Donald Trump won Republican presidential nominating caucuses in Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Thursday, moving closer to becoming his party’s White House standard-bearer in a likely general election rematch with U.S. President Joe Biden in November.
Trump, the frontrunner in his party’s nominating race, was the only major candidate competing in Nevada’s caucuses and was set to win the state’s 26 delegates to the party’s nominating convention in July after being projected the winner on Thursday night by Edison Research.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump easily won the U.S. Virgin Islands caucuses, adding four to his delegate haul. The former U.S. president won 182 votes, or 74% of the 246 votes cast there, beating his last remaining rival in the Republican race, Nikki Haley, who won 26% support with 64 votes.
The Nevada caucuses, organized by the Trump-friendly Nevada Republican Party, came two days after a state-run primary election, which saw a humiliating defeat for Haley.
Despite being the only major candidate on Tuesday’s Republican primary ballot, Haley was still roundly defeated after tens of thousands of Trump supporters turned out to mark their ballots with “none of these candidates,” an option which garnered 63% of the vote to Haley’s 30%.
Trump spent Thursday morning watching coverage of arguments in a case he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court concerning Colorado’s decision to remove him from this year’s ballot for engaging in “insurrection” relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The justices appeared skeptical of Colorado’s actions, expressing concern about the precedent it could set.
