Nikki Haley emerged victorious in the Republican primary in the District of Columbia, marking her inaugural triumph in the 2024 electoral race. This success on Sunday momentarily disrupts Donald Trump’s pervasive dominance in GOP voting contests, although the ex-president is anticipated to amass additional delegates in the upcoming Super Tuesday races this week.
Despite facing early setbacks, Haley affirmed her commitment to stay in the race until these contests conclude. She refrained from specifying any primary where she felt assured of victory. Following a defeat in her home state of South Carolina last week, Haley maintained her stance that voters in subsequent locations deserved an alternative to Trump, despite his prevailing influence in the campaign thus far.
The Associated Press officially declared Haley the winner on Sunday night, following the release of results by D.C. Republican Party officials. She secured all 19 delegates at stake. Washington stands as one of the most predominantly Democratic jurisdictions in the nation, with a mere 23,000 registered Republicans in the city. In the 2020 general election, Democrat Joe Biden clinched the district with a resounding 92% of the vote.
Haley conducted a rally in the nation’s capital on Friday before heading back to North Carolina and participating in a series of states hosting Super Tuesday primaries. Addressing more than 100 supporters within a hotel ballroom, she jestingly remarked, “Who claims there are no Republicans in D.C.? Come on.” Haley added, “We’re striving to ensure that we touch every hand we can and engage with every individual.”
While delivering her customary campaign speech, wherein she criticized Trump for inflating the federal deficit, an attendee at the rally exclaimed, “He cannot secure a general election. It’s madness.” Haley concurred, asserting that she can thwart Biden’s bid for a second term, a feat she believes Trump cannot achieve. Despite presenting herself as a staunch conservative, Haley tends to resonate better with moderate and independent-leaning voters.
In South Carolina’s GOP primary, four out of ten Haley supporters identified as self-described moderates, in contrast to Trump’s 15%, as per AP VoteCast, a survey involving over 2,400 voters participating in the Republican primary in South Carolina, conducted for AP by NORC at the University of Chicago. Conversely, eight out of ten Trump supporters identified as conservatives, compared to approximately half of Haley’s supporters.
Although Trump emerged uncontested in the D.C. primary during his 2020 reelection campaign, he secured a distant third position four years prior, trailing behind Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Rubio’s triumph constituted one of only three victories in his unsuccessful 2016 bid. Other more centrist Republicans, such as Mitt Romney and John McCain, clinched victories in the city’s primaries in 2012 and 2008 en route to securing the GOP nomination.