Primary win at last for Haley

WASHINGTON: Nikki Haley has won the Republican presidential primary in Washington DC, scoring her first victory as she struggles to remain relevant in her underdog race against Donald Trump.

Haley’s symbolic victory on Sunday was just before Super Tuesday, a decisive day in the nominating process in which 15 states and one territory vote.

Washington is a solidly Democratic town with a small number of registered Republicans and has never been won by a Republican presidential candidate. In the 2020 election against Mr Trump, then candidate Joe Biden won 92 per cent of the votes in Washington.

Ms Haley took 63 per cent of the votes in Sunday’s primary to Mr Trump’s 33 per cent.

“It’s not surprising that Republicans closest to Washington dysfunction are rejecting Donald Trump and all his chaos,” her campaign said in a statement.

Mr Trump’s campaign in turn released what it called a “statement on Nikki Haley Being Crowned Queen of The Swamp”.

“Tonight’s results in Washington DC reaffirm the object of President Trump’s campaign – he will drain the swamp and put America first,” the statement said.

The Super Tuesday milestone is expected to leave Mr Trump a hair’s breadth from securing the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. He has already swept all the early state primaries.

While her win in Washington will ensure Mr Trump won’t claim a clean sweep of primaries, Super Tuesday is seen as the last real chance for Ms Haley to up-end the former president’s march towards becoming the party’s flag-bearer once again, against Mr Biden.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has accused Mr Biden of a “conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America” because of the record arrivals of migrants at the Mexican border.

“Biden’s conduct on our border is by any definition a conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America,” he told a rally in Virginia. He said Democrats were encouraging migrant arrivals and “trying to sign them up to get them to vote in the election”.