After losing all of the GOP primaries thus far and with all eyes on another anticipated Trump blowout on Super Tuesday tomorrow, many have been asking the same question. Is there any place where Nikki Haley could possibly win? I was guilty of that myself. But it appears that almost all of us forgot about the District of Columbia. They held their primary this weekend and Haley somehow walked away with a victory. She will be awarded all 19 of DC’s delegates. But before anyone gets too overly excited about a potential Haley surge, keep in mind that this victory came in a place where Republicans are about as common as unicorns. (NY Post)
Nikki Haley won the Republican primary in Washington, DC Sunday — cinching her very first 2024 primary victory against frontrunner Donald Trump.
Haley, 52, was declared the winner by the Associated Press after taking all 19 delegates at stake in a GOP primary that took place in one of the most heavily Democratic jurisdictions in the country.
DC counts just 23,000 registered Republicans.
The District has a population of nearly three-quarters of a million people. Out of those, they count approximately 23,000 registered Republicans, most of whom are probably staffers working for Congressional Republicans. The vast majority of them stayed home this weekend. The AP has the official results and, to her credit, Haley significantly outperformed Donald Trump by a nearly two-to-one margin. She brought in 1,274 votes to Trump’s 676. Ron DeSantis and Chris Christie accounted for another 56 between them.
That means that even among the minuscule number of registered Republicans in DC, barely 2,000 of them bothered to show up and vote in the primary. But can you really blame the rest of them? I didn’t even bother putting up a post with a vote-tracking widget for this race. With apologies, I will confess that I completely forgot it was happening.
Both Haley and Trump seemed to display a good sense of humor over the results. Trump congratulated her on being named the “Queen of the Swamp.” Haley laughed about it, asking, “Who says there are no Republicans in DC?” Trying to make the best of the situation, her spokesperson was quick to point out that the victory made Nikki Haley the first woman to ever win a GOP presidential primary in the history of the country. I suppose that’s technically true and will put her into the political trivia books but with less than 1,300 votes? Come on. man…
I tried to think of one bone to toss to Haley’s supporters and a possibility came to mind, no matter how unlikely it is. The DC GOP primary seemed to show that the Republican base is largely looking at the primary as being basically over and they are itching to move on to the general election and the looming battle with Joe Biden. If Trump’s supporters were to stay home in massive numbers tomorrow and Haley’s backers are so desperate to stop Trump that every last one of them turned out, might she sneak through with a couple more victories? Would that translate to a sufficient number of delegates to make the race look competitive? I honestly don’t see it happening and Trump is still whipping up his audiences during rallies to show up and vote. But who knows? We’re living in an era where crazy things happen on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, Trump won caucuses in Michigan, Missouri, and Idaho. Those contests will also not have much of an impact on the race for the nomination. Haley has said she would stay in the race until Super Tuesday. She also recently implied she was no longer obligated to support the eventual nominee. That may backfire on her bigly and be the final nail in the coffin of er 2028 hopes.
Read the full article here
