WASHINGTON: Former President Donald Trump has won the Nevada Republican caucus by a large margin. The only other person whose name was on the ballot was Ryan Binkley, a pastor and businessman. It means Trump will take all Nevada’s 26 delegates, the system used by the parties to determine their presidential candidate.
Initial results showed the former president gaining over 99% of the vote. Briefly addressing a victory party in Las Vegas, Donald Trump said: “If we win this state, we easily win the election in November.”
He has now won contests in three states - Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire - making him the presumptive Republican candidate in November’s general election.
He also won a Republican caucus in the US Virgin Islands, an unincorporated territory.
Donald Trump’s only serious challenger left in the race, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, had opted not to take part in the Nevada caucus and to appear in the state’s primary vote instead.
Two separate ballots were held in Nevada because of a dispute between the state Republican Party and the Democratic-controlled state legislature.
In Tuesday’s primary, Nikki Haley was beaten by the “none of these candidates” option.
But the result was symbolic as the state’s Republican party had decided that only the results of the caucus would count towards the selection of the presidential candidate.
The Associated Press reported that about 48,400 people voted for Mr Trump, compared to 381 for his rival Ryan Binkley.
Nikki Haley’s team said they did not take part in the caucus, claiming it had been “rigged for Trump”.
The situation in Nevada caused confusion and frustration.
It had been criticised by the state’s Republican governor, who said there should have been a single ballot for voters.
Although the result of the Nevada caucus was a foregone conclusion, the state will be hotly contested in the November presidential election. The vote is effectively guaranteed to be a rematch between 2020 candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Trump’s next stop will be South Carolina, where he will again go head to head against Nikki Haley.
Despite three defeats, she has vowed to fight on, arguing that Republican supporters want to see an alternative to Donald Trump and that “voters want an election, not a coronation”. (Agencies)
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