Nikki Haley beats Donald Trump in Washington DC for first primary victory

Nikki Haley beats Donald Trump in Washington DC for first primary victory

Nikki Haley secured victory over Donald Trump in the Republican primary in Washington DC. This marks her first triumph over the former president in the 2024 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Despite losing in her home state of South Carolina, Haley made history as the first woman to win a Republican primary in US politics.

However, Trump maintains a substantial lead over Haley and remains the frontrunner to potentially face Joe Biden in the November election. While Haley will receive all 19 Republican delegates from Washington DC, bringing her total delegate count to 43 nationwide, Trump holds a commanding lead with 247 delegates.

In the primary, Haley garnered 62.9% of the vote compared to Trump’s 33.2%. Nevertheless, this victory is largely symbolic due to Washington DC’s strong Democratic-leaning demographics, with only approximately 23,000 registered Republicans in the district.

Despite the low Republican turnout, around 2,035 Republicans participated in the primary, as reported by the Washington Post. 

Haley’s campaign national spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said: “it’s not surprising that Republicans closest to Washington dysfunction are rejecting Donald Trump and all his chaos”.