Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley chalked up her first Republican primary win Sunday.
Or did she?
The answer to that is actually a matter of some debate, as winning is sometimes in the eye of the beholder.
According to NBC News, Haley won Sunday’s Washington, D.C., primary handily, with nearly 70 percent of the vote compared to only 33 percent for her former boss, Donald Trump, under whose presidency she served as ambassador to the United Nations.
As NBC noted, her campaign was optimistic that her performance with D.C. voters would “spark some momentum ahead of next week’s Super Tuesday contests.”
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The outlet also noted, however, that Trump received only 14 percent of the vote in that primary in 2016 — and we all remember how that nominating process turned out.
This year, only about 2,000 Republicans even bothered to vote in the primary — the low end of what Washington GOP chair Patrick Mara suggested last week poll workers would see.
Mara suggested that Washington Republicans as a whole wouldn’t turn out in force because they watch the news and would logically conclude that Trump has the contest all but locked up already.
“The average Washington Republican is politically astute and more media-savvy,” he said. “They have seen coverage telling people the race is over.”
Should Nikki Haley drop out?
Add that to the fact that D.C. offers only 19 delegates in a race to see who can get to 1,215 first — or about 1.5 percent of the total needed — and there’s not a lot of incentive for any candidate to put a lot of resources into winning the primary.
Nonetheless, Haley tried to take a victory lap late Sunday night — which went about as one might expect.
“Republicans closest to Washington’s dysfunction know that Donald Trump has brought nothing but chaos and division for the past 8 years,” she wrote in an X post. “It’s time to start winning again and move our nation forward!”
Republicans closest to Washington’s dysfunction know that Donald Trump has brought nothing but chaos and division for the past 8 years. It’s time to start winning again and move our nation forward! 🇺🇸👊 pic.twitter.com/QMNmcZHYGg
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) March 4, 2024
Reaction on social media was swift.
This isn’t the win you think it is.
— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) March 4, 2024
Please keep celebrating your swamp win.
— JuliansRum (@ItsJuliansRum) March 4, 2024
Trump winning every single state and losing the DC swamp to Nikki Haley is more powerful than any endorsement his campaign could ever receive
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) March 4, 2024
Meanwhile, Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, issued a post of her own, arguing that Haley’s win in D.C. was actually a reaffirmation of the very reasons Trump was running for president in the first place.
Tonight’s results in Washington D.C. reaffirm the object of President Trump’s campaign — he will drain the swamp and put America first.
While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and DC insiders…
— Karoline Leavitt (@kleavittnh) March 4, 2024
“Tonight’s results in Washington D.C. reaffirm the object of President Trump’s campaign — he will drain the swamp and put America first,” she wrote. “While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and DC insiders that want to protect the failed status quo. The swamp has claimed their queen.
“President Trump will fight for every American who is being let down by these very DC insiders and devastated by Joe Biden’s failures,” she added.
