Welcome to the chaos of the Republican Party in Nevada. The State will serve this week as an example of what the divisions within the conservative organization look like in practice. Unusually, the region is holding primaries this Tuesday to elect a presidential candidate. On Thursday, he will hold a caucus for the same purpose. Party officials in Nevada have made the process more complex due to the shadow of suspicion that Donald Trump has cast over electoral laws since his defeat in 2020. There is one certainty in all this chaos, the former president will win the delegates at stake after Thursday's votes. Nikki Haley, Trump's only contender, has skipped this State to play the rest on February 24 in her territory, South Carolina, the State that he governed between 2011 and 2017.
Paradoxically, Nikki Haley is the favorite to win in this Tuesday's primaries. Trump's ambassador to the United Nations will triumph this afternoon, almost without a doubt, for a simple reason: she is competing alone. Haley, who won New Hampshire, is the only big-name candidate on the Republican ticket because Trump did not sign up for the process. However, it will be a hollow victory for the former governor, who had to pay an amount to compete. “We have not spent a penny or an ounce of energy in Nevada. “We decided a long time ago that we were not going to give $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that is rigged for Trump to win,” said Betsy Ankney, Haley's campaign manager, on Monday.
The spoils of this process are actually at stake on Thursday, when Trump competes in a caucus where Haley is not among the options. His only rival will be Texan businessman Ryan Binkley. It will be then that the former president adds to his cause the 26 electoral delegates that Nevada grants and will bring him closer to the goal of 1,215 that he needs to secure the nomination.
Nevada is considered a purple state because of its pragmatism in voting for both Republicans and Democrats in the elections. Despite this, the region has supported Democratic presidential candidates continuously since 2008. In November 2020, Joe Biden defeated Trump by a slim margin of 2.39%. The former president, however, improved his results compared to the 2016 elections.
The Nevada Republican Party abandoned all semblance of objectivity in December, when the organization's president appeared at a Trump rally in Reno, Nevada's capital. “February the eighth!” shouted Michael McDonald as a welcome to the man who seeks to return to the White House this November. “Mark your calendars. “That is the day you have to appear in the caucus in favor of Donald Trump,” he added. “That day you have to go to the polls with your neighbors, sit with them and tell them how great Donald Trump is. And then you have to mark Donald J. Trump on the ballot,” McDonald assured the crowd.
At that rally, held in mid-December, the Republican race still had several profiles trying to take first place from Trump towards the nomination. One by one, the applicants dropped out of the process. Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, put his presidential ambitions on hold on January 21, when he announced that he was suspending his campaign. The politician's departure left Haley as the former president's only serious competition.
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Although primaries and caucuses are often used synonymously, the processes are different. The primaries are organized by state authorities and are an event open to anyone who is registered to vote. Many of the inhabitants of the State, of 3.1 million inhabitants, have received ballots to vote by mail in which Trump does not appear. The governor of Nevada, Republican Joe Lombardo, stated that he will participate in the primaries organized by officials of his Administration. He has communicated the meaning of his vote. He will check the “none of the above” box this Tuesday. On Thursday, he will support Donald Trump.
The caucus, on the other hand, is a closed process organized by party officials and where only those who are registered on the census as Republicans can participate. This system can be problematic for many voters, who prefer to send their votes by mail so as not to interrupt their activities or leave work. This makes caucus results more unpredictable, but not this time, where Trump has no competition. Supporters of the former president prefer to return to the traditional process, arguing that it is easier to orchestrate fraud through the mail system.
Democratic primaries
Trump is not the only one who will travel through Nevada without incident. President Joe Biden also appears in a primary. Biden is expected to easily beat his rival, as he did in Carolna sel Sur, the author Marianne Williamson, the best known among a handful of candidates who intend to snatch the candidacy from the current occupant of the White House. Congressman Dean Phillips has also skipped Nevada.
Biden is already thinking about November. The president visited Las Vegas this Sunday and Monday, where he has made it clear that he takes it for granted that he will face Trump again. Biden warned that a second presidency for the controversial businessman turned politician would be a “nightmare” for the United States.
On Monday, the president attended an event organized by unions of service workers in the tourism sector. The sector was key to Biden's victory in 2020 and maintaining his support will be vital for the Democrats in the fall elections. “I came to thank you for the support you have given me and the support I hope you will give me. And thank you for having faith in the unions,” Biden assured the members of an organization that represents 60,000 casino and hotel workers on the Strip. The unions reached an agreement with the employers on Monday that avoided a strike in the middle of the week where the city will be the home of the Super Bowl, the American football final.
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