Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley won her first Republican primary in Washington, D.C. on Sunday — and Donald Trump doesn't seem to like that. Haley beat out the former president by a nearly 30-point margin, garnering 62.9 percent of the votes in the district, compared to Trump's 33.2 percent, and nabbing all 19 delegates. Trump took to social media Sunday night to mock the ex-South Carolina governor and downplay his defeat.
"I purposely stayed away from the D.C. Vote because it is the 'Swamp,' with very few delegates, and no upside. Birdbrain spent all of her time, money and effort there," Trump wrote before boasting that he won in Missouri and Idaho's caucuses and secured all 39 delegates allocated in Michigan's GOP convention on Saturday. "BIG NUMBERS - Complete destruction of a very weak opponent," he continued. "The really big numbers will come on Super Tuesday. Also, WAY UP ON CROOKED JOE!"
Despite the ire from Trump, Haley's win is a "welcome boost" ahead of Super Tuesday elections this week and amid calls to suspend her campaign in a primary contest overwhelmingly dominated by the party's frontrunner, according to Axios. Her victory is also historic: "This makes Nikki Haley the first woman to win a Republican primary in U.S. history," Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas highlighted on X/Twitter.
"We know how the Trump campaign will respond to this ('swamp swamp swamp'), but a whole lot of people who worked for Trump — who know him and his administration best — rejected him," Doug Heye, veteran Republican strategist, noted on X.
On Tuesday, 16 states will hold primaries on what is the year's second-largest day of voting after the November general election, according to HuffPost. Trump is on course to secure the GOP nomination in the days afterward.
