Donald Trump defeated Nikki Haley in the Missouri and Michigan primaries Saturday before also clinching Idaho’s Republican presidential caucuses, edging him even closer to securing the Republican nomination.
The Associated Press called Idaho for the former president at 5 p.m. local time Saturday. Just hours earlier, the AP had called Missouri for Trump at 12:45 p.m., less than two hours after voters went to the polls, though the state officially takes a month to award all of its 54 delegates. Polling from Decision Desk HQ and The Hill showed Trump with 88 percent of the vote compared to Haley’s 12 percent.
Michigan Republicans handed Trump all their delegates in their convention Saturday, amid protests and boycotts over the party's leadership. The clean sweep was perhaps predictable, as Trump already handily won the Feb. 27 primary.
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Haley has yet to win a single Republican primary—including her home state of South Carolina—but has vowed to stay in the race through Super Tuesday on March 5. Missouri’s primary put Trump at 155 presidential delegates, with Haley at 24.
“THANK YOU, MISSOURI! Together, WE are going to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social following the announcement of the Missouri results.
Haley did not immediately comment on the results, instead tweeting a video from a rally in North Carolina, which will hold its primary Tuesday.
Missouri was scheduled to hold its primary on March 12 until lawmakers accidentally canceled the contest and missed the deadline to reinstate it. Instead, voters were required to turn out in person for caucuses and pledge their support of the Missouri Republican Party, though they did not have to be registered Republicans.
“I don’t know what my role here will be, besides standing in a corner for Trump,” Columbia resident Carmen Christal told the AP, though she added that she was “looking forward to the experience of it.”
The result in Michigan was to be expected: Trump won 100 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary in four of its congressional districts, and more than 90 percent in almost all of the nine others. Those votes accounted to 16 of the states 55 delegates; the rest were assigned at Saturday's convention.
But the convention still offered some drama in the form of debates over who should be named party chairperson. Supporters of former chair Kristina Karamo, who was ousted in January, had threatened to organize a separate convention of their own, but that plan fell through at the last minute following a court order.
