Nikki Haley was defeated in the Nevada GOP primary Tuesday night despite frontrunner Donald Trump’s absence from the ballot, as Nevada Republicans chose the “none of these candidates” option over any of the named candidates they were presented.
As of Wednesday morning, with 86 percent of the vote counted, the “none of these candidates” option had racked up 63 percent of the vote, more than doubling Haley’s 30.8 percent. Former vice president Mike Pence and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, both of whom dropped out of the race months ago, each came in at under 5 percent.
Former president Donald Trump — who currently holds a 54.7 percent lead in national GOP polls, according to the RealClearPolitics average — did not compete in the primary, choosing instead to enter Thursday night’s caucus run by the state Republican Party. In a twist unique to this year’s contests, GOP candidates were required to decide between the primary and the caucus. Nevada had traditionally held the latter option in each presidential election cycle, but after the state passed a law in 2021 replacing the caucus with a primary and its Republican Party unsuccessfully sued, the Nevada GOP established its own caucus.
While registered Republicans are able to vote in both contests, only the results of Thursday night’s caucus will determine the allocation of the state’s delegates, and Trump is the only major candidate on that ballot.
Haley’s campaign on Monday described Nevada’s system as being “rigged” in Trump’s favor, arguing that the confusing nature of the split between caucus and primary has meant that the campaign has not placed much emphasis on the state in its strategy.
On the other side of the aisle, President Joe Biden won the Silver State with 90.2 percent of the votes counted, while the Democratic Party’s “none of these candidates” option won 5.7 percent. The next closest candidate was Marianne Williamson with 2.5 percent.