Donald Trump wins Nevada’s Republican caucuses after being the only major candidate to participate
Former President Donald Trump won the Nevada Republican caucus Thursday, his fourth win on the 2024 road to the GOP presidential nomination.
Trump, facing virtually no competition in the contest, had more than 97% of the vote an hour after polls closed in the SIlver State.
All 26 delegates at stake in the race are projected to go to the former president and GOP front-runner.
He needs pledges from 1,215 more delegates to formally secure the party’s nomination for president, a feat that he could achieve by next month.
Trump’s victory comes two days after voters chose the “none of these candidates” option over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the Nevada primary, where no delegates were up for grabs.
Haley, 52, opted against running the state GOP-run caucus and did not campaign in Nevada.
Trump’s Nevada landslide was all but assured, but his supporters still waited in long lines Thursday to cast their ballots.
One Reno-area elementary school caucus site had a line of nearly 1,000 people just 20 minutes after it opened, according to the Associated Press.
“I think it’s about backing Trump up and giving him the support that he needs. And to let people know that we’re supporting him,” Heather Kirkwood, 47, told the outlet.
The Democratic candidate has won Nevada in each of the last four presidential elections, but in 2020 the state only narrowly went for President Biden, who received just 50.1% of the vote, or about 33,000 more votes thanTrump.
In 2022, voters elected Republican Joe Lombardo to the governorship. The former sheriff was endorsed by Trump and Lombardo returned the favor last month, announcing that he will back Trump for the White House.
The next race on the primary calendar for Trump and Haley will be the South Carolina primary, where the former president is leading the former governor by more than 30 points, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.
However, Haley claims she’s “just getting started” in her home state.
