Nimarata ‘Nikki’ Haley’s campaign is working to downplay the fact they cannot win a single delegate in the Nevada Republican presidential nomination contest. Haley opted last year to appear on the state-run primary ballot, which the Nevada Republican Party does not recognize. On the other hand, former President Donald Trump will compete in the Republican Party-run Nevada Caucus, which will allocate delegates for this summer’s Republican National Convention.
“We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada,” said Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney earlier today, adding: “We made the decision early on that we were not going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that was rigged for Trump.” Despite the Haley campaign spin, the Trump campaign was not the reason why the Nevada Republican Party moved the nomination contest to a caucus instead of participating in the state-run primary.
In 2021, Democrat lawmakers in the Nevada state legislature codified a state-run primary into law. However, they did not require state parties to allocate convention delegates based on the primary results. Nevada Republicans, concerned about election integrity following the 2020 election, moved to hold a separate caucus to determine who would be awarded the state’s 26 Republican convention delegates. Unlike the state government-run primary, the Nevada Republican Caucus requires paper ballots, same-day voting, and Voter ID.
While all indications point to former President Donald Trump handily winning the caucus, Haley may face stiff competition from the “none of these candidates” option, which will appear on the state-run primary ballot.