Las Vegas – Former President Donald Trump, who won the Republican presidential caucus in Nevada, has his sights set on South Carolina, the next major race on the 2024 Republican nomination calendar.
An ebullient Trump pointed to the latest South Carolina polls showing him leading by double digits and asked, “Can we just call an election?”
There was no doubting the former president’s victory in the Nevada caucuses, as he is a strong front-runner for the Republican nomination seeking a third consecutive White House bid. Trump was the only major candidate in a race run by a friendly state party where only registered Republicans could vote.
Mr. Trump’s convincing victory came hours after he won a landslide victory in the presidential caucuses sponsored by the U.S. Virgin Islands Republican Party in Nevada, where 26 delegates were in contention.
Trump hits the jackpot in Las Vegas
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during the caucus night rally in Las Vegas, Thursday, February 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill))
And Thursday’s Nevada caucuses also came two days after he won Nevada’s Republican presidential primary despite not appearing on the ballot.
Trump’s absence from the primary vote was not enough to provide a path to victory for Nikki Haley, the former president’s last viable rival for the 2024 Republican nomination.
The former South Carolina governor, who served two terms and later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, voted more than 2-1 for “none of these candidates” on Tuesday in a primary election in which Republican convention delegates were absent. We lost by the difference. stake.
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Voters voting in the primary could not write Trump’s name, but they could “not vote for any of these candidates.” And a Trump supporter interviewed by Fox News outside the polling place said that’s how he voted.
President Trump mocked Haley on Thursday night, saying, “So I don’t want to congratulate any of the above.” “I was one of them.”
Haley, who hasn’t campaigned in Nevada since October, downplayed this week’s Silver State primaries and caucuses in an interview with Fox News Digital in Los Angeles on Wednesday, saying they were “like we’re “It was not something we had considered,” he said, criticizing the content. The caucuses were “rigged” for Trump.
Republican voters line up to enter the Republican presidential candidate rally venue at Lois and Jerry Tarkaninan Middle School on February 8, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Fox News – Monica Oros)
Trump won a majority of the votes in the Iowa caucuses on January 15, and a week later, in the New Hampshire primary, where the nomination race became a two-candidate race, he won an 11-point lead over Haley.
Haley has faced calls from some Republicans to end her bid for the White House, telling supporters in California this week: “I’m going to be in this for the long haul.”
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The next primary in South Carolina will be held on February 24th, and Trump will return to the state this weekend for the first time in two months.
The latest polls in the Palmetto State show Trump holding a commanding double-digit lead. And the former president has the support of the state’s governors, nearly the entire Congressional delegation, and numerous state legislators and local officials.
Dave Wilson, a veteran Republican consultant based in South Carolina, pointed to President Trump’s “swell” in the state and emphasized the former president’s “ground troops.”
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley waves to the crowd during a campaign event at New Realm Brewing Company on Sunday, February 4, 2024 in Charleston, South Carolina (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)
Wilson also said that “Nikki Haley is making a comeback in South Carolina,” as “nearly a million people have moved to the statehouse since Nikki Haley was governor.”
However, Wilson cited her undefeated election record and said, “Never underestimate Nikki Haley. Never count Nikki Haley out.”
Looking ahead, Haley reiterated, “Our focus is on South Carolina, Michigan and Super Tuesday.”
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Michigan’s primary will be held on Tuesday, February 27, three days after South Carolina’s Republican primary. Fifteen states, including the giant states of California and Texas, will hold contests a week later on Super Tuesday.
Haley’s two campaign stops in California on Wednesday were her first in the Super Tuesday state. And the swing to the Golden State appears to be a beacon for Ms. Haley, who is resisting calls from some Republicans to withdraw from the race and abandon her climb to the nomination.
The trip also included a series of fundraisers. And as Fox News Digital first reported Wednesday, Haley raised $1.7 million during her two days in California.
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“We were smart” when it came to campaign finance, Haley told Fox News Digital.
And she touted that “If you don’t manage your money well, you won’t be the last man standing against Donald Trump.”
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
