Las Vegas — This week, the presidential primary campaign travels west to Nevada, where competing caucuses and primaries are confusing voters but not influencing results. Nikki Haley will compete in Tuesday's Republican primary, but Donald Trump is the only prominent contender in Thursday's Republican caucuses. The divided races have made the GOP's third state irrelevant nationally.
The former U.N. ambassador called the caucuses unfair and put up by the state party to benefit the previous president. Her campaign opposed the Nevada GOP's $55,000 caucus fee.
Nevada has received no funds or energy. We decided early on not to pay $55,000 to a Trump corporation to engage in a rigged process, Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney told reporters on Monday. Nevada has not been our focus.”
Instead of worrying about the symbolic primary, Haley's campaign has concentrated on her home state of South Carolina and its Feb. 24 primary
Trump is projected to win all 26 Republican delegates from Nevada on Thursday. He needs 1,215 delegates to win the party's candidacy, which he might do in March.
“Go where the delegates are to win the Republican presidential nomination. I'm confused that Nikki Haley didn't participate," Trump's senior campaign advisor Chris LaCivita said in an interview.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden is projected to handily defeat author Marianne Williamson and many lesser-known competitors in the Democratic primary. Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips isn't running.
Though the president is unlikely to lose the primary, he campaigned in Nevada Sunday and Monday to energize voters ahead of November, when Nevada will be a swing state.
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