While Donald Trump won big Tuesday victories across the nation, the former U.N. ambassador secured victory in New England. In the midst of numerous state calls for former President Donald Trump, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley emerged victorious in the Republican presidential primary in Vermont, according to NBC News projections.
This is Haley’s first Super Tuesday victory. Trump is increasing his lead in national delegates with victories in other Super Tuesday races, despite Haley’s close loss in Vermont. However, in Vermont, his shortcomings with regard to non-core Republicans and independents during this year’s GOP primary were evident. Haley’s team has been highlighting New England states like Vermont as part of her future strategy for weeks.
Any registered voter in the state may enter the Republican primary and compete for the nomination. This is known as the open primary system. The Haley team stated that “there is significant fertile ground for Nikki” on Super Tuesday due to those rules in a memo sent out prior to the New Hampshire primary on January 23. “Primes are open or somewhat open in eleven of the sixteen states hosting Super Tuesday events.
Roughly two thirds of the 874 delegates that will be available on Super Tuesday are in states that have open or semi-open primaries, the document continued. Along with Governor Chris Sununu of neighboring New Hampshire, Haley was joined at a rally on Sunday in South Burlington, Vermont, by Governor Phil Scott, one of just two Republican governors to have endorsed her. Given that “70% of Americans say they don’t want Donald Trump or Joe Biden,” Haley vowed to fight on behalf of the crowd.
She continued by asking her followers to “send them a message for me.” We have an option in a general election. In the primary, we get to choose. Now is the moment for us to decide. But by Tuesday night, when NBC News predicted Haley’s victory in Vermont, Trump had already secured victories in 11 more states and increased his lead in delegates.