Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley lost to “none of these candidates,” a Nevada ballot option in the state’s Republican presidential preference primary.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump see her defeat as a de facto win for him, especially because a number of influencers pushed the option as an attempt to nuke even a shot at a symbolic win.
Haley lost by approximately 30% of the vote to “none of these candidates” in the Nevada primary election. The ballot choice allows voters to reject all the offered candidates and still use their vote, but it seldom wins elections. When it does, though, the actual candidate who gets the most votes is still elected.
Except in this case: Trump and Haley weren’t up against each other in Nevada. She opted for the primary, while he stuck with the state’s Republican party which decided to award their delegates solely via caucus (which will be on Thursday).
So the primary could have only been a symbolic win for Haley, but she didn’t even nab that.
And her loss seems to have been orchestrated, in part, by Trump supporters. Last week, Trump backers on Truth Social pushed a plan for the base to vote for “none of these candidates.”
Now they’re rejoicing that it worked.
“Congratulations to ‘None of these candidates’ for beating Nikki Haley by over 30 points in the Nevada primary,” MAGA influencer Phillip Buchanan (also known as @Catturd) posted on Truth Social.
“Nikki Haley got crushed by the de facto, weaker version of Donald Trump — None of these Candidates,” conservative pundit Rich Baris said.
“It wasn’t even close in Nevada,” Trump faithful and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (R) tweeted. “This unprecedented rejection by the voters of her party should lead her to get out of the race and get behind Donald Trump. A united Republican Party is poised to win in November.”
Trump also weighed in on the victory himself. He posted on Truth Social saying that yesterday was “a bad night for Nikki Haley.”
“Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada to ‘None of These Candidates,’” he wrote. “Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!”
Haley has not claimed victory in the Nevada Republican primary. In fact, she hasn’t said anything about the Nevada defeat.
“Even on our worst days,” Haley tweeted yesterday evening, “we are blessed to live in America.”
