As expected, Donald Trump won overwhelmingly in the third Republican primary this year, in South Carolina. CNN and the Associated Press declared victory based on preliminary opinion polls and exit polls after the polls closed. However, Nikki Haley remains in the race despite her defeat, at least according to her campaign manager Betsy Anke, who plans to spend large sums of money in states that vote on Super Tuesday.
This year, Super Tuesday falls on March 5. Republicans will hold primaries in 13 states, including the most populous states, Texas and California, and caucuses in three other states. Trump can mathematically secure his presidential nomination within two weeks.
Based on 92% of votes processed, Trump received 60.1% and Haley 39.3%. Trump came in 1.5 percent lower, and Haley beat initial expectations by 5 percent. Haley's campaign staff might consider this a success.
What then?
Trump won the first New Hampshire primary, and indeed the second. The last convention was held in Nevada, where the local Republican Party had already distributed delegates to its presidential nominating convention to Donald Trump, who was the sole candidate, in a self-organized caucus. Trump did not even run in the no-quote primaries, but he won in the end, because his only remaining competitor finished in second place in a stunning and unprecedented way: most voters chose the “none” option on their ballots.
The omens were not in Healy's favor in South Carolina either. Although he was previously governor of the state. According to a report by the New Yorker immediately In fact, he also won the governorship as an outsider, against the local Republican elite, who have now lined up behind Donald Trump. The fact that the South Carolina primary was closed did not favor Healy, and only registered Republican voters could participate. Trump enjoys a significant lead among Republicans, and Haley has some opportunities only in states where independents and even Democrats can vote in the Republican primaries.
however According to the New York Times Haley already made it clear during her campaign in Greenville, South Carolina, on Tuesday that she would remain in the race regardless of the outcome. but why? “According to some, I just stayed in the running for vice president. I think we've been able to clear that up since then,” he noted, noting that in recent weeks Trump not only mocked him, but also responded to the hostile sentiment.
So his party colleagues now suspect that he might expect the justice system to catch up with Trump. There are four criminal cases against the late president, and if he is convicted in just one before the November elections, he will not be able to run. In this case, Haley could be Plan B, Joe Biden's rival. According to others, he may be planning for a longer period. If Trump wins, he will not be able to run for president again after another term. If he loses a second time, his supporters may also realize that the Republican Party needs someone new to regain presidential power. In other words, he may already be playing the role of future party leader.
Nikki Haley. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/2024 Getty Images/AFP
Haley also addressed the speculation at her campaign event on Tuesday. “If I had started for ulterior motives, I would have backed out long ago,” he said. According to her close friends, it may be because Halle never gives up – because she has found success as an underdog throughout her career. However, there is now little sign that he can win anywhere. Since the Nevada primary, a caucus has been held in the US Virgin Islands, where Haley had hoped for an upset victory, but lost by 48 points. On average, Trump leads the Republican race by 81 percentage points in national polls.
It is perhaps no coincidence that Donald Trump traveled on Election Day to attend the CPAC conference in Washington instead of South Carolina, where Haley's name was not mentioned in his speech. At the event, he was described as “the next president of the United States,” and his speech announced a government program and focused on Joe Biden, only mentioning the Republican primaries at the beginning and at the end of his speech.
