LAS VEGAS – Former President Donald Trump wasn’t on the ballot in Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary in the early voting state of Nevada.
But his absence wasn’t enough to help secure a victory for his last remaining major rival for the 2024 GOP nomination – Nikki Haley.
Voters casting ballots in the state-run Republican nominating contest couldn’t write in Trump’s name, but they could vote for a “none of these candidates” option.
And the Associated Press projected that the “none of these candidates” option would defeat Haley in a primary where no delegates to this summer’s Republican convention were at stake. Trump supporters Fox News spoke with at polling stations said they were casting a ballot for “none of these candidates.”
While the GOP presidential candidates had to choose either the caucus or primary ballot, registered Republicans in Nevada can vote in both contests.
And Trump’s campaign has been working to get the message out to supporters in Nevada that if they want to vote for the former president, they need to show up at the caucuses.
“Your primary vote doesn’t mean anything. It’s your caucus vote,” Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas late last month. “So in your state, you have both the primary and you have a caucus. Don’t worry about the primary, just do the caucus thing.”
A voting sign outside a polling station in Las Vegas on Feb. 6, 2024, as Nevada holds its presidential primary (Fox News – Monica Oroz )
Trump is expected back in Las Vegas on Thursday, for a caucus celebration.
This week’s contests are just an appetizer for Nevada, which as a key general election battleground state will see plenty of campaign traffic this summer and autumn.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
