays in the vote count in 2020.
The state's Republican Party was left reeling over the decision but was unsuccessful in getting it changed through the courts.
The GOP caucus will see 26 delegates awarded to the winner.
'UNFAIR'
Haley’s campaign on Monday referred to the state’s caucus as “rigged” toward a Trump win.
“In terms of Nevada, we have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada,” Haley's campaign manager, Betsy Ankney, told reporters.
“We made the decision early on that we were not going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity … to participate in a process that was rigged for Trump.
"So Nevada is not, and has never been our focus."
Haley's spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said, "Even Donald Trump knows that when you play penny slots, the house wins."
"We didn’t bother to play a game rigged for Trump.
"We’re full steam ahead in South Carolina and beyond."
Haley’s top competition in the Nevada primary was a “none of these candidates” option, which Nevada requires to be a choice on the ballot.
Republicans can vote in both the primary and the caucus, meaning Trump loyalists were able to cast a ballot for "none" rather than Haley on Tuesday to prevent her from taking a primary win.
STATE'S SWITCH-UP
Nevada passed a law in 2021 that scrapped its caucus to focus on the primary, but the GOP opposed the decision and decided to still have the caucus.
The decision also means that only the winner of the caucus will receive the 26 GOP delegates for Nevada.
Nevada’s GOP website highlighted that “candidates that chose to appear on the state-run primary ballot did so knowing that decision meant they could not earn delegates by appearing on the caucus ballots.”
Nevada is one of the crucial swing states that will be up for grabs in November's election.
George W. Bush was the last Republican to win the state in 2004.
Current polls suggest that Trump could pick up the state come November, per .
THURSDAY'S VOTE
Nevada’s caucuses are scheduled for Thursday, February 8, from 5 pm to 7:30 pm.
Trump opted out of the primary and has decided to only participate in the caucus.
He even instructed his followers in Nevada to ignore the primary.
“Your primary vote doesn’t mean anything. It’s your caucus vote,” Trump told supporters in Las Vegas last month.
“So in your state, you have both the primary and you have a caucus. Don’t worry about the primary, just do the caucus thing.”
Only Trump and Ryan Binkley will appear on the caucus ballot.
Binkley is considered a long-shot candidate and Trump is expected to take the win.
To participate in Nevada’s caucus, you must be a registered Nevada Republican.
The votes will be finalized and released to the public on Thursday.
The Nevada caucus will also be the first caucus to occur in the West.
Biden, meanwhile, comprehensively won the Democratic primary and will pick up 33 delegates.
He is polling at 89.3% having received more than 96,000 votes.
The "None of these candidates" option finished ahead of author Marianne Williamson.
More than 85% of the vote from the state is in.
"Thank you, Nevada! We're building a campaign that leaves no one behind. Let's keep up this momentum," on X.
Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips missed the deadline to be on Nevada’s primary ballot.
Biden held a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday and told the crowd that they would “make Donald Trump a loser again.”
After Nevada, the GOP race heads to South Carolina for the state's presidential primary, held on February 24.
Political expert David Richards, from the University of Lynchburg in Virginia, told The U.S. Sun that Haley should end her campaign if she wants to avoid a humiliating result.
He believes her campaign team may be talking about the possibility amongst themselves.
"At this point, the polls are so clear that if she wants to avoid embarrassment, she should probably wrap things up," he said.
"They [Her team] have to be talking about it amongst themselves. How could they not be?
"If she has good advisors, they will tell her to quit while everyone still likes her."
But if she loses narrowly in South Carolina, Richards said she might be able to spin that she has had some momentum before ending her campaign.
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Trump and Haley will be battling for the 50 delegates that are up for grabs.
South Carolina is Haley's home state, but Trump boasts an advantage of more than 30 percentage points, per the average polls.
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