Nevada’s unprecedented system of selecting a Republican candidate for president has provided a stumbling block for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
For the first time, the State of Silver held both a state-run primary election on February 6 and a caucus two days later, run by the Nevada Republican Party.
Haley is the only GOP primary candidate registered for the primary ballot, meaning she will likely win — but receive no delegates.
The confusing process stems from opposition by the Nevada Republican Party to a 2021 state law mandating a primary election. Party officials responded by forcing candidates to choose between registering for the primary and the caucus, and would only award representation to the winner of the final contest.
Haley was selected to participate in the primary contest in October, joined by former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) – both of whom have dropped out of the race.
The remaining contenders – former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, biotechnologist Vivek Ramaswamy and businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley – all participate in the caucus, with 26 delegates to the Republican National Convention at stake.
Nikki Haley will be the only major GOP candidate participating in the Nevada primary. AP
The Haley campaign did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on their strategy.
How Nevada’s dual competition unfolded
Since the 1984 presidential election cycle, Nevada Republicans and Democrats — except for 1996 on the GOP side — have held Iowa-style caucuses, where voters meet at a designated location and select delegates to a district convention. Those delegates then choose delegates to the state convention to determine who receives Nevada’s delegates to the national party convention.
After the 2020 election, the Democratic-dominated Nevada government decided to switch to holding a primary if more than one candidate registers to vote — over the objections of the state GOP, which argues caucuses are a more transparent process.
Nevada Republicans sued over the primary requirement, and the court allowed the state party to block the allocation of delegates to the caucus.
The Nevada GOP’s stance has drawn ire from the party’s anti-Trump faction, which says the former president has strong ties to Republican officials across the state and is well-liked among caucus members.
Trump’s critics have accused the Nevada GOP of rigging the election in his favor, because caucus participants are more likely to vote for him. Reuters
The 2024 Nevada contest will result in “huge confusion” for voters and will generate more anger than during the normal caucus process, Las Vegas-based GOP political strategist Zachary Moyle told The Post.
“This year, voters will think the primary is like any other election,” he predicted. “They’re going to be very confused when they go to the primary and they want to vote for someone other than Nikki Haley, and they’re not there.”
Haley’s strategy
Nevada is third on the Republican nominating calendar behind Iowa and New Hampshire – where Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations, has surged in the polls but remains a distant second behind Trump. It also comes two and a half weeks before the primary in South Carolina, Haley’s home state that her campaign has said she expects to win — but where Trump again holds a large polling lead.
Running in the Nevada primary could give Haley a symbolic victory and generate headlines, but would not give her any real power play at the GOP convention and could give her rivals a chance to gain delegates.
Opting for the primary also allows Haley to waive the mandatory $55,000 price tag to compete in the caucus.
“Nikki Haley can get a lot of pressure from this and they’ll be able to say they won the presidential primary,” Moyle said. “Maybe that helps with donors. It can help with finances, it can help with fame.”
South Carolina-based GOP strategist Dave Wilson suggested that Haley’s strategy to “win” the Nevada primary is a way to show Palmetto State voters that she has a chance against Trump.
“Nikki Haley winning anything in Nevada would be very important for her if she wants to continue to build momentum and gain traction. He will get media attention on this and most likely will say, ‘The voters have spoken,’” he said.
“That gives her a launching point to go back to South Carolina, back to her home state and a similar primary system,” Wilson added, noting that Haley might just sacrifice some delegates, which Nevada is awarded based on caucus vote share rather than through a winner-take-all system. all.
Ron DeSantis has accused Nikki Haley of not playing to win, because she cannot be awarded a delegate. Reuters
How the other candidates are handling Nevada
Despite its early spot in the voting cycle, Nevada has barely received attention from any of the candidates, who have focused their time and energy on Iowa and New Hampshire.
Trump, 77, held a “commitment to caucus” rally in Reno on Sunday, and had previously hosted Nevada GOP officials at Mar-a-Lago.
DeSantis, 45, has accused the Nevada GOP of tilting the system in Trump’s favor, but has defended his decision to participate in the caucus.
“The state party changed it to a caucus. The national party people are basically trying to deceive Trump. So the delegation will be done at the caucus,” DeSantis told Iowa reporters on Wednesday, adding that Haley’s strategy “isn’t really about winning” because she has taken herself out of the running for a delegate.
Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting DeSantis, ended their door-knocking campaign in Nevada in August to focus on Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Haley held a Nevada town hall in March and attended the Republican Jewish Coalition summit in Las Vegas in late October — along with other major candidates — but mostly focused on the other three early states.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
