Nikki Haley Scores 155,000 Votes In Pennsylvania Primary Despite Dropping Out Weeks Ago
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley won around 16% of the vote in Pennsylvania’s GOP primary on Tuesday, despite dropping out of the race in early March.
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, easily soared to victory on Tuesday, winning about 786,000 votes and the state’s 16 delegates. But Haley’s showing — even though she is no longer running — may portend trouble for Trump as he seeks to shore up support in key swing states needed to secure a path to the White House in November.
In 2020, Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by less than 1.5%, or about 80,000 votes. And in 2016 the margin was even smaller, with Trump winning the state by less than 45,000 votes.
The state awards 19 Electoral College votes toward the ultimate 270 needed to become president.
WOW. Nikki Haley got nearly 17% of the vote in today's Republican primary in Pennsylvania, six weeks after she quit the race.
This is a huge red flag for the Trump campaign in a battleground state. Many Republicans will never vote for Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/zwH05tuE9r— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 24, 2024
And PA is a closed primary state. Meaning, no independents or Democrats can vote in GOP primary. Questions for November. How many of these Haley voters are: 1) 2020 Biden voters; 2) 2020 Trump voters willing to switch/stay home? https://t.co/OugkOMZlHp
— Amy Walter (@amyewalter) April 24, 2024
Axios notes that Trump’s campaign has begun to show cracks in some states as the presidential race trudges toward the general election. About a fifth of Republican primary voters in Arizona and Wisconsin — both swing states themselves — cast a ballot for someone other than the former president.
Trump is currently on trial in New York where he faces 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to an adult film star. The case is set to take up to eight weeks, and the former president has raged at the judge and prosecutors for taking him away from the campaign trial.
Biden himself handily won the Democratic primary on Tuesday, securing 93% of the vote and the state’s 153 delegates. But the president has also faced frustration with voters in key states, including Michigan, where more than 100,000 people voted for “uncommitted” in the state’s primary to protest the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel.
