The ex-president Donald Trump inflicted this Saturday the most humiliating defeat on Nikki Haley in the Republican Party primaries, by beating him with a difference of almost twenty points in his own home, in South Carolina where Haley was born, raised and was governor from 2011 to 2017.
These results make the repetition of a duel between Joe Biden and Donald Trump almost inevitable like the one experienced in the 2020 elections, although Haley hasn’t thrown in the towel yet.
According to partial counts carried out by various media, Trump has won in practically all the counties in the state except for the two largest cities, the capital, Columbia, and the coastal Charleston. Even in Bamberg County, Haley’s hometown, the victory went to Trump.
These results give, with slight differences, 60% of the votes for Trump and 40% for Haley. According to the electoral system of South Carolina, in this state ‘the winner takes all’, that is, the 50 delegates that the state contributes to the Republican Convention that, starting on July 15, will name the candidate who will officially face the Democrat. Joe Biden.
Trum did not want to draw blood in his first statements, in which He hasn’t even mentioned Haley by name.but he thanked South Carolina for the results in a brief appearance at his campaign party in the state capital, Columbia.
Let him retire
For its part, Haley waited almost two hours to post that she is not retiring because she is “a woman of her word” and feels that she has “the obligation” to give voters the right to have an option other than ‘Biden against Trump’, a binary that according to her 70% of Americans disapprove.
He later sent a mass text message to his followers that read: “I’m an accountant, I already know that 40% (your percentage of the vote) is not 50, but I also know that 40% is not a negligible group: there are enormous numbers of voters in the Republican primaries who are asking for another alternative”.
But despite these words, some media, such as the Wall Street Journal – considered the voice of large companies – already headline that “pressure is mounting on Haley” to withdraw her candidacy given today’s overwhelming result.
Trump has already won the primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire, while Haley has not won in either; Even in Nevada, where Trump was not running, the box most marked by voters was not his but that of those who preferred ‘none of these candidates.’
Third victory for Trump
Until today, Trump had 63 delegates against Haley’s 17; With today’s victory, Trump can add 50 more to his tally.
It is true that this number of delegates is still very small compared to the 2,429 who will vote at the Republican Convention in June; It is on the so-called ‘Super Tuesday’ (next March 5) when the fate of more than 800 delegates in 16 states is decided, and that is why Haley had promised to arrive at least until that date.
However, Not even she herself expected such an incontestable defeat.although yesterday, at her last campaign rally, the atmosphere had a defeatist tone and she did not manage to gather even a thousand people.
On election day, EFE was able to see how Democratic voters mobilized in favor of Haley – in reality, hoping to stop Trump -, taking advantage of the fact that the laws of this state allow people from other political parties to vote in the Republican primaries. .
However, this mobilization does not seem to have had any impact outside the big cities, and in the interior of South Carolina the white, conservative and evangelical vote – three majorities in this state – has opted for the candidate who best seems to embody their values. EFE
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