(PatriotWise.com) — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley scored her first win on Sunday when she defeated Donald Trump in the Washington, D.C., primary, becoming the first female Republican to win a primary in a presidential election, the Associated Press reported.
While her victory in DC halted Donald Trump’s hope for a complete primary sweep, it will not be nearly enough to stop the former president from securing the delegates necessary to win the GOP nomination.
Following her defeat in South Carolina, the former governor of the state vowed to remain in the race, insisting that Republican voters in the upcoming primaries deserved an option for Donald Trump.
Her victory in Washington, D.C., gave Haley all 19 delegates from the district. Haley defeated Trump by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, garnering 63 percent of the vote to Trump’s 33 percent. However, the total votes cast were small, with Haley winning 1,274 votes to Trump’s 676.
Washington, D.C., is one of the heaviest Democrat majority jurisdictions in the country, with only around 23,000 Republican voters. Joe Biden won DC in 2020 with 92 percent of the vote.
In a sarcastic statement released after Haley’s win, the Trump campaign congratulated his former UN Ambassador for winning the title “Queen of the Swamp.”
While she has billed herself as a solid conservative candidate, Nikki Haley’s support has come from moderate Republicans and independents. In the South Carolina primary, 40 percent of Haley’s voters identified themselves as moderate, while 80 percent of Trump voters identified themselves as conservative.
Washington, D.C. Republicans tend to vote more moderately. In 2016, Donald Trump finished in third place behind winner Marco Rubio (R-FL) and second-place finisher, Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Moderate Republican presidential candidates John McCain (2008) and Mitt Romney (2012) both won the Washington, D.C., primary.
The delegate count as of Sunday placed Donald Trump far ahead, with 273 delegates to Haley’s 43.
A total of 1,215 delegates is required to win the Republican nomination, but with Haley’s sole win of Vermont in Super Tuesday contests and all the rest of the states going to Donald Trump, the GOP nominee for the general election looks pretty solidly Trump.
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