(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . ‘None of these candidates’ embarrasses Haley in Nevada primary [1] ['Michael Lyle', 'Jeniffer Solis', 'More From Author', '- February'] Date: 2024-02-07 Though typically the idiom “second to none” is a compliment, for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, it means her third defeat in the Republican presidential nomination process. And a humiliating one. With nearly half the statewide vote counted Tuesday night, Haley was trailing “none of these candidates” in the Nevada presidential preference primary. Haley had 33% of the vote, to 60% for “none,” and The Associated Press called the race for “none.” Haley was the only active candidate on the Republican primary ballot – Donald Trump deliberately didn’t file and is instead participating in Thursday’s state-run caucus. But there had been a quasi-campaign on the part of Trump forces urging people to vote for “none of these candidates” in the primary. Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has endorsed Trump, has said he would vote for “none” in the primary and then caucus for Trump Thursday night. Trump himself had not been willing to publicly back the “none” campaign, and in his recent Las Vegas rally told supporters not to “waste time” on the Republican primary. Introducing Trump at rallies in both Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada Republican Party chairman Michael McDonald similarly told the crowds to ignore the primary. But Nevada Republican Committeewoman Sigal Chattah, an ardent Trump backer, told Mother Jones “We’re telling people to vote ‘none of the above,’” in the hope of landing another blow to Haley’s continued presence in the Republican race. Haley initially was joined on the primary ballot by former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, though both candidates suspended their campaigns in the fall of 2023. Nevada’s confusing condition Featuring both Tuesday’s primary and Thursday’s caucus, Nevada’s third spot on the Republican nominating calendar has led to confusion – and that was not an accident. The Nevada Legislature attempted to move the state away from party-run caucuses by passing a bill in 2021 mandating state-run presidential primaries be held. Tuesday’s was Nevada’s first primary under the new law. The Nevada Republican Party led by McDonald, a recently indicted fake elector who has been accused of forging documents in an effort to overthrow the 2020 presidential election results, objected to the state primary, and chose to run a caucus. State law allows parties to determine how delegates will be awarded in the presidential nominating process, and the Nevada Republican Party declared that only those competing in the caucus could win any of Nevada’s 26 delegates to the Republican National Convention this summer. Leading up to the election, the secretary of state’s office said “the top issue we get called about” was Trump not appearing on the primary ballot. Bethany Drysdale, a spokeswoman for Washoe County, said voters on Tuesday were still confused about Trump’s name not being featured, but said the county was referring people to the Republican Party “to learn more about the caucus.” “There has been some additional confusion from voters who are nonpartisan and did not realize they couldn’t vote in this election,” she said. There hadn’t been any reports of election workers getting harassed, she added. But confusion – and anger – could be found at the polls. Haley skipped the state Trump has won the first two states of the 2024 nominating process: the Iowa Caucus Jan. 15 and the New Hampshire primary Jan. 23. Trump received 51% of the vote in Iowa. Haley came in a distant third place at 19%, narrowly trailing Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s 21%. DeSantis dropped out of the campaign days later prior to the New Hampshire primary. Haley then received 43% of the vote in New Hampshire while Trump won the state with 54%. Though Nevada is the third state on the Republican presidential nomination calendar, Haley has skipped efforts to compete and has turned her attention to her home state of South Carolina, for decades considered a decisive contest in Republican presidential nomination fights. “In terms of Nevada, we have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada,” said Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney, The Hill reported on Monday. It wasn’t the first time Haley’s campaign referred to the caucus as “rigged.” When asked why after finishing second in the New Hamphsire primary, Haley responded, “Talk to the people in Nevada: They will tell you the caucuses have been sealed up, bought and paid for a long time. That’s the Trump train rolling through that. But we’re going to focus on the states that are fair.” Haley was scheduled to campaign in California Wednesday, one of the delegate-rich Super Tuesday states holding primaries March 4. April Corbin Girnus and Hugh Jackson contributed to this story. This story was published earlier by the Nevada Current, an affiliate of the nonprofit States Newsroom network, which includes the Florida Phoenix. 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