In a Nevada Primary Without Trump, Haley Is Outvoted by ‘None of These Candidates’

Nikki Haley was outvoted in Nevada’s Republican presidential primary by a “None of These Candidates” option on the ballot Tuesday, an embarrassment in a contest in which she faced no direct competition.

The primary, which awards no delegates, had seemed like a foregone conclusion, as former President Donald Trump chose not to take part. On Thursday, he will instead participate in party-run caucuses where all of the state’s 26 delegates will be awarded, a choice by Nevada Republicans that complicated the process and rendered the primary basically irrelevant.

With 88% of the vote on Wednesday, Haley trailed “None of These Candidates” by 33 percentage points.

On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden coasted to victory in the state, carrying his party’s second recognized nominating contest against token opposition. The Associated Press declared him the winner shortly after polls closed, giving the president his second easy triumph in four days, after he took 96% of the vote in South Carolina’s primary on Saturday.

As for Haley, as the top vote-getter after “None of These Candidates,” she is still expected to be declared the victor, according to the secretary of state’s office, which pointed to a state election law that says “only votes cast for the named candidates shall be counted” when determining the result.

Haley had skipped campaigning in Nevada entirely, choosing instead to spend her time in South Carolina, her home state and where the next primary will take place, after Trump easily won the first two nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Supporters of Trump in Nevada, including Gov. Joe Lombardo, had advocated selecting “None of These Candidates” on the primary ballot as a protest vote against Haley. Republicans can then vote for Trump in the caucuses two days later, where he is essentially running unopposed after Haley, his last major rival standing, chose not to compete.

Trump jabbed at Haley’s ugly result in Nevada, writing on his social media website, Truth Social, that it was a “bad night” for her. “Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!” he wrote, needling her again over her optimistic speech after she finished second to him in New Hampshire.

The fact that a “none of the above” option could overpower any enthusiasm from Haley’s supporters is another blow to her slim chances of winning the nomination over Trump, who maintains a commanding lead in polls. It also blunts any effort of hers to demonstrate momentum or score at least a symbolic victory.

Mark Reynolds, 56, had planned to vote for Trump in Thursday’s caucuses. But he stopped by a polling place briefly Tuesday morning to cast a vote for “None of These Candidates.”

“It’s just to send a message,” Reynolds said, noting that the primary itself was a “waste of time.”

Lloyd Reece, 65, was another Trump supporter who showed up Tuesday to deny Haley a symbolic win. But he felt that the option of “None of These Candidates” was insufficient, given that state law precludes it from winning outright. Instead, he voted for Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who dropped out of the presidential race months ago.

“She’ll get the message,” Reece said, hoping that Nevada would deny Haley momentum and that “she’ll just quit while she’s behind.”

Critics of the dual primary-caucus system in Nevada, including those in Haley’s camp, have suggested that the state Republican Party set it up to benefit Trump, which the party has denied. Michael McDonald, the state party chair, was one of the people indicted in the fake elector scheme to overturn Biden’s 2020 election victory.

“We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada,” Betsy Ankney, Haley’s campaign manager, said Tuesday. “We made the decision early on that we were not going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that was rigged for Trump.”

Haley’s campaign brushed off the result Tuesday night.

“Even Donald Trump knows that when you play penny slots, the house wins. We didn’t bother to play a game rigged for Trump,” Olivia Perez-Cubas, Haley’s spokesperson, said.

The confusing system was criticized by Lombardo, a Republican, who called it “unacceptable for the voters” in an interview with a local news outlet last year.

Nevada has traditionally held caucuses, but passed a law in 2021 doing away with them and switching to a primary, with mail-in ballots as an option alongside in-person voting. The state’s Republican Party decided to host its own contest — an in-person caucus — and forced candidates to pick one race to participate in.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .