Nikki Haley beat Donald Trump for the very first time in the Washington, D.C., Republican primary Sunday night handing her what might be her only win heading into Super Tuesday.
The D.C. Republican Party reported Haley won 62 percent compared to Trump’s 33 percent with only 2,035 voters participating. That makes Haley the first Republican woman to ever win a primary in U.S. history.
The result in D.C. comes one day after Trump’s clean sweep of GOP primaries in Idaho, Michigan and Missouri on Saturday as he inches closer to a rematch with Biden in November.
Her win in Democrat-run and urban D.C. shakes Trump’s stronghold on nearly every facet of the Republican Party, but it isn’t expected to make a massive impact nationwide.
Trump and Haley were vying for the district’s coveted 19 Republican delegates – out of 2,429 total to the Republican National Convention in July – in the race that came down to the wire. Now going into Super Tuesday, Trump has 244 delegates to Haley’s 43 with 1,215 needed for the GOP nomination.
D.C. was seen as Haley’s best shot at beating Trump in any primary race as the former president is expected to sweep the 15 upcoming Super Tuesday states.
In 2016, Trump finished at just 14 percent in a distant third place in D.C.’s GOP primary behind Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. And although he won in 2020 in an uncontested race, only about 2,800 Republicans total voted.
The Trump campaign is signaling that the D.C. contest isn’t as important as 15 states and one territory are set to vote on Super Tuesday
The former South Carolina governor made a stop at the Madison Hotel Friday afternoon after polls opened in a plea for the district’s few Republicans to back her over Trump
Thousands of voters from 15 states will head to the polls for what has been known since the 1970s as ‘Super Tuesday’
The few and far between Republicans who reside in the nation’s capital were able to cast their ballots during the closed party-run primary at just one location – the Madison Hotel – from Friday through Sunday.
The Trump campaign was reportedly keeping an eye on whether D.C. lobbyists showed up to the polls – threatening that they wouldn’t get access to a Trump-led White House in the future if they failed to vote for him in the primary.
Trump did not visit D.C. for one of his signature political rallies, and has repeatedly slammed the district for being so left-wing. He has called the nation’s capital a ‘rat-infested, graffiti-infested sh**hole!’
However, the former South Carolina governor made a stop at the Madison Hotel Friday after polls opened to rally the district’s roughly 23,000 registered Republicans to back her over Trump.
She cracked a joke at the top, teasing ‘who says there are no Republicans in D.C.!’ to laughs among the crowd of GOP voters living in a heavily Democratic district.
The 2024 hopeful ran through her stump speech taking shots at the inefficiency of Congress, which landed well in the DC-based group, and at Biden and Trump’s failures on the economy and immigration.
Haley urged voters to ‘get loud’ and gather friends and family to ‘send a message’ in the primary that ‘we need to go in a new direction.’
‘I can’t believe this is the only place you can vote,’ she quipped to laughter among the roughly 150 gathered in a tight space within the hotel.
‘So y’all cannot leave until you vote,’ she teased.
‘This is the time we need to go in a new direction with a new generation a leader that can put in eight years, day and night. No negativity, no drama, no vendettas just hard core results for the American people. It’s time.’
GOP voters in the crowd Friday said they are fed up with Trump and want Haley to restore a sense of dignity to the office of the president.
They loudly ‘booed’ whenever she mentioned Trump and were riled up over the former president’s swipes at veterans and at his political rivals.
D.C. voter Dan Schubert told DailyMail.com that he voted for Nikki because America needs a ‘fresh face’ in the White House after years of ‘chaos’ from Trump and Biden.
‘We’ve got an alternative now to have a bright future with a smart, savvy experienced candidate that’s going to take our country in a bright new direction,’ he added.
2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley is in Washington, D.C., today to try and woo the district’s few Republican voters in that nation’s capital
Dan said the ‘energy in the room’ during her remarks proves that there is momentum for her and she has a ‘tremendous chance to win this weekend.’
‘I think if she wins in in the District of Columbia, I think Super Tuesday is gonna look a little different,’ he added.
National security was an especially important issue to voters assembled, who cited it as their top concern.
Another D.C. voter, Laura, told DailyMail.com that Haley is efficient on the issue.
‘A large part of the job of president is foreign relations,’ she said. ‘And I think [Haley] would do a better job than any of the other candidates who are still in the race.’
She also said it’s time for a ‘pro-life female president’ in the White House.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign was signaling that the D.C. contest isn’t as important as 15 states and one territory are set to vote on Super Tuesday – upcoming on March 5.
There are 874 delegates up for grabs – 36 percent – of all delegates to the Republican National Convention this summer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
‘Republican voters have delivered resounding wins for President Trump in every single primary contest and this race is over,’ a Trump campaign spokesperson said.
‘Our focus is now on Joe Biden and the general election.’
A Saturday NY Times/Siena poll found that Trump is leading Haley by 55 points in the race for the Republican nomination going into Super Tuesday.
Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Nikki Haley are the three left in the 2024 contest
The Haley campaign has been urging voters in the district to get to the hotel
Haley’s campaign is not losing momentum – she also revealed earlier Friday that her campaign raised $12 million in February alone despite losing every primary contest thus far
The former South Carolina governor pledged to remain in the race until at least Super Tuesday.
But her campaign is not losing momentum – she also revealed earlier Friday that her campaign raised $12 million in February alone despite losing every primary contest thus far.