Former President Donald Trump won the Republican primary in Michigan on Tuesday against rival Nikki Haley.
The race was called at exactly 9 p.m. — when all polling places in Michigan were closed — with Trump leading Haley 65 percent to 30.9 percent, with 12 percent reporting.
Haley’s campaign said Tuesday night that Trump’s 30-plus point victory still represented weakness ahead of the general election.
“Joe Biden is losing about 20 percent of the Democratic vote today, and many say this is a sign of his weakness in November. Donald Trump loses about 35 percent of the vote. That’s a flashing warning sign for Trump in November,” Haley’s spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement.
President Joe Biden lost votes in Michigan against “uncommitted” over his support for Israel’s war against Hamas, with the state’s Arab-American communities shocked by the high death toll among Palestinian civilians.
The “uncommitted” vote hovered around 15 percent.
Former President Donald Trump held a campaign event in Michigan on February 17. After winning the South Carolina primary on Saturday, he stayed off the campaign trail, but has planned visits to Texas, North Carolina and Virginia (Super Tuesday states) in the coming days.
Trump easily won the Michigan primary against his last rival, Nikki Haley, with the race called promptly at 9 p.m., when all polling stations in the state were closed. Haley has pledged to stay in the 2024 race through next week’s Super Tuesday primaries
Former UN Ambassador. Nikki Haley made a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday before moving to Super Tuesday states of Minnesota and Colorado. Her campaign called Trump’s victory a “sign of his weakness” because he lost 30 percent of the vote to her
“Since Trump became president in 2016, Michigan Republicans have lost the state House, the Senate and the governor’s mansion. “What was once a beacon for the conservative cause, the Republican Party of Michigan is now fractured and divided,” Perez-Cubas said.
“Let this be another warning sign that what happened in Michigan will continue to play out across the country,” the Haley campaign said. “As long as Donald Trump is at the top, Republicans will continue to lose to the socialist left. Our children deserve better.’
However, Trump won more votes than Biden, despite Haley earning about 30 percent of the votes cast by Republicans in Michigan, with 19 percent of the vote.
He called the Michigan GOP Watch Party in Grand Rapids before the official results were announced.
“We have a very simple task: We have to win on November 5, and we are going to win big, and it will be like nothing anyone has ever seen. It’s going to be fantastic. We win Michigan; we win the whole thing,” Trump said.
TAchterdeel has defeated Haley in all four early primary states where they both appeared on the ballot – Iowa, New HampshireSouth Carolina and now Michigan.
The former president also won the Nevada caucuses and a token vote for Trump – voters who chose “none of these candidates” – defeated Haley in the Nevada presidential primary.
Haley, however, has vowed to press on, telling supporters in Charleston Saturday evening that she would continue the race through Super Tuesday, March 5, when 16 states and American Samoa will hold primaries.
“There are huge numbers of voters in our Republican primaries who say they want an alternative,” she said Saturday evening.
“I said earlier this week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I would continue to run for president. I am a woman who keeps my word,” she said jubilantly.
During a CNN interview Tuesday evening, Haley reiterated that commitment.
“Absolutely, we absolutely have a country to save,” Haley told the network’s Dana Bash.
In Michigan, voters could choose to vote Republican or Democrat in the primaries, meaning there was a chance that Democrats and independents could make the switch and help Haley. some did so Saturday in South Carolina.
But there was also the movement by progressives and pro-Palestinian activists to have Democratic voters in Michigan choose “uncommitted” on their ballots to show support for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden was on the Democratic ballot alongside challenger, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who was endorsed by the Detroit News.
Neither Haley nor Trump were in Michigan for the election night festivities.
Trump campaigned in the Wolverine State on February 17 and headlined an event in Waterford Township.
Voters in Dearborn, Michigan are packed into a polling station. Both Democrats and Republicans in Michigan held their primaries on Tuesday, and voters were allowed to choose which primaries they wanted to participate in
On the Democratic ballot, pro-Palestinian activists asked voters to select “uncommitted,” register a protest vote and urge President Joe Biden to support a ceasefire in Gaza. Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips was also on the Democratic ballot
He called Chris Renwick’s W on TuesdayR 760am’s radio program and predicted a big win.
“She’s going to lose about 80 points tonight. She has become a joke,” Trump said.
He has stayed off the campaign trail since Saturday, delivering victory speeches in Columbia, South Carolina, after winning Haley’s home state by 20 points.
He plans a trip to a border town in Texas on Thursday and then will headline two rallies on Saturday in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, with voters from Texas, Virginia and North Carolina all part of the Super Tuesday crowd.
Haley appeared in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday before heading to Minnesota, another Super Tuesday state.
In Michigan, she blasted Trump for turning the Republican National Committee into a “box” where moves could be made daughter-in-law Lara Trump officially becomes co-chair of the party and has his top campaign adviser, Chris LaCivita, take over as Chief Operating Officer of the RNC.
Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, the former head of the Michigan GOP, formally announced Monday that she was leaving the job.
On Tuesday, as Michiganders headed to the polls, Haley was in Colorado, where independent voters might be able to help her in her hunt for delegates.
The crowd in Centennial, Colorado encouraged her to keep going and sing “don’t quit” during her afternoon performance.
Michigan is the first voting state where Trump and Haley haven’t had weeks to campaign and could be a barometer for where the former UN ambassador is heading into Super Tuesday.
Although there were only a limited number of polls ahead of the primaries, Monday’s FiveThirtyEight average showed Trump with 78.8 percent support to Haley’s 21.8 percent in America’s high five.
The closest Haley came to Trump’s lead was in New Hampshire — and she lost to the former president by 11 points.
Michigan is also a key swing state that Trump won in 2016, allowing him to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton, but lost to Biden four years later.