Nikki Haley’s backers defy Trump in Indiana primary
Supporters of Nikki Haley persist in rejecting Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid even after more than two months since Haley ended her campaign. In Indiana’s GOP primary, Haley garnered over 128,000 votes (nearly 22%), indicating discord within the party as Trump overwhelmingly won with 78.3%. The primary reflects challenges for Trump in unifying the GOP for his third presidential bid. Nikki Haley’s backers continue to oppose Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential run, with Haley securing almost 22% of votes in the Indiana GOP primary, highlighting internal divisions as Trump won decisively with 78.3%. This underscores the hurdles Trump faces in rallying GOP support for his third presidential campaign.
Supporters of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley continue to snub former President Donald Trump‘s 2024 run for president more than two months after she ended her campaign.
The latest insult came Tuesday during Indiana’s GOP primary, in which more than 128,000 people voted for Haley, amounting to nearly 22% of the vote share. Trump easily won the primary with 78.3% of the votes cast.
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In several Hoosier State counties, including Marion, Hamilton, and Boone, Haley nabbed higher than 30% of the vote share.
Although Indiana is a reliably red state, the primary represented the latest warning sign that despite locking down the GOP nomination in March, Trump still has a ways to go in unifying the GOP behind his third presidential campaign.
As the election comes down to just a handful of swing states that will decide who wins, Trump could be harmed by even a small percentage of GOP defectors.
Haley pulled in more than 157,000 votes, or 16.7%, in Pennsylvania, where Trump must win to block President Joe Biden from victory in November.
The number of voters backing Haley was nearly twice the 80,000 votes that propelled Biden to victory in the Keystone State over Trump in 2020.
In the battleground state of Wisconsin, where Biden is holding an event on Wednesday, Haley won nearly 13% of the votes compared to Trump’s 79.2% during the GOP primary last month.
In March, Haley also took in 13% of the vote during the GOP primary in Georgia, a state Trump lost in 2020 and where he is facing criminal charges from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. A week later, Haley would win nearly 18% of the vote in Arizona’s GOP primary.
The Biden campaign is publicly working to woo Haley supporters in contrast to Trump, who has not spoken to his former ambassador since she exited the 2024 race in March.
Just days after Pennsylvania’s primary, the Biden campaign released a 30-second commercial titled “If You Voted For Nikki Haley,” part of a six-figure ad buy to court Haley backers.
The cold relationship between Trump and Haley is more notable since another fierce Trump rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), just recently met with the former president in Miami as GOP megadonors align themselves with Trump.
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It is not clear how many non-Trump supporters in the primary will continue their protest vote in November, but just enough of them sitting out the race or voting for Biden or a third-party candidate could cost Trump the election.
“Nikki dropped out 2 months ago and is still earning a huge chunk of the primary vote,” a former Haley staffer told the Washington Examiner. “You’d have to be a birdbrain to not understand that Trump needs Haley Republicans to win in November. Team Trump should do everything they can to earn her and her voters support before it’s too late.”
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