Nikki Haley gets her first 2024 victory

Nikki Haley won the Republican presidential primary in Washington DC on Sunday, scoring her first victory as she struggles to remain relevant in her underdog race against Donald Trump.Haley's symbolic victory in the nation's capital comes just ahead a decisive day in the long US nominating process -- Super Tuesday, in which 15 states and one territory vote. Washington is a solidly Democratic town with a small number of registered Republicans.Washington is one of the most heavily Democratic jurisdictions in the nation, with only about 23,000 registered Republicans in the city. Democrat Joe Biden won the district in the 2020 general election with 92% of the vote.
Haley took 63 percent of the votes in a primary held in just one place-a downtown hotel, according to Politico, which quoted Washington party officials.In the 2020 election against Trump, then candidate Joe Biden won 92 percent of the votes in Washington.The city has never produced a majority vote for a Republican presidential candidate.The Haley campaign put out a statement saying "It's not surprising that Republicans closest to Washington dysfunction are rejecting Donald Trump and all his chaos."Sunday's primary had a lower turnout than in 2016. The tally now stands at 244 for Trump and 43 for Haley.
Trump has so far made easy work of this year's GOP primary, notching victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Virgin Islands, South Carolina and Michigan. The seemingly easy stream of wins has solidified the former president's front-runner status in the race.The former president held a commanding lead ahead of the Washington, D.C., primary with 10 times as many delegates as Haley before his first loss on Sunday. Trump maintains his strong lead going into the most important week on the primary calendar despite Haley gaining 19 delegates with her victory in the nation's capital.