Trump requests that voters disregard the Nevada primary since “he’s not on ballot.”

Donald Trump, the former US president, has requested that people disregard the Nevada primary since he was not a candidate. The last competitor of Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, Nikki Haley, an Indian-American, was soundly defeated in the primary by votes marked “none of these candidates”.

As the lone major contender on Tuesday’s primary ballot, Haley received a sharp rebuke from over 44,000 Republicans who cast their ballots.

Nevada Republican Party insiders and strategists said on Wednesday that it was a humiliating loss for the former UN Ambassador and a potent sign of the fervent devotion of the former US president’s supporters.

“There’s no doubt about the loyalty of Trump’s supporters,” said Republican strategist John Ashbrook, who is not involved in any campaign this year.

“But Nevada’s primary demonstrated they’re also incredibly motivated to vote.”

Party officials and insiders said that neither Trump’s campaign nor the state party made a deliberate attempt to sway Trump’s followers to vote against Haley in Tuesday’s primary.

Michael McDonald, a Trump supporter and leader of the Nevada Republican Party, stated, “This was simply a message from voters to Nikki Haley to unite the Republican Party.” “We hope she gets behind Donald Trump.”

Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokesman for Haley, minimized Haley’s defeat, contending that Trump was given an advantage in Nevada this week.

“Even Donald Trump is aware that the house always wins while playing penny slots. Perez-Cubas said, “We didn’t bother to play a game that was rigged for Trump.”

For weeks, Trump and his Nevada team have been pleading with voters to attend the state’s only Republican caucus on Thursday. The event is hosted by the Trump-aligned state Republican Party and is the only one in Nevada that grants delegates to the party’s July nominating convention.

Nevada has 26 delegates, and Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, is expected to win them all. Haley is not participating in the caucus since she has committed to remain in the campaign and run in the South Carolina primary on February 24.

At a rally in Nevada on January 27, Trump informed his fans, “Your primary vote doesn’t mean anything.” “Just do the caucus thing.”

However, Trump loyalists have recently started a right-wing media campaign advising Republicans to mark “none of these candidates” on their primary vote, according to Sigal Chattah, a supporter of Trump from Nevada who is a member of the Republican National Committee.

According to Chattah, national conservative media personalities and Trump allies, such as radio and TV presenter Wayne Allyn Root and former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon, have been pressuring Nevadans to vote for “none of these candidates” in order to humiliate Haley.

According to Chattah, the message was “to go out there… to vote for none of the above”.

Joe Lombardo, the governor of Nevada, who supports Trump, had also said in the last few days that he would support Trump in the Thursday caucus and vote for “none of these candidates” in the primary on Tuesday.

Some Republican voters said that they did not get guidance from the Trump campaign or Nevada party leaders when deciding to vote symbolically against Haley.

“I received no emails or messages,” Republican Mark Lipp said.

“Yet, I find Haley annoying. I completed the math on my own and chose to vote for “none of these candidates.” On Thursday, I’ll participate in the Trump caucus.”

Voters who supported “none of these candidates” (63%) favored Lipp’s candidacy, while just 31% supported Haley.