United States – On Sunday, the presidential contender, Nikki Haley, won the DC Republican primary in Washington. Her first win in the nominating process came with the DC primary, and it was also a symbolic win for Haley, according to an Edison Research poll.
Haley’s Strong Performance Against Trump
Haley was the lone challenger to the recently departed Donald Trump in the field, and she did quite well, as she managed to get 62.9% of the vote while the former President managed to get only 33.2%, as reported by Reuters.
“It’s not surprising that Republicans closest to Washington dysfunction are rejecting Donald Trump and all his chaos,” Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement.
Haley is the first to have won a Republican nomination in history, according to the statement of her campaign.
That alone is a daunting task, especially as she is running against all odds to win the Republican nomination, that seems not to be likely, to be put against President Joe Biden, a presumptive Democratic nominee, in November. While Trump took the first eight state ballots, winning by a considerable margin, Haley ousted him from his stronghold of Washington.
Meanwhile, the former United States president is predicted to capture all upcoming state primaries or caucuses, since the recent opinion surveys indicate.
In terms of political capital, the nation’s capital is completely urban, and it has a highly educated community that accounts for a large portion of the population. Trump’s supporters are concentrated in regions with low educational attainment and perform better in the areas defined as rural.
DC’s Unique Political Landscape
“I purposely stayed away from the DC Vote because it is the ‘Swamp,’ with very few delegates and no upside,” Trump said in a post on the Truth Social platform.
The city is as well a residence for numerous federal workers that Trump allies have promised to eliminate completely and replace with true Trump loyal in the case of his victory in November. Some categories of federal workers have faced an increase of death threats in the last few years, got the President referencing the DC area as the “swamp.”
Haley will, though, earn 19 of her delegates that is a minimal part of the 1,215 delegates needed to obtain the nomination.
Making her the winner could be a calling card that she is to able to gather some nomination votes, despite other Republicans seeing this as a negative. Many party leaders – Trump being one of them – visualize a place where crime is the dominant thing and leaders are robots.
Historical Context
This was not the first time Republicans in the capital refused to accept Trump. In the last District of Columbia Republican primary in 2016, Trump received only 13% of the vote and no delegates at all, but he still went on to win the nomination nationally.
On Tuesday, 15 states and one American territory with a total of 1357 delegates will hold their nominating contests which is the largest day of the presidential primary. This is when Super Tuesday happens, when 874 Republican delegates are up for grabs, as reported by Reuters.
In June, the Primaries in Washington state will be held for the Democrats.
Leave a Reply