Haley breaks Trump's undefeated record after triumphing in the Republican primary elections in Washington, D.C.
The former ambassador to the UN became the first woman to win a primary for the GOP.
Nikki Haley was finally able to claim victory in this Republican presidential campaign after defeating Donald Trump by a considerable margin in the primary elections in Washington, D.C., which has some of the most progressive electorates in the entire country.
In fact, D.C. is one of the most Democratic jurisdictions in the entire United States, with only 23,000 registered Republicans in the city, which represents 5% of voters. In 2020, Joe Biden won the district with 92% of the vote, while in 2016, Trump lost the Republican primary to Senator Marco Rubio.
After garnering 63% of the votes, Haley won the 19 delegates in dispute, leaving her with 43 delegates in total, far from the 244 already achieved by former President Donald Trump.
Haley's victory, her first in these primaries, in addition to breaking Trump's undefeated record, made her the first woman in history to win a primary for the Republican Party, a milestone that the former ambassador to the UN will undoubtedly use to boost her career ahead of the North Dakota elections this Monday and the 15 primaries that will be held on "Super Tuesday."
On Monday, there are 29 delegates at stake, and on Tuesday, there are 865. Donald Trump is expected to add hundreds of more delegates that will bring him closer to the magic number to secure the Republican nomination: 1,215 delegates.
However, for now, the former president will have to watch as Haley and her supporters point out that there is a percentage of Republican voters who do not identify with the MAGA movement.
For example, Dennis Paul, an 84-year-old semi-retired resident, told HuffPost that Haley is a "vibrant" politician who "seems to grasp things very well."
Meanwhile, former President Trump's campaign is already using Haley's victory in D.C. as political fuel, arguing that her victory in D.C. demonstrates that the former ambassador's interests and policies are closer to the Democratic Party and the establishment of the capital than to the conservative base.
"While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and D.C. insiders that want to protect the failed status quo," said Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for the Trump campaign.