Nikki Haley wins her 1st GOP nominating contest, but former President Trump sweeps most of the delegates at stake in primaries and caucuses ahead of Super Tuesday
Super Tuesday could be ‘make or break’ for Nikki Haley: Bill Melugin
Fox News’ Bill Melugin reports that Nikki Haley would ‘crush’ Joe Biden if the election were held today, based on polls.
In the race to lock up the Republican presidential nomination, former President Trump is padding his lead.
Trump, who is the commanding frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination as he bids a third straight time for the White House, swept three contests on Saturday.
While his last remaining rival for the nomination, former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, scored her first primary victory on Sunday, Trump enjoys a 244 to 43 lead in delegates.
Trump is likely to expand his delegate lead on Monday night, when North Dakota holds GOP caucuses on the eve of Super Tuesday. That is when more than 850 delegates are at stake as 15 states hold Republican nominating contests, and the scant public opinion polling in those states indicates Trump is the favorite.
TRUMP SWEEPS SATURDAY'S GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATING CONTESTS
Republican presidential candidate former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally on Saturday, March 2, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
"Over the weekend we won Missouri, Idaho, and Michigan - BIG NUMBERS," Trump touted on his Truth Social network on Sunday night.
The former president kicked off the weekend by capturing all 39 delegates up for grabs at the Michigan GOP's party convention, which was held in Grand Rapids. Trump had previously won most of the 16 delegates awarded in Michigan's statewide primary on Feb. 27.
HALEY BRINGS TRUMP'S PRIMARY WINNING STREAK TO AN END
A few hours later, the former president was victorious in the Missouri caucuses, and he closed out Saturday evening by scoring a win in the Idaho caucuses.
"We’ve been launching like a rocket to the Republican nomination. We just got numbers today that were unbelievable," Trump touted Saturday night at a rally in Richmond, Virginia — which is one of the Super Tuesday states — as he pointed to his ballot box victories in Michigan, Missouri and Idaho.
Haley, who remains in the GOP nomination race at least through Super Tuesday, despite the extremely long odds she faces, on Sunday enjoyed victory for the first time in the 2024 race, as she topped Trump by roughly 30 points in Washington D.C.'s Republican primary. She captured 19 delegates and made history as the first woman to win a GOP presidential primary or caucus.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks at a rally during the District of Columbia's Republican presidential primary at the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Friday, March 1, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"Republicans closest to Washington’s dysfunction know that Donald Trump has brought nothing but chaos and division for the past 8 years. It's time to start winning again and move our nation forward!," Haley wrote on social media Sunday night.
Haley has no public events or election night gatherings scheduled for Super Tuesday evening and remains mum on any plans going forward.
She reiterated in an interview on Saturday with Fox News' Bill Melugin that "we're going to go as long as we're competitive," but she did not specifically define what competitive means.
Trump in a video to supporters emphasized the importance of Super Tuesday.
"It’s big stuff, and it’s the single most important primary day of the year," he said in a video posted to social media. "If every single conservative, Republican, and Trump supporter in these states shows up on Super Tuesday, we will be very close to finished with this primary contest."
Aiming to completely pivot to the all-but-certain general election rematch with President Biden — who defeated Trump four years ago to win the White House — the former president stressed that big wins on Super Tuesday will allow him "to focus all of our energy, time, and resources, on defeating crooked Joe Biden."
"We want to send a signal that we’re coming on like a freight train," he emphasized. "Do not be complacent. Please go and vote."
While Trump scored a slew of ballot box victories this past weekend, he also made peace with the Club for Growth, a politically influential and fiscally conservative group that is funded by some of the top donors on the right.
TRUMP MAKES PEACE WITH INFLUENTIAL CONSERVATIVE GROUP TO BRING BITTER FEUD TO AN END
The Club for Growth and its president, David McIntosh, have had an up and down relationship with Trump. They opposed him as he ran for the White House in 2016 before embracing him as an ally. In the 2022 cycle, Trump and the Club teamed up in some high-profile GOP primaries but clashed over combustible Senate nomination battles in Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The bitter feud continued to play out last year in the Republican presidential nomination race, as the Club spent over $7 million on an anti-Trump group that unsuccessfully tried to take down the former president in the early primary states.
Former President Trump, left, shakes hands with Club for Growth president David McIntosh, as Trump speaks at the group's annual donor retreat, at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1, 2024. (Club For Growth)
However, McIntosh and Trump reconciled in recent weeks, and Trump spoke Friday evening at the Club's annual donor retreat, which was once again held at The Breakers, an exclusive beachfront resort in the upper crust seaside community of Palm Beach, Florida.
"We had an argument about a couple of people that you know well, and that broke us up for about a year," Trump said at the Club gathering, according to a source in the room at the private event.
However, Trump emphasized that "now we’re back in love, we’re deeply in love."
McIntosh told Fox News Digital that "it’s time for Republicans to unite and put our differences aside."
He added that "President Trump always says, ‘When Trump and the Club for Growth are together, we always win.’ And together we are going to win back the White House and more this November."
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
