Nikki Haley Beaten by Nobody in Nevada Primary

(TargetDailyNews.com) – It is hard to imagine losing a primary election to no one, but Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley seems to have done so in Nevada.

Nevada’s Republicans held their primary on February 6th, and the former UN Ambassador lost to the ballot choice “none of these options.” “None” got twice as many votes as Haley did.

The frontrunner for the GOP nomination, former president Donald Trump, was also not on the ballot, but because he is participating in the upcoming Nevada caucuses instead. According to Fox News, Trump voters were the largest bloc who chose “none of these options” on the primary ballot. According to state primary rules, there was no option to write in a candidate such as Trump, so presumably, Trump voters chose the next-best option, which was “none.”

The loss won’t amount to much for Haley, as she would not have picked up any delegates from the primary anyway—in Nevada, delegates are awarded to candidates who participate in the caucuses.

Haley said it did not matter anyway, as both the state’s primary and its caucus were not “anything we were looking at.” She also claimed the upcoming caucus was already “rigged” for Trump.

The Haley campaign’s reaction has been nonchalant. This tracks with how the candidate has viewed Nevada for some time. Campaign manager Betsy Ankney told the media they had not “spent a dime nor an ounce of energy” on the state. Haley also did not campaign in Nevada, suggesting she did not see a win there as either attainable or necessary. The last time Haley appeared in the state was for a speaking gig in October 2023, for the Republican Jewish Coalition’s conference.

True to form, the former president rubbed his opponent’s loss in over social media Tuesday evening. On the platform he owns, Truth Social, Trump said it was a “bad night” for Haley, but predicted she would “claim victory!” nonetheless.

Michael McDonald, chair of the Nevada GOP, said Haley’s loss was foreseeable as she put no effort into wooing the state’s voters. Neither Haley nor “none of the above” campaigned in the state, he quipped, but “none” won anyway.