Haley’s DC Win: The One You Don’t Want

Former Governor Nikki Hailey (R-S.C.) handily won the Republican Party presidential primary for the District of Columbia this past weekend, cementing the argument that she is indeed a consummate D.C. insider and swamp rat.

Haley received a whopping 62.8% of votes cast compared to former President Donald J. Trump’s 33.3% – an astonishingly high number given Trump’s wide support nationally among the Republican Party’s registered voters.

While the numbers of registered Republicans in the District of Columbia are relatively small among the strong Democrat majority in the city, Haley’s victory here shows how disillusioned and distant the District’s GOP is from the national scene.

To be sure, a great many of the D.C. GOP voters are higher-income and college-educated whites who are surrounded by progressive – in some cases ultra-radical leftist ideologue- neighbors. To put it lightly, you do not see many yard or window signs supporting Republican causes or candidates. As some celebrity journalists have discovered – including Tucker Carlson – just living here can be dangerous for one’s family, as seen by many in his class departing D.C. for friendlier, if not just for peace of mind, states like Florida.

The D.C. GOP held its primary vote in the Madison Hotel in downtown DC over the entire weekend, allowing party members to cast their ballots over the course of March 1-3, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. The last votes were accepted on Sunday.

Normally, D.C. holds its primary for president for both parties in June – but as that primary date fell so close to the Republican National Convention July 15-18 In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the national party’s rules compelled the D.C. GOP to hold its vote earlier.

The vote tally came to 1,274 votes for Hailey; 676 for Trump; less for others still on the ballot.

As Haley came up with such a high percentage of the vote – exceeding 50% according to D.C. GOP rules – the 19 delegates at stake go to her in their entirety.

So now Governor Nikki Hailey’s camp gets to claim a win in the very deep state city her opponent and front-runner has vowed to irrevocably change once again in office. D.C. GOP Chairman Patrick Mara and his D.C. GOP delegates will also get a special moment at the GOP National Convention: according to their own D.C. GOP party rules, these people are “bound” to vote for Governor Haley on the first ballot – they may only change support after that round. So the D.C. GOP gets an opportunity to nationally greet fellow Republicans and convention goers by casting all their votes against Donald Trump right off the bat. Here’s to “swamp in your eye.”

As Super Tuesday will decide 1/3 of the 1,215 GOP delegates needed to secure the nomination – with a mixed bag of states that apportion delegates or are winner take all – securing 19 delegates out of Haley’s overall 43 is a significant chunk of her count.

The former President has 244 delegates going into tomorrow’s Super Tuesday, with expectations being very high for a continuation of overall wins – apportioned or not – to propel him to be the de facto nominee for the Republican Party in 2024.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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