Nikki Haley loses Trump-less Nevada primary to ‘none of these candidates’

Nevada’s primary concluded on Tuesday evening with a loss for Nikki Haley in a state where she refused to compete against frontrunner Donald Trump.

Thanks to a disagreement over Nevada’s switch from a caucus system to primaries after 2020 (which ended in a court battle), the Nevada Republican Party is holding two contests in 2024. The first was a state-sanctioned primary, which Ms Haley was projected by the AP and other outlets to lose to “none of these candidates”, on Tuesday evening. The second will be a round of caucuses held on Thursday.

Mr Trump is running in the caucuses; Ms Haley’s only rivals had all exited the race before Tuesday. And thanks to rules allowing political parties to run their own nominating contests as they see fit, the results of Thursday’s caucuses will determine who takes Nevada’s 26 delegates to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Ms Haley’s campaign has derided the caucus system in Nevada as “rigged” for Mr Trump and said repeatedly that she was refusing to participate. This line of defence has irked officials with Nevada’s Republican Party, who accused Ms Haley in turn of being afraid to challenge the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination in their state.

“We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada. We aren't going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that is rigged for Trump. Nevada is not and has never been our focus. I’m truly not sure what the Trump team is up to out there but they seem pretty spun up about it,” Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankey said earlier this week.

Ms Haley’s campaign is instead pouring resources into South Carolina, where she served as governor, and looking ahead to states set to vote on Super Tuesday in