The former president defeated his top contender in her home-state primary, NBC News projects.
Former President Donald Trump won a resounding victory in South Carolina’s GOP presidential primary on Saturday, NBC News projects, continuing a winning streak through each Republican nominating contest so far — and putting him in position to potentially clinch the party’s presidential nomination within thenext month.
Defeat for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is a blow in her home state. A total of 50 delegates were on the line in Saturday’s contest, which are split between the statewide winner and the winner of each congressional district. And Trump's dominant performance in the exit polling and earliest results suggest he could pull off a clean sweep.
The former president now looks to be cruising to the party’s presidential nomination despite being criminally charged in four separate jurisdictions and subject to hundreds of millions of dollars in civil penalties. He could reach the necessary 1,215 delegates to clinch by mid-March, with a number of states holding de facto winner-take-all primaries on Super Tuesday (March 5) and more following after that.
For Haley, who served as governor of South Carolina before she became Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, the loss was particularly brutal. Trump’s victory could be the most lopsided in a contested South Carolina GOP primary since President George H.W. Bush defeated right-wing insurgent candidate Pat Buchanan, a former aide to multiple GOP presidents, by more than 40 points in 1992.
But Haley made clear that a loss in her home state on Saturday would not be pushing her out of the race any time soon, pledging to campaign through the Super Tuesday contests next month. Already, she’s planned a cross-country trip to those states set to begin on Sunday.
In a speech on Tuesday outlining why she planned to stay in the race regardless of results in the Palmetto State, Haley called Trump “a disaster” for the GOP who is “more unstable and unhinged” than when he first ran, adding she feels “no need to kiss the ring.”
“And I have no fear of Trump’s retribution,” she said. “I’m not looking for anything from him.”
Ms. Haley is having fun as she is determined to stay in the race to prove a point to herself and her temper tantrum while America is falling apart. She is too immature and inexperienced to solve the serious problems facing our country at this terrible time.
ReplyDeleteCandidate Haley is 52 years old and that’s the age when women don’t respond very well to added stress because of hormonal changes. Some say they get irrational and vindictive during that time of life.
ReplyDeleteMany voters like Haley but they said they loved Donald Trump.
HUZZAH!!
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