KEY POINTS
- Former President Donald Trump won the Silver State’s Republican presidential caucuses Thursday
- He was the only major contender as his last major GOP rival Nikki Haley did not participate
- Trump also bagged another win Thursday at a Republican caucus held in the Virgin Islands
Former President Donald Trump won Nevada’s Republican presidential caucuses, pushing him closer to a rematch with President Joe Biden in November.
Picking up a widely-expected victory in the Silver State, Trump won all 26 of the state’s delegates after being the only major candidate to compete, according to AP News.
The Nevada caucuses, held Thursday, was the second Republican presidential contest held in the state in just three days. It was also the only one that has an official impact on the race for the GOP nomination because Tuesday’s primary in Nevada had no Republican delegates allocated.
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is the last major contender standing in the way of Trump’s GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, opted to participate in Nevada’s symbolic state-run primary on Tuesday, making her the only Republican candidate on the ballot.
A majority of the Nevada GOP voters chose the option of voting for “none of these candidates,” thus serving Haley a defeat in the Tuesday Republican primary.
The ballot for the Thursday caucuses, which Trump opted to compete in, did not provide a “none of these candidates” option.
Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley was Trump’s only challenger in the race Thursday.
Trump also bagged another win at a Republican caucus held Thursday in the Virgin Islands, which only awards four delegates.
The winner of the GOP nomination has to win at least 1,215 out of 2,429 delegates awarded as part of the primary process.
So far, Trump has secured victory after victory with his wins in the Iowa Caucus, the New Hampshire primary, the Virgin Islands caucus and the Nevada caucus.
The next GOP contest is in South Carolina, which is Haley’s home turf.
Haley has won two elections as South Carolina’s governor and would hope to leverage the home-state advantage to push her to a win in the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24.
As Trump attempts to elbow Haley out of the race, he spoke about her Thursday outside of his Mar-a-Lago home.
“I think she hurts herself, but I think she hurts the party, and in a way hurts the country,” Trump said.
