Donald Trump beats Nikki Haley again to win Missouri Republican caucus: Former President continues to push ahead towards Biden rematch

Donald Trump has defeated rival Nikki Haley and won the Republican caucuses in Missouri.

The race was called at 11:40 a.m., just under two hours after gatherings began across the state.

The Missouri caucus is one of three events awarding delegates for the GOP presidential nominations on Saturday.

The former president, who is especially strong in caucuses, expanded his delegate lead in Republican caucuses in Missouri, as well as at a party convention in Michigan. Idaho was scheduled to hold its caucuses later Saturday.

Former UN Ambassador Haley, meanwhile, is still looking for her first victory. There are no Democratic contests on Saturday.

Trump’s victory in Missouri was declared just under two hours after caucus meetings began across the state to reward 51 of Missouri’s 54 Republican delegates

Voters met to award 51 of Missouri’s 54 Republican delegates.

They stood in line outside a church in Columbia, home to the University of Missouri, before the doors opened.

“I don’t know what my role will be here other than standing in a corner for Trump,” said Columbia resident Carmen Christal, adding that she is “just looking forward to the experience of it.”

This year will be the first test of the new system, which is run almost entirely by volunteers on the Republican side.

The caucuses were organized after GOP Gov. Mike Parson signed a 2022 law that, among other things, canceled the planned March 12 presidential primary.

Lawmakers have failed to reinstate the primaries, despite calls to do so from both Republican and Democratic party leaders. Democrats will hold a party-led primary on March 23.

Trump prevailed twice under Missouri’s old presidential primary system.

Next week, Super Tuesday will see primaries in 16 states and American Samoa on what will be the biggest voting day of the year outside of the November election. Trump is on track to clinch the nomination days later.

Michigan Republicans began awarding 39 of the state’s 55 presidential delegates at their convention in Grand Rapids on Saturday.

But a significant portion of the party’s rank and file skipped the meeting due to the lingering fallout from a months-long dispute over the party’s leadership.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is still looking for her first win

Missouri voters gather Saturday, March 2, 2024, at the Family Worship Center of Columbia, Missouri, to vote for the Republican presidential nominee

Trump handily won the Michigan primary last Tuesday with 68 percent of the vote, compared to Haley’s 27 percent.

The next contest is the GOP caucus Sunday in the District of Columbia.

Last year, Idaho lawmakers passed cost-cutting legislation intended to move all of the state’s primaries to the same date in May — but the bill inadvertently eliminated the presidential primary entirely.

The Republican-led Legislature was considering holding a special session to reinstate the presidential primaries. but failed to agree on a proposal in time, leaving both parties with presidential caucuses as the only option.

The GOP presidential caucuses will take place on Saturday, while the Democratic caucuses won’t take place until May 23.

The last Republican caucuses in Idaho were in 2012, when about 40,000 of the state’s nearly 200,000 registered Republican voters showed up to select their preferred candidate.

This year, all Republican voters who want to participate will have to attend in person. They will vote after hearing short speeches from the candidates or their representatives.

If one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the statewide vote, that candidate will win all of Idaho’s delegates.

If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, each candidate with at least 15 percent of the total votes will receive a proportionate number of delegates.

The Idaho Republican Party will announce results once all votes have been counted statewide.

Trump finished a distant second in the 2016 Idaho primary, behind Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.